Board member

I guess that's what I am now and I have been keeping busy with it. Our county's foster/adoptive association was for years ( I am not exaggerating ! years !) run by the same people, who were quite content running it the way they had been.

When we first became foster parents, what feels like "ages ago", I maybe went 2x and that was it. It was not a very welcoming place.................to say it nicely.

Last December, one of my fellow FP and friend, decided it was time to shake things up a little and she was voted in as our new president, together with some other great girls as secretary, treasurer, etc.

They managed to turn this thing around, meetings were positive, upbeat, a place of support and friendship. Every month we have a speaker, so we get 2 hrs of training for re-licensing and learn more about all the fun and not so fun stuff, anything from reactive attachment disorders to IEP's in school.

Last month all this came to a screeching halt, the whole thing was ridiculous and it basically came down to "the old guard" being really unhappy and feeling threatened with all the changes. The whole thing blew up faster then you can say Amen and boy it was ugly !! The ringleader of the "old guard" happen to be the vice president, oy

It's a long, long story, but it basically boils down to honesty and integrity. It would seem to be a no brainer that when it's time for the Christmas wishlists that go out to the community, you DO NOT put names of adopted kids/grand kids or ficticious kids on there, that's unethical !! That was just one of the issues......................

They wanted the president removed, bla bla bla. It basically was at a point where "the girls" could have said " you know what, I am doing this in my spare time, I don't need al this BS, see ya"

Instead, they stayed, tried to work things out, with help of the regional association and decided to continue.

One of the girls could not continue, she has 4 kids and just started working full time, so me and my big mouth volunteered to jump in and fill the position........

All kidding aside,I really felt it was time to step up and do something, help these girls who have been doing so much good in the past year.

A foster/adoptive association needs to be a place where people can go for support and friendship, to learn from eachother and lean on eachother. Being a foster/adoptive parent is a very rewarding job, but it can be the hardest job in the world, with a lot of heartaches and headaches.

New foster parents need to be able to come to these meetings and feel welcome.

My "position" is recruitment and membership. One of the things I feel strongly about and it's something we have talked about before, we need to go talk to the new fosterparents and follow up with them. They don't always have time for the meetings, but a phonecall to see how they're doing and if they need anything, sure would be appreciated. "Did you get a placement yet, how is it going"
There are some wonderful respite programs going on that they need to know about.
Adoptive parents, after the adoption they sorta vanish and a lot of them don't realize we are there for them as well.

I have my work cut out for me..................but I am ready !