When I was in foster care I sometimes had to pick up my kids from school for therapy, birth family visits, doctors appointments, etc. Now most of my kids are in the Detroit Public School system. I have been to three, for sure, different schools in Detroit to pick up kids. NEVER did I ever have to show id nor did I have sign out the child. The first time I had to pick up a kid I walked in told the secretary who I was picking up and as I was starting to tell her who I was, she was already looking up which room he was in and she was dialing the classroom as I was still talking. I thought that the foster parent had called the school to give them a heads up. When I thanked the foster parent later for letting the school know she told me she forgot to call . This happened everytime at every school that I went to in Detroit. Granted I was wearing my work id but it hangs on a cord thing and its usually backwards so you can't see my picture or the name of my agency. Also I wasn't on any of those "in case of emergency" cards which wouldn't matter since I never saw a school official look at one. I never really thought how strange that was until today.
I went to a school in a wealthy suburb to pick up one of my kids for an adoption hearing. I had to show my id, they made a copy of my drivers license, took my business card, called my supervisor and the foster mother before they got the kid out of class. I had to answer to two different school officials explaining who I was and why I was there. Yes the foster parent had even called this morning to let them know that S was leaving early.
Whats up with that? Those kids are equally important and all of them deserve to be protected while they are in school yet any yahoo with a badge and a workbag who looks frazzled can take a kid out of a Detroit school with no one wondering why? Lovely.
No comments:
Post a Comment