Skeletons in the Closet

It's a very long and detailed process to become a Foster Parent. I had no idea.

I first applied in July or August, 2009. Initially, that just involved calling Family and Children's Services and sending in a completed form.

Then a Foster Parent Recruiter came to my house to get to know me a bit. Little did I know, she would give me a mountain of paperwork to assemble! This is the step they never mention on their web site or at the information night I attended. So I gathered 5 references, had a medical exam, copied my home and auto insurance policies, obtained a driver's abstract, obtained a police record (I'm clean which is good to know), and listed all the cities I've lived in, and in what years, throughout my life so they can check all Children's Aid records (I moved a lot so that was challenging). Oh, and I provided a family photo. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more items that I don't remember at the moment.

The next step was to attend PRIDE training (PRIDE = Parent Resources for Information, Development & Education) an evening a week for 9 weeks. I started the first week of 2010 and just completed the training this week. They cover all the issues that you can imagine might come along with foster kids. If you don't go running in the other direction within 9 weeks then you're very committed.

I do have a lot of questions about how a working single person manages the commitment to foster. They insist it can be done but I'm mainly concerned about childcare anytime I'm working and they are not in school. It can be expensive and that's one thing they don't pay for. The daily Per Diem is expected to cover food, toiletries, and extra use of household utilities and there isn't enough left over for childcare. So my Recruiter put me in contact with one of "many" single women who are fostering. It turned out that she had an adult daughter living with her and helping out until she retired. So I still have questions but I'm moving forward.

Now that my PRIDE training is completed, the next step is a SAFE home study. This does not mean that they come in to check that all your electrical outlets are covered, etc., which is a common misconception. SAFE = Structured Assessment Family Evaluation and involves probably 4 visits from a recruitment worker and supporting documentation. The supporting documentation refers to all the "homework" from the PRIDE training which was a lot of personal information about my own childhood that they will delve into more deeply. I anticipate they will be revealing all the skeletons in the closet!

There can be a long wait before you get to the top of a long, prioritized list of potential foster and adoptive parents waiting for their SAFE home study. However, there is a high need for foster homes for teens which I am interested in, so that makes me a priority. I'm told my home study is probably going to start within the next month. Stay tuned!

So Many Options

I discovered today that my Kiva entrepreneurs have repaid enough of their loans for me to make another loan of $25. There were 322 loan requests listed. With so many options, how do you decide? The Kiva site says that 18,318 lenders made a loan this week, 1 loan every 12 seconds. Clearly, a lot of people have gone through a similar decision making process.

Naturally, I wanted to make sure that my loan would impact children...On Purpose. That's easy because most of the entrepreneurs seem to have children. My 14 previous loans seem pretty evenly distributed between men, women, and groups, so I must have considered that criteria before. If it seems the purpose of the loan is to look after some basic needs like food, shelter, or clothing, then that appeals to me. Still...there are 322 people to choose from.

Kiva offers a map view so I can see where in the world my money has gone so far. I started to eliminate countries that already show on my map and began to focus on South America. It's a good sized continent and I had only made 2 loans there.

A finally decided to lend to this young woman in Ecuador.

Maria Fernanda Aguiar Guevara is 20 years old, single, and lives with her parents and ten siblings. Altogether there are eleven children, six daughters and five sons. (I'd say that qualifies!)
Maria helps her parents with their farm. Her family grows corn, potatoes, lima beans, peas, and other crops in small quantities. They recently planted corn at the end of January and expect to harvest it in the summer. In addition, they buy and sell products at the fairs in San Miguel on Thursdays and Sundays. The difficulties of having to work in the field involve having to deal with disease and drought that impact the crops.
 
Maria is requesting a loan to purchase farming supplies. In the future, she wants to become a professional accountant and continue to help parents with their farm.

In her spare time, Maria enjoys listening to romantic music and spending time with her parents.

The Gift of Life

Yesterday I donated blood for the 33rd time and put something about it on my Facebook status. A friend commented that it was blood transfusions that had saved her newborn baby's life. Although that specific baby didn't likely get blood directly from me, over the years my blood most definitely has saved the lives of children, and adults who directly impact children.

Without a doubt donating blood is another thing that I do On Purpose so I'm adding it to my blog.

The greatest gift my son has ever given me was his first blood donation on my behalf. He recruited his girlfriend as a blood donor who also gave her first donation on my behalf. I'm very proud of them both.

Family Day

The 3rd Monday of February has been designated as Family Day in Ontario since 2008. After spending the Sunday with my own family, consisting of my 24 year old son and his girlfriend, I spent the holiday Monday positively impacting the lives of children in my community.

My alter ego Mo the clown, and my junior assistant clown Fallzy, helped at a fundraiser for Family and Children's Services. Not only did we help raise money to assist children in the community, we brought joy to the children we interacted with at the event. At the same time "A" and I got to spend several hours together. She absolutely loves being a clown! She got to go on lots of rides, enjoy a hotdog, and dance along to the music of Erick Traplin. They seem to have become fast friends.

The day came with a few challenges. The first being that my GPS does not recognize the town of New Hamburg so I didn't find the location right away but I wasn't far off track.

Then, about an hour into the event, my balloon pump broke. If you've ever tried blowing up an animal balloon you'll understand why I rely on a pump. So instead of making balloon hats for the kids, we were supplied with a large amount of candy to give out. As "A" said, "It's very kind to give treats to the kids".

Another challenge was trying to help "A" come to terms with not winning the raffle prize she wanted so badly...a Hannah Montana poster.

Overall it was a very good day, living On Purpose in more ways than one.

If you build it they will come.

On Friday I went to the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank to meet with my contact there and see the location for the Wonderful, Powerful ME! kids workshops we have planned. Tonight the information is being given to the grandparents of the children that the Food Bank will sponsor to attend. Now we just have to wait to hear if enough children are able to attend.

It has been said that "if you build, it they will come". We have built a workshop plan that can have a positive impact on these kids. I hope they come.

Wonderful, Powerful ME!

I am very excited to have a logo ready and a flyer published to advertise my very first workshops for kids!

My Kiva Update

I just checked the status of my account on www.kiva.org. I currently have loans being repaid by 11 entrepreneurs around the world (another 3 have been fully repaid). The latest payment came from this woman who I am proud to support.

Ngele Bokeli, aged 49, is a widow with three children, ages 10 to 16 years. All of them go to school. She and her children live in a mountainous area located west of the city of Kinshasa in The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ngele is the manager of a communal bank named "Bolotshi Plus", which is established in solidarity with 31 members with the common objective of developing their small businesses by using micro-loans.

Ngele's principal business involves selling Wax Anglaise pagnes (colorful West African cloth). She started this business in 2004 with $20 in initial capital. She has acquired over the years some solid experience in this small-scale commerce, which now brings in $120 a week in profit, more or less.

The current loan is enabling her to buy a dozen lengths of pagnes to sell and to diversify her business by buying various goods in demand in her area. Her dream is to open a general store to respond to the needs of her customers in her district. Ngele is a loyal client who has received a loan five times, and she repaid all of them properly.