Now for the good news about our DFCS experience: Post-placement.
Once we were placed with the children, we were then introduced to their Case Worker. She was a young lady that had not worked for DFCS a real long time. She was very professional and on top of everything going on with their case. She was approachable and while oftentimes she didn't know the answers to our questions, she was always prompt to get back with us with an answer. I can't remember exactly but it seems like our kid's case might have been her first case where the parental rights were terminated. Even still, she never dropped the ball on anything, not even once. Maybe she hadn't been around DFCS long enough to get jaded and burned out. However, I like to think of her as a person that cared about her clients and about doing her job efficiently. The system needs more Case Workers like her. Period.
Our children also had a therapist that came to our home once a week. She didn't work for DFCS but rather with an organization that DFCS contracts with. She too was very professional, knowledgeable, and likable. She too sincerely cared about the children and was really attached to them by the time their therapy was discontinued. She went over and beyond in her call of duty while working with us.
Then once the parent's rights were terminated, we were passed on to an Adoption Coordinator (or some title like that). She was also precious. We had the least amount of interaction with her as that was the last leg in our adoption journey. Once the rights were terminated, we went in and signed a ton of paperwork. For anyone that has ever mortgaged a home, it was very comparable to that. Then the paperwork was filed and we waited for the court date to roll around. However, we use to see her at a lot of DFCS functions that we attended. She always went out of her way to talk to and encourage us.
So once we were placed with children and until the adoptions were finalized, we had weekly visits by their therapist. Then we had monthly visits with our Case Worker AND with the children's Case Worker. While the Case Worker visits were independent of each other, they were oftentimes very repetitive with the same questions etc. If my memory serves me correctly, it seems like the Adoption Coordinator came to our house once after our file had been passed on to her.
I can't say enough good things about the kid's Case Worker, Therapist and Adoption Coordinator. Actually, I like them so much they made it to our Christmas card list! Because of them, I can definitely say that we had a positive DFCS experience. There may be a bad apple in every bunch but you have to toss it aside and appreciate the good!
Lastly, I think it is important to note that we had a very smooth adoption process in general. There were no hurdles or roadblocks along the way that we had to overcome. The biological family didn't play any games and neither did DFCS. It really progressed along exactly like a text scenario on an efficient time line.
So YES, I would be willing to do it again!
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