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I'm your new case manager!

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"Hello, Ms. Hurtado? I'm J's newly-assigned case manager."

I laugh. "Maybe this week you are..."

That's not usually how the conversation goes, but maybe it should.

We've had J in our home for five months. In that time we've had two DCS case managers (that's not including the one who originally submitted his case to Casey), two school IEP case managers, one attorney/GAL and one assistant for the GAL, one social worker (thank goodness for the one!), two JFCS (behavioral health) case managers, two psychiatrists (or psychologists? I always forget the difference), two parent coaches (we declined a third) and one parent therapist. No wonder J has a hard time remembering names--and faces.

I knew getting into fostering that there would be a lot of people in and out but honestly the rumors about it happening quickly were no joke. All of these people are very nice and for the most part I'm able to keep them straight (but J and Brendon are hopeless) but I can understand now why J doesn't like talking about his past--or really anything that has to do with foster care.

ALL of these people come into the case with NO information. Each of them has to start from scratch getting caught up on what's going on. Would you like to tell your life's story (only the bad parts of course cause that's all they care about) to a new person each month? And then just sit by while they judge what might "help" you--especially when you don't feel like you need any help. You just want to live!

I knew what I was getting into by becoming a foster parent. The appointments and case managers don't bother me. But if I were a child, I'd be devastated. I imagine each new "team" member feels like a betrayal of the last. It's not their fault, I completely understand that, but a child might not.


As the manager of all case managers I'm really proud of my role. This is not my job. This is my passion. I'm excited to see J through to the end when he can leave all these case managers behind and manage his own life. I know he can do it. He's doing so well right now. I'm so proud of the boy he is.

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