ice-cream good for your soul

Little guy had an incident at the psych hospital. he was asaulted by another kid there. great. just what he needs. as a sexual abuse victim I'm sure this incident was very helpful. Foster mom was livid, which is good because things like that shouldn't happen. Fortunately the incident wasn't as bad as they made it sound on the phone and foster mom let me know that little guy was ok.


I got a new case which will be interesting. I was wasn't too happy about it as it seemed to be more of a JJS case, but with a little more info, I can see how they felt DCFS custody was more apt. Weird family dynamic going on there, but I think the foster family we lined up today for him will work fine for him.... hopefully.


Speaking of wierd family dynamics, I had a team meeting with Suzie and her family and its like the whole family competes to see who can be louder. Suzie and her brother threw out random thoughts that had nothing to do with the meeting. Foster mom was trying not to laugh at the whole wierd circus show. Foster mom is doing awesome with Suzie so far. We've got her starting in a DBT group in my favorite therapy provider, and foster mom will go with her so they can practice the skills in real life.


Did have a good court review with Leo which was refreshing. I'm sure its that way for the judge too. She is a bit of a spaz, but not bad as far as judges go. I assume every worker has their favorite judges and other court personnel. This Judge let us in even though the attorneys weren't there so we could get in and get out (we didn't really need them since its a quick and easy review....love it when my kids are doing good). I know I run late a lot, but thats usually because the previous meeting didn't start on time, and court is the worst for that. However, I don't really know what the excuse is for the attorney's and judges getting to work on time. sheesh, they even set their own work hours! Anyways this Judge is pretty good, except that she goes to trial on everything. I'm not legally trained, but terminating reunification services isn't something that should go to trial as its a DCFS recommendation, not a petition or anything else to set up a full trial for. Also the other courts don't do that. For Leo's case we went through 4 full trials. oh my what a waste of time and resources. Should only be 2, well in this case probably 3 since the mom wasn't playing with a full deck (yes I know not a clinical term, and not even that clever).


I had a couple of home visits tonight. Went quickly because I had met with the one family the night before, and the other one because the kid was still doing really well. I know its such a relief for me when my kids are tanking and throwing away their chance to break the cycle of addiction, DV, poor education, etc. I was thinking how glad I am that I have the weekend coming on. How greatful I am that my job ends, not at 5pm but I do get to go home at the end of the day. Thats why I'm so impressed with the families who help my kids and don't get a day off. Sure my job is taxing and I get annoyed, and a lot of hate is thrown my way, but I do get to go home, and if I need a sick day and don't have appointments that can't be rescheduled I can take it. Thanks all of you who take care of my kids!

I'm in a better mood tonight as I don't have any appointments tomorrow. Also today was icecream Thursday. My team and anyone else from the office try to go out for a few minutes to get icecream. Today was coldstone. yum!