Relative Foster Placement - Please Advise

[Lesterbird]

We were informed 6 weeks ago of our five year old niece's placement in emergency foster care (mom is drug/alcohol addicted w/criminal history - she has also lost permenant custody of two other children to their respective fathers) and we have been considering applying to be her foster family. We were told by the social worker that because we don't know the child, we needed to start with visitation but have gotten nowhere arranging even an initial visit.

So far, we have made over 30 phone calls, mostly leaving desperate messages to case workers and now to their supervisors. We have gotten almost nothing in response. I'm beginning to understand that this lack of communication/competence is pretty typical within the system.

Are there agencies we can turn to for help or advice? Should we just continue to make daily phone calls and leave messages? Hire a lawyer? Start writing letters and send them certified mail? Actually visit Child Welfare offices and plant ourselves in the lobby? Call the media?

We're in California dealing with Fresno County. If anyone has any ideas of what our next steps might be, I would love to hear them. Even if we don't end up with this child in our home, we might be able to get a CASA worker appointed for her, or get her placed on the Heart Gallery. Something . . .

[Karen Jorgenson]

We encourage you to connect with your state foster parent association for suggestions on how to deal with this situation. Have you mailed a letter to the case worker and the judge, indicating that you are interested in providing a stable environment for the child? Letters should be mailed, with delivery confirmation.

[Lesterbird]

Thank you, Karen. We haven't tried the letters yet but may in the future. Got some calls several days ago from the system (!) and have an initial visit arranged for next week. It's a start. We are trying not to get discouraged but when there is so little help from the agencies and we are soooooooooooooo willing to become involved and help - just makes us so sad/angry/frustrated.

I did contact our state's foster care agency and will use that avenue later if needed. I also discovered that one of our county board of supervisors is an acquaintance of a family member so that may also be an approach.