Broken records
One of the unexpected "joys" of adopting an older child from the foster child is the detective work you have to do to uncover their complete educational record. My girls moved once while in their biological parents home and shortly thereafter moved when they entered their first foster placement and again four months later for their second placement. A year later they were on to their third before meeting us a year later and starting at yet another school. Tracking down the complete record of their grades, test scores and all the other educational records has been interesting to say the least.
In this process I have discovered that some records officers (usually the secretary) are VERY helpful and kind, but that is definitely not true for them all. In one district -- interestingly, the one the students attended the longest -- it took four different requests, a couple of phone calls and several emails to receive a response. And what I was told didn't completely line up with what the rest of the records reflected. And one critical piece of documentation was lost entirely, even though it originated with that particular district.
It has been a frustrating process and it has been tough to keep my Mad Momma Bear instincts at bay. In the end it appears that my oldest daughter was screwed by the system and no one was advocating for her best interests along the way. Part of me wonders if it was racism the other part wonders if she was written off as not-worth-the-effort since she was a foster child and probably wouldn't stick around anyway.
This Momma Bear isn't through yet. Even if we don't have a complete record, we are ready to advocate right now.
In this process I have discovered that some records officers (usually the secretary) are VERY helpful and kind, but that is definitely not true for them all. In one district -- interestingly, the one the students attended the longest -- it took four different requests, a couple of phone calls and several emails to receive a response. And what I was told didn't completely line up with what the rest of the records reflected. And one critical piece of documentation was lost entirely, even though it originated with that particular district.
It has been a frustrating process and it has been tough to keep my Mad Momma Bear instincts at bay. In the end it appears that my oldest daughter was screwed by the system and no one was advocating for her best interests along the way. Part of me wonders if it was racism the other part wonders if she was written off as not-worth-the-effort since she was a foster child and probably wouldn't stick around anyway.
This Momma Bear isn't through yet. Even if we don't have a complete record, we are ready to advocate right now.
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