In the End.....

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced"

Last Day for Editing, Dale is Going to Kill Me

In a couple of hours I am heading out to campus. I have grand ideas for my film, but I need a Mac and Dale. He may just want to turn around and walk out when he hears what I want to do. I do believe this will be my last post that I self-reflect on. I will of course be adding my film and a bibliography. I have had such a great experience these last few months with all the new people I have met and new information I am armed with--not just the foster families--I mean my instructor, Dale, classmates, and the new technology information I am armed with (I am impressed with myself quite frankly). I will end (or should I say start) with a last quote from James Baldwin, this is my third one now.

How to start the Fostering Process

Step 1
Search the web for information about the department of child services and foster parenting in your county or state.

Step 2
Check out local fostering agencies, many help you through the process and have more time to talk to you and help you than a state social worker does.

Step 3
Most states require training, mine was 24 hours of training (8 weeks, 3 hours a day, once a week). While in the process of training you are usually required to finish the other things mentioned below.

Step 4
Get finger printed! Ours had to be through LiveScan agencies in San Diego. This just does a background check to make sure you're not a criminal and haven't been convicted of anything major like child abuse, bank robbery, etc.

Step 5
Take a CPR and First Aid class. Even if your state doesn't require it, it's a good thing to do! You can even complete the classes online in as little as an hour (see website below).

Step 6
In some states you have to take a Psychological test. It's not hard, just basic questions that figure out how you think. It will show things like if you think about stealing stuff or hurting people or yourself. The "correct" answers should be pretty obvious. I'm sure most states will also require a test comparable to the California test.

Step 7
You will also have a home inspection where you will need basic things.
1. a bedroom for the child/children
2. a light
3. a window in their room
4. a dresser
5. a bed or crib depending on the age you plan to foster
6. cleaning supplies in a locked cabinet
7. guns stored a specific way depending on your state regulations
8. medications in a locked cabinet
9. your water temperature should not go above 110-120 degrees (varies by state)
10. emergency plan
11. fire drill log
12. emergency contacts posted
13. electrical socket covers are usually recommended but not always required

Step 8
Once you're done with your classes, fingerprints, and everything else your state requires, you're ready! Now you just wait for your child to be placed with you! Some get a child the day their class is done (or in our class a couple got twins a week before the class was over) or some may have to wait a few weeks! Either way, you're helping a life of a child.

Step 9
If you ever decide you are willing to adopt the child, even if their biological parents or guardians rights have not been terminated yet, be sure to let the child's social worker know! Once you have had a child in your home for six months or longer, that child's best interest is to stay and be adopted by you if their parent or guardian does not get custody back and the state will recognize that if you tell them you are interested.

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Up to the challenge?
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www.kidspeace.org/foster.aspx


Foster Care
Social Service classes available online from Phoenix University.
www.University-Phoenix-Info.com


Tips & Warnings
get used children/baby clothes from friends when their children grow out of them just to have a nice stock of clothes in different sizes. Some times you might get a child with nothing but a dirty diaper and you'll want to have something to take them clothes shopping in.be patient!Many children come with issues of their own (abuse or neglect) and they won't always be "perfect" so if you're trying to play house, this isn't the way to do it.You will get attached to the children and you have to remember there's always a possibility that they will go back to their parents.you will love these children so much as if they were your own, so don't be surprised when you get attached!

Large Span of Ideas, Too Large

I have realized today that I have to narrow down my ideas for my short film (or Dale will have my head). I would love to incorporate in my film the idea of African American children, or any minority for that matter, being fostered by Caucasian adults. I was interested in the problems that the families incur, challenges, classes, or courses that might possibly be available to help the foster family through their fostering process. The two foster families I interviewed however did not find difficulty in the fact that the foster parents and children were of two different races. So, not much of a story for me. There is a story there, there is some good research, but not for this video. It is a project for me for the future. Maybe more in this blog? My video will be more of a Call to Action. Why we caould all help with fostering, why we should foster, why we should all help anyone in need.....

A Call to Action

After learning much more about UWMilwaukee's Service Learning Institute, the drive home became interesting. The thought that this should be a requirement for all students was foremost in my mind. Learn, acquire knowledge, earn credits, all while helping YOUR community. No matter where the student is from--Northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, or even California--while you are a student at UWMilwaukee, Milwaukee county IS your community. I live in Waukesha county, but very much feel a part of Milwaukee. I plan on being at the school for at least another 5+ years. Helping others, bringing important information to the public makes one feel good about themself. Makes you feel "connected to" and "worthy of" your community. Listening to what others are currently doing and have done in the past makes me proud to be a student at UWMilwaukee. I have learned a great deal from my Film 150 class, more than Vicki will ever realize. I am the one who has reaped all the benefits from researching foster care and from interviewing foster parents. Anne Novotny will forever be in my thoughts--and her plea for everyone to help just one person (not necessarily by fostering)--as she mirrors the initiative that the Institute for Service Learning embodies.
The drive home also prompted my husband to say, "after listening to the speakers, it really makes me want to help in some way."

Institute for Service Learning

May 3, 2009 Zelazzo Center for the Performing Arts


Richard Meadows, Dean UWM College of Letters and Science


Vicki and Me

The man who supports me through all my endeavors

Banana Bread and Plugs

In the computer lab with Vicki to my right and Dale helping me edit. Dale had to teach me EVERYTHING. He usually had to do it a few times for me to get it. I feel better about all the time he is putting in to helping me because I baked him some homemade banana bread! In this picture he is probably fixing a "plug" that I created. I have grand ideas for my video and Dale is helping me with them all!

Thanks again Dale.

I've captured the interview segments I want and am busy with pictures and text and maybe music that I want to incorporate

In the Middle.....

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of it's ugly side." -James Baldwin

Presentation and Discussions about Fostering at UWM

One of the foster families I visited, Janet and Larry, said they often go to UWMilwaukee for classes and presentaions regarding foster care. She is going to one May 11, 2009 entitled Improving Care for Medically Fragile Foster Children. This is perfect for her. She states that any problems she has with fostering all have to do with the state and the help that is required for his medical condition. Janet also attends classes and presentations that are given at Kids Matter Inc. Janet and Larry are very proactive when it comes to the care of their 16 year old foster son, it is a full time job in and of itself.

I am learning so much. I feel as if I see both sides of the fostercare system by interviewing two different foster families, both of whom live in Milwaukee. Anne is very positive, has only wonderful things to say about fostering and has a need to get the word out that we all can and should do it. Janet has been fostering for 20 years, she has seen how the kids can fall through the cracks and not get the care that is needed. Her feeling is that the state can do more.

Alright, I'm going to do it...I'm going to get this video done and bring fostering to light. The "wish it, dream it, do it" written on the Novotny wall has inspired me! I will not worry!

At home, a little worried...Why do I not have a Mac?

I'm sitting in front of my PC. Wondering why my husband and I didn't want a Mac. We have a few PC's, no Macs. "We aren't creative people" he tells me. We are people who "use the left side of our brain" one of my daughters tells me today. I love science, math, non-fiction, assignments that are very literal and definitive. When people give me freedom I don't know what to do with it! I'm a nurse, a nurse who follows doctor's orders. I like it that way. Now, mind you, I feel I could write the orders just as well as a doctor sometimes, but there are rules and reasons for orders. Is this why I like PC's? They are quick and get to the point? My husband says Macs are for artistic people. I'm not artistic. The abilities of a Mac are wonderful....beautiful even. The computers themselves are beautiful, the monitors impress. And right now I need one. I need one to edit. I managed to do a Powerpoint with my PC, it was good, I figured it out, but man, a Mac has more features for the Powerpoint. I think my story of the Novotny family came to life anyway. It did help though that my subject was such a positive woman who really made me believe in fostering, her words and her embodiment made the Powerpoint 'glow.' And that was on a PC!

Now I am anxiously awaiting going to the computer lab to start work on editing my two interviews that are video taped. I have to go to the lab because I need a Mac, we do not have a program for me to edit on our PC. It's fine, it's just this one class and I need Dale's help anyway. I'm a little worried, worried about how I am going to get the points across that I want to regarding fostering. Worried about actually making a cohesive, beautiful video. If I had a Mac would I be working on the editing anyway?

I believe my drive (and the help of Vicki and Dale) and belief in this new found cause--fostering, will get me through this film making process, Mac or no Mac. My husband now tells me we will probably get a Mac in the near future, for our kids' sake. I sure hope I can use my new found creative abilities in the rest of my nursing classes!

A Home for Three

Janet, Larry, and their sixteen year old foster son's home on 29th Street

The two sets of foster parents I have interviewed are both white with black children that they have either adopted or are still fostering. When I posed the questions about race and parenting the kids I got very different answers. Anne had one class on African American culture to prepare her for her children, she said basically it taught her how to care for and "do" black hair. She said she could've used some more classes. She is learning as she goes, her children are surrounded by people who are of the same race at school and at home, I truly believe this helps a great deal. Janet, on the other hand, raises all the children she has ever had as foster kids all the same. They are to respect her and her husband and she will respect them and their culture. They are to speak correct English, go to school, and their attire must look and fit appropriately (no jeans that are falling to the knees or showing their underwear). They are able to listen to their music, watch the movies and programs they like, and have their friends over. She believes all children should be raised the same.

The clip below has an African American woman at the beginning with very interesting comments. She would get mad at her foster parents (who later became her adoptive parents) because there were books in their house that were on How to Raise a Black Child. She could not understand why they needed a manual for her and not their other white children. They explained that they "don't have all the answers. We need to look to people who have parented black children who are black."



Struggles for Identity clip site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTUR1FP3NbI

Resources on How to Raise a Different Race?

Continuing Story...

Visiting Anne in her home opened my eyes to the fact that she had numerous obstacles to overcome with all her foster children, six of the seven are African American, a different nationality than Anne herself. My second interview is with a Caucasian couple who have taken in a young African American boy with considerable medical issues. Do white people, no matter how well-meaning, truly have any idea what it is like to be black? Do they need special training or classes or support groups? Will they even help? Obvioulsy these families face challenges, but does having white foster parents interfere with the development of the children?

The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 allows for interracial fostering and adoption. Some child welfare groups are calling for a change. The NPR blog site that is under Links has many interesting comments regarding this issue.

A House Big Enough For Eight

This is the home where one woman is making a change in the lives of children who need her

The Novotny Home

On March 17, 2009 I had the pleasure of being invited to the home of Anne Novotny. She is a single woman who fostered and adopted 7 children.

Janet and Larry's Home

In the Beginning...

"These are all of our children, and one day we will either profit from or pay for whatever they become" -James Baldwin