Non-Meeting Meeting

I was "a bit" stressed out about the family team meeting to be held this afternoon. Even though I thought it would be rough, I was hoping it would be productive, since the past few have not been. The girls are to be going back home very soon, but there are some things that need to be addressed...well, at least things that I think need to be addressed! Personally, I haven't seen an ounce of progress in their mom since the girls came to me over seven months ago which doesn't make me very positive in thinking she isn't going to repeat the behavior that led them to be taken from the home initially. Anyway, I had a "mini conversation" with the teen this morning letting her know I care about her a lot and want what's best for her, but the family team meeting could be tough. There are some things that I'd like to get off my chest, but wasn't sure if I'd really get rid of them at this meeting. However, I kind of wanted her be a little prepared for some harsh words directed at her mom either by me or someone else. Going back home is going to drastically change her life as she has known it for the past thirteen months--some changes obviously are good ones, but others are not. I was thankful she was seeing her counselor before the meeting, and was "lucky" that her counselor called me this morning (since she had written down the appointment for yesterday and wondered why we missed it) so I was able to give her a "heads up" that the afternoon may be hard for the teen.

All that planning/stress was for nothing, though, since when we showed up at mom's apartment, the agency worker was there, but their mom was not. The coordinator arrived shortly after we did and said she had just received a call that the girls' mom was not coming since she was at the unemployment or employment office. Kind of hard to have a "family team meeting" without the mom. (If you are keeping track, no this is not the first time she hasn't showed for a meeting and/or canceled and/or postponed one...pretty sure it's at least the third time, if not the fourth.) We were able to have a "mini-meeting", but couldn't really talk about her without her there, or address any concerns, or have any questions answered, or do much of anything. However, we I did make a point to tell the teen that she HAS to talk to her mom about how important school, HER school, is to her. She is doing amazing there, and did express she would like to graduate from that school. However, it is going to take some commitment on her mom's part, and apparently a lot of extra effort on the teen's part to get to and from school. She was pretty quiet, but she typically is when the conversation is tough (I'm not a fan of the "tough stuff" either...we are two of a kind...ha!) and I'm not sure what she thought about the possibility that the little one would go home first, then their brothers, and then her....

However, even with all of that, no one is able to tell me if there will be a "transition", or if all the kids will just go home at once one day. And, no one knows if this will be two weeks from now, four weeks from now, six weeks from now...their mom has proven to be awful at planning, so who knows how long it will take her to get her new place ready once she gets it!

So, now I need to get myself ready for these conversations another time (hopefully they will plan the next meeting on a day I can go, because I need to be there!). This seriously is messing with me big time! Remember, back before Christmas I wanted to have one of these "heart-to-hearts", prepared myself on at least two different days, maybe three, only to have the service coordinator be there by speakerphone which made it much more difficult. I prepared my heart for them to leave in August, then I prepared myself in case they some how left in between August and the early December court hearing, then I prepared myself for early December, and now when it is closing in on reality, I have no idea what or how to prepare.

In other news, we woke up to no heat...my house was 60 degrees when the teen and I got up at 6:15. I called at 6:40 and the technician arrived by 8:20 to fix it. Awesome! As it turned out, there was a bird in the furnace, but that wasn't the reason I had no heat. We could hear it moving and I was watching him work while sipping my coffee. He asked if I was afraid of birds. I said no, but didn't expect it to come flying out of there, so spilled my coffee everywhere when I jumped! He flew around my basement and then made his way up to the kitchen, then he trapped him in the living room before we directed him out the front door. Exciting morning (he did poop on my kitchen windows...yuck!) The heat was back on before 9:00 and I sent out a recommendation for the company on fb ;)

What a day, what a day. This isn't what I planned to blog about today, but at least I had time to blog something.
Night!