I Had a Problem With My Placement: And I Got It Fixed

 

I Had a Problem With My Placement:
And I Got It Fixed.

By Kiandra Finnie

When you're in care and something is wrong, tell someone. If you don't, nothing will change.

I was in a home where I was getting locked out all the time. There was a time when I was locked out for a week with no money, and no clothes or diapers for my two kids. Because I was locked out, my kids and I had to stay with my aunt for two days. Then my aunt went away on a business trip, so I had to go to my sister's house. My sister said that I had to tell someone about what was going on with me getting locked out all the time, because it was crazy. I knew my sister was right. It was time for me to speak up.

I Complained

The very next day I called the foster care agency and told them how I had been locked out for a week. They told me to come in and get emergency money, then they called my foster mother and asked her where she had been for that whole week I was locked out. My foster mother made up an excuse, and the agency felt that it was just a misunderstanding between us, so they didn't move me. That hurt because I felt like the agency didn't believe or trust me.

Later on that year I noticed that my foster mother wasn't giving me all of my money from the foster care stipend. And she wasn't buying my kids the clothes or shoes they needed. The only thing she bought them was pampers. My kids' father and I were buying everything else. So again I went to the foster care agency and told them that I had a problem.

Finally Things Changed

This time my caseworker called a meeting with the director. Then we all spoke about the problems that I have had with my foster mother, and they called a big meeting with my foster mother and myself where we spoke about all of the problems. The agency decided that my foster mother needed to sign a 10-day notice, and then they would move me and my kids from her home. (Finally!)

But those 10 days turned into three months and I still wasn't moved. Those three months were so bad for me. I wouldn't talk to my foster mother, and when she would try to talk to me, I would look at her like she was crazy. But I didn't give up on getting moved—I kept asking about when I'd have a new home.

During that time I got a new caseworker. The day my new worker told me that they found a home for me, I was so happy.

The lesson I learned through all this was that if you have a problem with your foster parent—or with anything that has to do with foster care—and you can't deal with it on your own, or don't know how to deal with it, what you should do is talk to someone about it, and you might have to talk to them again and again and again, like I did. But if you don't, how will you ever get the proper things that you need for yourself? (You might not.) And no matter what, don't let anyone tell you that foster care is for people who have nothing or no one, because there is someone out there who will listen to you, believe you, care for you, and help you with the problems you're having. You just have to find them.

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