Down a kid

The Cheerleader has left the building. She had been packed for weeks and loaded the van up the night before court with the expectation of going home. Her behaviors had escalated to the point where I was glad to see her go. I know that sounds horrible. I've cried when every child left our home, except for her. She had just made it super bright and clear that she was not happy about being here and didn't intend to make it pleasant for anyone involved. In the past two weeks there was sneaking out, lying, manipulating, triangulating, hiding things, talking back, not doing chores, intentionally consuming the last of food items and then laughing about it, and failure to comply with court mandated request. The more of her family that I met, the more clearly I could understand why she is the way that she is. They all operate that way. This isn't a typical family in need of CPS services. They are city employees, nurses, cops, office managers, etc so it's bizarre to witness their behaviors and try and get them to take responsibility for The Cheerleader being in care in the first place.

I was once again reminded at how children in foster care tend to create a fantasy family. The Cheerleader had talked about her family's money, their house with the high ceilings and expensive furnishings, their Mustangs and motorcycles, and all the great things they were going to buy her. I believed it because she wore Coach glasses and Jimmy Choo shoes, as do they. She complained about our shoddy screen door, the tiny bedrooms, having to share a bathroom with the other kids, and about our old TV with rabbit ears. So I wasn't prepared to pull up at her Nanny's and see a house half the size of ours with a screen door that was hanging off kilter and a bedroom so small you could extend your arms and touch all four walls. Sure the room was filled with guitars and computers, her Grandpa's toys that take over The Cheerleader's bedroom, and the TV was as large as the entire wall, but she'll have to share a bathroom with everyone there as there is only one and where she had 1400 sq ft to complain about here, she'll have roughly 700 to 900sq ft there.

I told her that if she comes back into care that she is welcomed here if there is an opening. She wants to go to the woman's house who ran against me for secretary of the foster parent association (you know the one who got it, then complained about it, then finally quit) because she lives in a large 5000sq ft house on the lake. Funny that lady recently had two kids to run away from her home and CPS called me to take one of them. They said it was only for overnight but I declined because we have tons going on right now. The people that took the 14 year old still have her ... over night schmover night. Anyway, The Cheerleader's worker said if The Cheerleader comes back into care that she will immediately go into a group home. They want her to learn a lesson. That'll be interesting.