I have been writing this blog for a year now. In some ways it seems much longer, especially when I look at the fact that I have written nearly 500 blogs in the past year. Isn’t that amazing? Who would have thought there would be that much to discuss about foster care and adoption?

Besides the almost 500 blogs, a lot has changed in the past year. Hannah had been in our home for less than a month at the point that I started blogging. She joined us in December of 2006, and I started shortly here shortly after that.

One year ago, Sammy was in a residential treatment center and was somewhat more stable than he is now. We knew his time at the treatment center was coming to an end and the search was on for a treatment foster home. We had lost our rose colored glass optimism that we could bring him back home.

Here we are, two foster homes later seeing his behaviors worsen, and Sammy not caring much anymore. Not much has changed for the better as far as Sammy is concerned, but I am fortunate enough to have met some fantastic foster parents as a result of his moves.

Hannah has been with us just over a year now, and is pretty much an emotionally healthy little girl. In fact at our appointment with the psychiatrist tomorrow we will be discussing weaning her off her medication. We purposely waited until after her placement anniversary to try this.

In the past year, I have scaled back my responsibilities with ATN to deal with some of the overwhelming things I have been dealing with at home and with Sammy’s treatment. It is a decision I don’t regret since it was best for my family.

In the past year I have ventured into the worlds of MySpace and Facebook to discover foster and adoptive parents on both sites who are struggling as well. I have “met” a couple of great woman who are working on legislative reform and bringing issues to the fore front.

What hasn’t changed in the past year? Foster care and adoption reform. Very little headway has been made on the changes our kids really need. Unfortunately, this is not unusual. Foster care reform moves slowly, if at all. You would think with the needs of our kids we would be able to get changes made, but kids don’t vote. I have written to legislators many times and spelled out quite specifically what needs to be done. I have received a few token letters back, but overall my voice was not heard.

I wish getting reform were as easy as writing 500 blogs in the past year.

I have enjoyed this and am looking forward to the next 500 blogs and hearing your comments. I value your feedback. Let me know what has changed for you in the past year. As always, if there is a topic that I haven’t addressed that you are interested in, I am always open to input!

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