Bad news then good news...for now

A lot has happened since my last post. I have continued on with the girls where my roomies, Eline and Karlien left off; one of the other dutch volunteers also moved in to help care for the girls.

We have been desperately trying to get Social Welfare to get 'involved' in this case. The girls were suppose to be in Bobbi Bear care for only 6-weeks, I believe it's closer to 10 weeks now. With Jackie going to Holland soon (and the foster/ crisis parent) as well as the need to place these girls in a family environment, we let Social Welfare know that we had to get moving. Note to how Social Welfare works here....um, it doesn't. You would be shocked an disgusted at the poor judgement and decisions made by SW here (e.g. sending a child back to her parent home for the weekend where the father is accused of sexually assualting the child for years).

Needless to say Social Welfare has done their best to stonewall. The Social worker on this case has just made her second visit to see the girls on Thursday...after 10 weeks! Previous visits had either been cancelled or she simply didn't show up, no call, no apology and most importantly, no intention of rescheduling. In the meanwhile we have been doing our best to contact as many people as we can to help us keep these girls in safe hands. The Granny is a piece of work and has been trying to do her best to manipulate the older of the two and has now been telling them that thy'll be moving back with her after the court date in mid-April. Social Welfare has also put up a road block saying that they are looking into the granny's sister as a potential foster parent while the case is pending....she is also allegedly a 'madam' nice, eh?

The past week we have been trying especially hard to get the girls placed and feel comfident that all parties (e.g. social welfare) have the best interests of the children at heart. After finally meeting the social worker I could not feel secure in their making decisions for these children. This girl has no business managing this case, her head is up her ass and she's terrified of the granny. After her visit on the Thursday she said that they would be coming for the girls the next day but given her inconsistency for appointments we couldn't be sure.

Friday morning was awful. Both Jackie and myself had been trying to get the girls placed with a lovely couple that had shown interest in fostering the girls...of course social welfare would not consider them. We were frantic but knew we had to tell the girls that thy would probably be leaving that day. Luckily Jackie told them, lthough the younger didn't understand what was happening the older girl was traumatized, especilly since we could reassure her who she was going to live with etc. We were all very emotional, especially with the reaction of the older sibling as she is pretty tough and does not cry. I was finding it hard to imagine the girls gone and even harder dealing with not knowing where or with whom they would b placed given that their social worker is useless. I began to write a memo regarding the girls progress, habits, personalities, behavioural issues being addressed, their schedule and likes/ dislikes hoping that the foster parents would do their best to provide the same care that the Bobbi Bear team had.

As we were coming up to the time fo removal, we received an amazing call! Removal was postponed and our court date was pushed to Monday and a full inquiry has been issued for the case and the children were appointed legal counsel for our court date on Monday.

We're making the most of the weekend, went horeback riding today as the 4/5 year old LOVES horses and has been dreaming of riding a horse. Tomorrow might be a beach day (believe it or not I have been in the ocean yet or had a proper day at the beach yet.

I find it hard to believe that I only have 2 weeks left in the program, I am not ready to leave yet....

Wish us luck, Molly

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