Author Archives: threescurvydogs

Bring in the Spring

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Spring at our place means playing outside! It is an amazing feeling to get out of our tiny house and into our big yard. The boys have 5 acres to play on and there’s nothing better for three busy boys then to be able to run free.

We got to take the big boys to a Mariner’s game, which is always fun but also exhausting. It was through the Kitsap Foster Parent Association so we got some time to chat with Tim & Naomi and their crew and catch up a little. We also got some great free Mariner’s hats that say “We Are Family” on the side. Nice family time, but were in major meltdown mode by the time the game was over. When we were about to start walking back to the ferry, the boys were watching the pedicabs and asking for a ride. We were down to our last $2 cash and there aren’t many that hold a family of 5. Levi spotted a bigger one, started chatting up the driver and it turns out it was an electric pedicab and the driver was the owner. He offered to take us to the boat, and I pulled out my $2 and told him sorry, that’s all I had. He was generous and gave us a ride for $2! Nice way to end the adventure.
Our cat, Billie Jean, has become quite the hunter. She keeps trapping and playing with birds and try as I may to save them (and that’s a big deal because I HATE birds) the cat has killed a few. We had a nice little burial for the latest victim.
The last picture needs a little explaining…the boys love going down to the neighbor’s house to say Hi (and get popsicles). We’ve sent down a supply of Otter Pops to keep them in stock for our boys. It’s always a treat for them to get to see John and Terry and the “big boys”. Anyhow, the other day they went down the hill….and took forever to come back. I called down but they didn’t hear me so I started walking down to get them. From the tall grass, up popped 3 little heads. I asked what they were doing and they said that the neighbors were busy but they could come back later for a popsicle. The boys were waiting for later, in the grass, just above the neighbor’s house.

Family Pics

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For Mother’s Day this year, I decided that I would give Dee a family portrait session. The photographer came out last weekend and we packed up the crew and headed to the beach. The lighting was perfect and we got some great shots. The pictures came back today and I couldn’t be happier. They are perfect!

Happy Mother’s Day, Dee!

An Outrage

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I usually don’t get political on the blog, there are other blogs who fill that job, but this I read and couldn’t let go. This was sent from the Foster Parent Association of Washintgon. It’s an outrage.

Update

April 6, 2010

“Foster Parents sometimes forget they are only 3 hots and a cot.”

The Honorable Kenneth L. Cowsert

SnohomishCounty Superior Court

THE VOICE OF THE CHILD

A twelve year old girl came to court in Everett last month. She has
been in foster care with the same foster parents for the past 3 1/2
years. This month she turns 13. Her mother was in court, too. The
girl came to tell the judge, Kenneth L. Cowsert, that she wanted to
stay with her foster parents. She has had very little visitation
with her mother over the past three years. The judge asked the
child’s attorney and the Assistant Attorney General for their
positions. The child’s attorney said that since the foster parents
were not able to adopt her, that probably returning her to the mother
was the best option. The attorney said that the girl did have a very
close relationship to the foster parents and that they were grieving
over her leaving.

“Foster Parents sometimes forget they are only 3 hots and a cot,” the
judge retorted. If they are grieving, he continued, they should not
let her see it, and if they don’t know how to behave they should come
into his court room and he would explain it to them or remove their
foster care license. The judge then told the girl that she could not
stay with her foster family. The girl then asked if she could stay a
few more weeks, since her birthday was coming up and she wanted to
have a party with her friends before she left town. The judge said
no, in fact the judge order that the girl go with her mother directly
from the court room, and that if she needed to pick up her clothes and
things, they could be sent later.

Afterwards, our court observer saw the mother leaving the courthouse
with the daughter. Neither looked or spoke to the other.

I can’t comment on the decision itself without knowing more about the
case, but the brusque way the judge treated that little girl was
uncalled for, brushing off not only her modest birthday party request
but also her need to say good-bye to the family with whom she had
stayed for the past 3 1/2 years. How horrible for the child it would
be if foster parents really did give nothing more than three hot meals
and a place to sleep. How horrible it would be to think that the
people you have lived so much of your life with were not grieving over
your departure. We are not inn keepers. We are foster parents.
Would anyone really want their child placed in a home that has no
love?

Judge Cowsert owes an apology to all foster parents. He first owes
an apology to that young girl.