College bound

I went to a party tonight to celebrate one of the only 3% of 18 year olds in foster care who is going on to college this year. C is going to a 4 year state school and we are so proud of her. She is feeling a little apprehensive, nervous, scared, excited, happy and sad, all at once but she really enjoyed her party.

I was asked to give the speech where I lauded C's achievements, but I also underlined that even though she was technically no longer placed with our agency as of Wednesday, we were all there for her whenever she needs us.

Not only were her current foster parents there, but two of her respite placements, her therapist, foster care specialist, head of the foster department and myself were all there to celebrate her reaching her goals. It really illustrated the concept of shared parenting. And each adult there made sure to let C know that they were there for her, giving e-mail addresses, cell phone #s, etc.

We are all proud of C, not only is she the first member of her family in any generation to finish high school, she is the only one she knows, who is not a professional carer of her, who has ever gone to college.

Her fps will take her down to college and get her settled in, then they will drive back down in 2 weeks and pick her up for the Labor Day holiday, only that time they will no longer be being reimbursed. They don't care, 2 weeks later they are picking her up again for their son's birthday party that she wants to come to. So C is getting a real clue that maybe we care about her as a person not just as a foster kid!