We
are currently waiting for our fostering license after it has been submitted to
the State of Arizona. Finally one year and four months from the beginning of
our training we are nearer the end than we have ever been. We are both very
excited. My wife receives a call about a possible placement as we are waiting
for our license. Not for placement before the licensing happens, but for us to
go over the case of a child currently in care to decide if she is a good fit
for our home.
The girl is a teenager, has suffered
sexual abuse from her father and uncles and would love to be adopted to have
some permanency and feel as if she belongs to a family. We attended a meeting
with several people from different support resources to go over what this child
needs in her life, how she is acting now in her placement, and what the future
could hold for her. Soon after this meeting my wife went to meet with this
young girl and her foster mother at a library, which is one of the teenager’s
favorite places to hang out. Immediately after meeting my wife the girl asked
if my wife was going to adopt her. Wow! How scary is that? I don’t know if the
girl was trying to sabotage her placement in our home or not, but it made my
wife and I very sad for her. Ultimately, we chose not to foster this particular
child. We did, however, consider it very carefully before coming to this
decision.
One reason was for my daughter’s sake. She
is 17 and needs the attention that this girl would be taking from us; mostly
because of her outgoing manner and mental problems. I know that one of the
support personnel individuals asked my wife if the foster mother had tried to damage
the possible placement, but my wife didn’t feel like this had happened.
During the time we were trying to obtain
the foster license we finally bought parts for my wife’s motorcycle that had
been sitting around since well before we were married. It is a yellow, 2003,
Honda CBR 600RR. This bike is in mint condition and we ready it for the road
with two new tires, a new battery, and insurance. The only reason we hadn’t
been riding it is that we prioritized the money it would take for insurance and
other costs to put toward fertility treatments.
By the time the bike was road ready, we
had become licensed to foster children in the state of Arizona. Yes, I snuck it
in there and can you believe that our dream has finally come true? On February
22, 2012 we received our license. From the beginning of the PS MAPPS class in
October of 2010 to the date of this part of the story in February of 2012 we
have fought and dealt with incompetent people that have not helped out the
situation of children sleeping on the floors of group homes that are
overcrowded and mixed with juvenile offenders and regular kids side by side.
Way to go you sorry excuses for people on this planet! Our persistence and dedication
have prevailed over this flawed system in child protection.
We
decided to take the “maiden voyage” on the bike to celebrate this
accomplishment. We travel to a town called Sonoita. The trip is a popular one
for bike riders, as the road winds in and out of rolling hills and landscape
that is pleasing to the eye. Sonoita is one hour from our home. Half of this
time is spent traveling towards the freeway exit that leads to this town from
our home in Tucson. We arrive in Sonoita late in the afternoon and stop at “Sonoita
Mercantile country Store and Deli” to grab a bite to eat.
We know this particular store, because we
have stopped at it many times in the past on trips to Patagonia Lake. This
store integrates: gasoline, restrooms, a place to sit and eat, not so fresh
daily made food, and many items you would find in a local convenience store.
The outside of the building is styled to look like a business from the old west.
It has a wraparound wooden porch, covered with a metal corrugated awning. Above
the awning is the second story that is inaccessible to patrons of the store.
My wife
steps off the bike after I have pulled it into a parking space. She removes her
helmet and I set the kickstand, lock the front wheel and take off my own
helmet. I step off the bike and stretch then unzip the front of my jacket. We
bought new riding jackets along with the tires and all. Each of them is black
with built-in removable armor to minimize road rash if we ever lay the bike
down. Her jacket is made of a poly mesh material and has a design that mimics a
tribal design but in a modern fashion. My jacket is thick leather and simple in
design with zippered openings for the admittance of airflow when needed. At
this time she is using her old helmet that has yellow, white and silver swirled
around in different designs. My helmet is new and solid black as I like it. I
wear my Harley Davidson boots that my wife gave me for my birthday in December
last year. The boots are black with thin belts running from the sole upward
where it attaches to a medallion with a silver skull on it. Two other belts
grab the silver skulls outer edge one extending around the front of the boot
and the other the back as the make their way around the footwear attaching to a
similar steel piece on the other side. This may upset some diehard fans of the
Harley brand name because I am mixing it with a so called “Rice Burner”. This
burner of rice will leave them in the dust before they have a chance to yell,
“Hey!” Besides, any real biker would welcome any other biker along, unless they
have a complex.
We walk to the front of the door, holding
our helmets to one side; we enter the double glass door entrance. We are
greeted as always when we walk into this establishment. Very warm, helpful, and
friendly are three words I would use to describe the different individuals we
have encountered each time we come here. I think to myself that this is how I
remember life in a small town, and I miss it. My wife agrees when we talk about
it later, but we have talked about our past lives; both, living in smaller
towns and how the feel of it is different from the city. Someday we may move
back into its slower paced life that promotes happiness in each of us. We walk
over to the deli and begin to look at the remains of food left behind the glass
separating the food from the customers. My wife hands me her helmet and states
her need to use the restroom. When she returns I am still looking into the
glass more day dreaming than looking at food. The ride was a great release and
long awaited thrill that I have missed for many years. I always say there is
nothing like riding a motorcycle. When I say this my wife always replies that
there is nothing like riding a horse. I guess we will own horse at some point
in our lives. We decide on the meal and after paying for it we sit at one of
the tables inside hanging our jackets on the back of our chairs. It feels so
good to relax and be away from the city.
This lasts for all of twenty minutes and
then my wife receives a phone call. It is our licensing agent asking if we are
home. She tells my wife that there is a young boy in need of emergency
placement. Before your paperwork is turned into the state the type of licensing
is needed. This encompasses how many children you can accommodate, if we will
take emergency placements, male, female, ages, race and the list goes on and
on. We are on the emergency placement list which means we have to stay
relatively close to home when we are without a placement. We only got our
license YESTERDAY! My wife tells the agent we can be home in…. she looks at me
and I excitedly say, “One hour!” I am already beginning to pack up food and put
my jacket on as she talks on the phone. Our agent says one hour is perfect and
we are back on the road in no time.
We arrive home and receive no call. We
expect to hear from someone about the boy needing emergency placement mentioned
to us while we were in Sonoita, but no one calls and it is now after hours. We
figure if they need us they will call, but are a bit miffed by the relaxation
being cut short for nothing. My wife contacts our agent the next day. She (the
worker) has no idea that the CPS worker had not called us to place the boy in
our home. Later she finds out that another placement was available in the same
family of the child. We are encouraged to hear that it will only be a couple of
days before we have a placement because the need is great.
End
of Part IV and the Licensing Storyline
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