Fostering Experience Part 5 nearing the end

Mind you. Hubby and I are still in this for the long run. We will both work our asses off to adopt these kids and give them stability. It's still fall, and we have plane tickets for Christmas, we have plans for the spring and summer (okay, most of those are in my head), but we're planning. We are working to make sure these boys have stability and success in life. We are fitting them and fitting with them. Our marriage becomes stronger during this, well, we communicate a lot anyway...

We've had the boys at this point for 6 weeks. I've brushed over a lot of things, but you don't need the day to day, you just need an overview. I've given you a few red flags that are beyond the normal child range. At this point, we also figured out that the TV is a trigger. The 7 yo cannot watch TV (really at all) for long periods of time or before bed, or there is a total and utter meltdown. So we've developed a house rule that only the adults know that no TV during the week or before bed. We just keep them busy up until bed. We truly cannot use the TV as a babysitter. I am including destructive behavior in this meltdown, hitting, kicking, trying to break furniture, pushing. I'm usually the target.

We go to Longwood Gardens one evening to see their fountain light show. It was actually a good night overall. The kids listened. They behaved, it felt good. Our troubles were light. They enjoyed the lights and the gardens (well, the treehouses). It was an experience.

Then at 1030pm hubby came to get me because 7 yo was in the bathroom screaming. This has happened before, the day before school started, he woke up starting at himself in the mirror. But tonight he was screaming bloody murder. We had no idea what was going on. We tried to talk to him. We tried to move him, we tried everything. I called the CPS worker on call who was less than useless. Finally, he screamed himself out and fell asleep on the couch. It was weird and traumatic. He didn't remember it the next day. This continues for a week. I already have left numerous messages for the CPS worker to call me. I'm looking into extra therapy for him and psychiatric care. He has night terrors, it's very clear. I got to the point where I could deal with them (for whatever reason, he wouldn't respond to hubby) and calm him down fairly quickly. It was frightening for us. Beyond frightening. And this is not anything one is prepared for, but luckily I'm a trained social worker, and research and have friends and figure it out. WITH NO HELP from the worker. NONE. She is completely MIA. Mind you, I called the on-call person at like 1am on a weekend. I never heard from our worker after that. Nothing. We were totally at a loss. But we were still in it for the long haul. We had an action plan.

After more than a week of nothing, it's now a Thursday... I have as many appointments scheduled as I can without permission from CPS worker (which isn't many). Luckily, I do have pull. At this phone call where I've been trying to get in touch with the worker for almost two weeks. She drops a bomb.