Tuesday, February 12, 2008

good to know

I got a call this evening from the youngster's attorney. She wanted to tell me that the youngster would not be required to be at the hearing tomorrow. Since I wasn't aware there was a hearing tomorrow that's good to know.

The good news is that while I had her on the phone I was able to tell her enough about what is going on with the youngster's behavior that she wants to know more. Since I've been trying for months to find an effective way to have someone advocate for this child in the courtroom this is a golden opportunity. She asked me to send her a comprehensive summary via e-mail to bring her up to speed. Hope she has a free afternoon to catch up on some not-so-light reading.

Friday, February 1, 2008

"It'll weed out those who are doing it for the $$." part 2

My hide is still a little chapped by this comment and I've been giving it some thought over the last couple days.

How much money would it take to get people to foster "for the money?" Seriously. Let's say someone wants to earn some money and they're looking for a job, how much would it take to get someone to look at fostering as a money-making enterprise?

You have to be on-duty 24/7. That makes roughly 720 billable hours a month. At a minimum wage of $7.50 that's $5400 a month gross. I don't know anyone receiving that kind of money.
Then factor in the loss of privacy (your home becomes a "facility"), missed work time because of appointments, the loss of any kind of a social life, being assaulted, court proceedings, having your house trashed, and general stress.

Please. No one is doing this for the money.