Orientation - Not What I Expected

I've been anxiously anticipating this orientation at DFCS since last week. And today was the day! I have to admit... I almost threw up on the way out of sheer excitement! I didn't know why. I kept thinking, "Why are you so nervous and excited? It's just an informational orientation. They're not judging you. You're not going to get a child placed in your house based on this meeting. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM???" If that doesn't explain how eager I am to be a foster mama, then I don't know what will.

When we arrived at the DFCS office, we waited in the waiting room until we were called in. There were 2 other couples and the trainer. She seemed nice, but I had this feeling like we were a burden. You'd think that the "face of foster care" for the county would be a little more excited about potential foster parents. Just a thought. Anyway, I was expecting a presentation, maybe an FAQ sheet, schedule for upcoming training, or meet n greet with a case/social worker. Nope. There was a 30 minute video with statistics from 2005, and that was it. I'm glad we've done a lot of research and already made up our mind, because I really believe that if we were on the fence, this orientation would not have convinced us to go through with it.

Even though I am disappointed with orientation, I'm very happy to be one step closer to being a foster parent. We signed our letter of intent and some paperwork. Now we're just waiting to hear back on training days after they do our background checks.

I guess the biggest thing I've learned from this experience is to not base important decisions on the enthusiasm of other people. Know your calling. Know your passion. Know your reason.

What's yours?