The Next Generation of Fans

If you know me you know that I have a love for all things Bonnie Raitt and Mama S lovingly puts up with it.  I have everything she's done since 1970 (even the obscure stuff when I can get my hands on it) and have been known to travel far distances to see her, or even go without meals to afford tickets (more on that later maybe).  This weekend she was in Florida and I was able to catch 2 of her 3 concerts.  I was absolutely tickled when she shared a little anecdote before she sang "Have a Heart".  She talked about how many of her fans told of how they loved listening to her music in the car with their kids but weren't too keen on the first few words of the song being "Hey! Shut up!", as their little ones were picking up the term.  Everyone got a good chuckle and then she off-handedly commented that most of the kids of that time are in their 30s now experiencing the same thing that their parents had 20 years before.  I had to smile to myself and think about our future kiddos and the Bonnie-loving seeds that I will have to sow.  Maybe next time she's touring we'll have a few young fans in tow with us.  Won't that be grand? 

By the way, still no word on the Home Study, but I'm hopeful that we'll hear something soon.  Definitely makes "Nick of Time" more understandable!

Persistence and a Pinch of Discrimination?

We have been playing a rousing game of phone tag with our new case worker, with us reminding the case worker that she was "it" on a fairly regular basis.  However, it's been a jarring experience with her (who we'll just identify as T for her first name's initial).  When we did finally get a call back from T, she was very confused about what kind of Home Study we were calling about.  Apparently, despite what the previous case worker told us, she never did review our file with T, but that will be further detailed later...  So T had to check with her boss (who we'll call D) and make sure that she had our file in her office.  She promised to get back to us after she had some answers...


Fast forward to today.  I checked my phone after an assignment this morning only to see that I missed a call from T.  Beaming with a grin the size of Texas, I went back up to my office and listened to her voice mail to the sound of "I'm calling to schedule your home visit".  Best. Words. Ever!  At least they were until I called her back.  She began the conversation by apologizing and then proceeded to tell me that our entire file had been lost.  Talk about a punch in the gut.  She again apologized and offered to meet with us to work with us on all the paperwork tomorrow (Saturday) morning.  I hung up from her and spent the next hour on the phone trying to track down forms and such.  In the end I called D and asked her to get whatever forms I needed for them ready so I could come get them in my travels to gather paper from around the universe.  She asked that I give her the opportunity to go digging through the old case worker's office, as it's still vacant.  There, stuffed in a drawer, was not only our paperwork, but also our unopened adoption packet still in it's envelope with 7 stamps pasted on it.


In the end, it turns out that our former case worker never bothered reviewing any of the files with T and D told me that she had been given all the other current home studies in progress but that ours wasn't among them.  Now, I try to give her the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe she just got busy, put it aside and it didn't cross her mind again.  Out of sight, out of mind kind of thing.  Or, maybe she hid it on purpose as many people seem to think.  I don't know and we will never really know, nor will it do us any good to dwell on it.  However, we are very fortunate to have two very motivated people (D and T) on our side now, who are going to push through the review of our documents as fast as they can so they can expedite the rest of the Home Study.  Maybe, just maybe, we can be certified by summer time so we can start inquiring about kids and MAYBE even have a placement.  It would be such a dream come true!  Until then, we'll continue with the same persistence that we have been and hope that there won't be any pinches of discrimination.