I'm sorry this post is so long. I re-read it to try and shorten but I think it's all relevant to offering advice. I am a CASA to a 15M and I think we have a good, solid relationship. We get along really well and he seems to trust me. Some backstory that I think is relevant, he was removed from his mother's care when he was 8 and was placed with a relative (both parent's rights were termed). Then about 2 yrs ago that relative decided that he was too difficult to handle (he was sneaking out at night to meet up with friends and smoke weed), so they turned him back over to the Dept but kept his younger sibling and adopted them. Since then he's bounced around from group home to group home due to behavior and that relative is basically out of the picture (they've visited him twice & now don't even return his calls). Even so, CASA kiddo hopes to live with them again.Late last year family connections found his adult sister (who is still pretty young) and she has shown an interest in having him placed with her. CASA kiddo was excited and improved his behavior in order to be eligible to step down his level of care and go live with her. He was approved to step down at the end of May, but then with covid, things seem to be moving much slower with the dept. The sister has also been slow to react, and it makes me wonder if she's having second thoughts or if there's something else going on there. It took the social worker over a month to begin the process with sister, but then sister needed to submit some basic info (DL, SS#, etc) and that took her 6 weeks to send back in. Now we've been waiting on sister to schedule an in home visit with the social worker, which has been almost a month now. We had a CFT this week and sister said she's been very busy at work but will try to schedule the in home visit soon.The CFT this week was an emergency mtg as CASA kiddo has begun acting out and his behaviors are escalating quickly (AWOLing, substance use and selling personal & the group home's property), and the GH is threatening to kick him out. We had a CFT a month ago and they reported he was doing well aside from school and now here we are. His social worker called me today (on her day off) to let me know there was another incident last night & if he doesn't improve his behavior asap that will jeopardize his placement at the GH and also with sister. The social worker said that he is showing that he's not really ready to step down.Ok, sorry this is so long but to the advice. I'm seeing him this weekend and I want to have a heart to heart with him to see where he is in all this. Like a lot of foster youth, this kid has felt a lot of rejection by adults he trusted and I'm worried all around for him. I'm worried he'll go with sister and she won't be able to handle it and he'll end up back in a GH. I'm worried they won't let him go with sister and he'll feel hopeless, even though it's due to his own actions. Any advice on how I can be there for him and support him through this would be much appreciated. Even with our good relationship, I'm always mindful to not to become one more adult telling him what he's doing wrong. I try to keep things constructive and I want him to know that I'm on his side and will be there for him no matter what. I do think he needs some tough love and to understand that if he keeps going down this path, he'll lose the ability to go with sister right now. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have. via /r/fosterit https://ift.tt/3kPUDBq
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