Thursday, October 09, 2008

The Annual Foster Care Picnic

So, we went to The Annual Foster Care Picnic (no pics of us the actual event to protect children in the background who may have an open case). So, we got there pretty much on time. We meandered over to the welcome booth to get wrist bands for the promised activities and lunch. There were several families in front of us who had been waiting for a while, "What's the hold up?" I asked the lady in front of me who replied that they had run out of wrist bands. The line began moving again shortly and we assumed that they found extras for the second half of the families.
So, we get to the front of the line and a man walks up to my babies and proceeds to wrap their bitty little wrists in.....wait for it......crime scene tape.
I looked at the man, aghast. Was this some sort of tasteless joke?
"We ran out of bracelets." he explained.
"So you're wrapping the foster children in crime scene tape?"
He gave me an apologetic glance, and we moved on to the lunch line, my littlest one attempting to gnaw the plastic off his tiny wrist.
At the lunch booth we were told that all the condiments, drinks, chips and napkins had run out. Only half of the families had been served.
We took our dry hot dogs to the lot of crowded picnic tables, the boys anxious to eat quickly and head over to the snow cone booth.
Except that by the time we got there the syrups were gone. The kids were taking their plain cup of ice with disappointed looks.
But, that's OK, because at least there's still the free booth where every little one gets a new toy and the older ones get a backpack with some school supplies inside!
Yeah.
They, too were out.
I was mad, not for my boys who weren't terribly disappointed, but for the older ones who had really been looking forward to this party after they received the invitation for "a day of free lunch, dessert, toys, school supplies, games and FUN!!"
These kids have already suffered so much disappointment and loss, it seemed like a burn. Especially from the agency who is charged with protecting and rehabilitating their damaged little selves.
Just the crime scene tape issue alone seemed really insensitive. I mean, these are children who have possibly been victims of/witnesses to a crime! Anyone who has helped a child through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder knows that this visual stimulus could really throw them.
C'mon folks!!
I'm thinking of writing a letter. I mean, it was a nice thought and I appreciate what they were attempting to do, it's just that a lot of the kids left really disappointed and I didn't really see any caseworkers there. I wonder if they know that it went down like that?
Do you think I should write an anonymous letter to a manager?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nee...You should just send a copy of this to them. It makes you wonder how they could have been so disorganized and yes insensative? Good luck with this. At least your children are well grounded and can accept the disappointment well. There are other children that can't understand and would take this as a huge let down/set back.

Anonymous said...

AMAZING! If I didn't know better ,I'd swear we lived in the same county! This happened to us a couple of years ago.
No food, no prizes, no nothing. Only sitting on a curb in the boiling hot Ga sun in August looking stupid. That was after driving 30 minutes to the "event".
After that, we said NO MORE.

Lovingmyamazinglife said...

Yes,you should write a letter,so they can better plan next year.These kids don't need more crud to deal with.

Anonymous said...

I do sell the "boy" monster shirts. I just haven't gotten around to posting them on my etsy shop. If your interested you can email me ddashby16@hotmail.com.
Or I'll try and get them listed soon on etsy.
thanks

Unknown said...

Hey, Andrea Lunde's Friend here. We got an invite to a Halloween Dress Up thing at DHS. Which my kids are excited about, 'cause they love to dress up. I hope it doesn't stink too.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely ~ take a copy of this and send it ASAP and if it were me . . . . . . I'd sign my name and tell them I expected to hear back from them! But then, that's your mother's style ~ at least send the letter. Love ya!

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