No families

We had a meeting today to update Cori's permanency plan. We had the meeting at the residential school for people with developmental disabilities where her sister (Twin A) lives. (As a side note, I got to see Deb while I was there. The worker was running late and we were waiting in the lobby. Deb walked by a couple of times and was quite happy to see me.) The worker finally arrived and Cori and I had to sit through the meeting for the sister. It didn't take long. We did Cori's meeting next. It didn't take long, either.

Her goal was changed from "adoption, family identified" to "adoption, family not yet identified" to reflect my decision not to adopt her. They are, no doubt, hoping to guilt me into adopting her. I just can't. I can't meet her needs and can't keep her safe (from herself). I'm NOT the best placement for this child. Me adopting her would get her off their list of waiting children but it would also finish me off - permanently! I just can't do it.

A few weeks back, Cori told me they'd held a selection, which is where the team reads over the home studies sent in for her and choose the best family for her. After the selection, they meet with the number one family and present her to them. They, after hearing her info, say yes or no to adopting. If they say yes, she starts transitioning to that home. If they say no, her info is presented to the number two family. Evidently all 3 families, after hearing her history, declined to take her.

So, here she is. She'll be 16 years old in a week. Her social history reads like a horror movie. Her behaviors are off the charts. I believe she has the ability to become violent. She must be supervised around anyone under 18. Where does she go from here? I was holding on by a thread, waiting for her to move to an adoptive placement. I just knew it was close. Now, not only is it not close, I'd guess it's even unlikely. Where do these kids live? How sad that there are situations like this.