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Life as an Author, Disney World Cast Member, and Big Sister through Foster Care & Adoption
                              Currently pursuing my own adoption journey... I'm #DreamingofaDaughter!
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A Continuing Story Line

5/12/2016

2 Comments

 
Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

Last week, I got kind of heated about an episode of "Chicago Fire" that dealt with the subject of foster care. Tonight, once again, I was catching up on shows later in the week, and this foster care story line continued.
Basically, one of the main characters is now trying to become a foster mother. However, after saving a little boy from a fire, who happened to be a foster child, this fire fighter has her eyes set on taking in this particular little boy.

In last week's episode, a social worker explained that the foster care system doesn't work like that; you can't just pick a child and ask to foster them. I was happy with that answer, hoping that the show would depict foster care in a realistic light. Unfortunately, this week's episode showed me that the show is not actually sticking to real-life scenarios in this story line.

With a cop for a brother, a boyfriend who recently became an alderman, and her fire chief giving glowing recommendations, this fire fighter is somehow getting her background check processed more quickly, getting meetings with top social services workers to plead her case, and even getting to visit with the little boy while he's living in a group home temporarily. After watching this episode tonight, I have a weird feeling that by next week the whole process will be completed and she'll be taking the little boy home with her.

As much as I love "Chicago Fire," and believe me, I really do love it, I'm just not happy with how this story line is progressing. Everything is usually pretty realistic; my mom and I even heard that the writers check with real fire fighters to see how situations would be handled so that things can be depicted accordingly on the show. Yet with this particular plot, nothing seems to be going according to the way it would in real life.

In real life, aspiring foster parents need to go through parenting classes for quite a while, I believe once a week. The background check takes forever, fingerprinting needs to be completed, and you need a few letters of recommendation explaining how you would be a good foster parent. You don't get to hand pick which children you'll be able to care for, and you don't have this immediate "connection" with the foster child because they come to you scared and unsure of what's happening and it takes a while for you to gain their trust.

Aside from that, there was negativity associated with foster care once again tonight, which made me crazy. The little boy had been placed in a foster home (much to the dismay of the fire fighter who wanted to take him in), but then he was sent back to the group home because he was lashing out, kicking and biting and whatnot. Even though he was just three years old, and the calmest little boy whenever he was shown in a scene, the foster family was afraid for the well-being of the other children in the home.

Yes, it's definitely true that you have to look out for all of the children in your care. There are certainly going to be times when something goes wrong and a foster child needs to be placed in another home. But we just had this negative image of foster care last week, when the foster mother was doing drugs and passing out. Now we need to see that foster parents just send kids back when they don't want them? I mean, come on, can't we see something positive for a change? It's a television show... they can spin this however they want! Being part of a foster family is difficult, and challenging, and absolutely wonderful... where's the loving foster family who will be providing for the little boy and giving him the comfort that he needs, even when he's traumatized from what's happened in the past? Why can't we see a story line where a great foster family takes in this little boy, helps him and loves him, and the fire fighter can rest easy knowing that he's in good hands?

Sometimes, I just don't understand the media.

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Thanks!
Taylor
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2 Comments
Pam
5/13/2016 06:32:56 pm

Hey Taylor!

I am beginning to wonder if there is any "normal" to the foster care system in toto. While I agree with your assessment of the show (ironically, I don't usually watch this show, but saw the episode you are talking about), I was just happy that someone, somewhere was getting approved for foster care. I have taken the classes twice now, filled out two sets of paperwork, have passed all my background checks, fingerprinting, etc., and it has been over six months since my last class and three years since my first class and I only heard from the caseworker last week (because I emailed her) where she told me that I should find a private agency to go through since she is overworked and too busy to do my home study. She has been on the job for over a year, taking over for the previous caseworker who had a back load of 200 homestudies to do. I have read articles upon articles, blogs upon blogs, and know personally so many foster parents and the bottom line is this: The system is broken. A broken system, sometimes hiring broken staff, to check into sometimes broken foster parents, taking broken kids from broken parents. Our national foster care system needs an overhaul in every way possible, and more money needs to be dedicated to hiring more staff for these jobs to protect these children. You are so right - the show was unrealistic, but for a few seconds of unreality, I saw a little boy being hugged by a woman who loved him. It gave me hope that somewhere, someday some foster child will find his mom/dad and get that same hug and degree of love. Good job Taylor for setting the show straight!

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Taylor Faith Krigsman link
5/20/2016 11:59:39 pm

Hi Pam!

I agree, it was nice to see someone caring about a foster child. It was just hard to separate a show from reality in my own head and I continue to make comparisons between the two. There's definitely a lot of room for improvement with the foster care system as a whole, but it would just be nice for once to see a positive light shed on foster care and foster families.

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    About

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    My family started doing foster care when I was three years old. We took in nineteen children over the course of eighteen years, with our last placement leaving in December 2014. I'm the only biological child in my family, though my parents adopted five of my siblings.

    I love to share my perspective on the foster care system and share how my unique upbringing shaped my life.

    I'm also a Cast Member at Walt Disney World and lover of all things Disney! My career allows me the opportunity to find a little bit of Magic in life every day.


    I enjoy sharing my journey as a writer as well. Find my children's books on Amazon and keep following my blog for updates on future books that I'll be releasing!

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