Day 19
It's been 10 years since I have published on this blog. Why post after 10 years?
Novel Coronavirus
COVID-19
"Rona"
THE Virus
We watched it slowly approach the US. I worried. The government worried. Some laughed it off as "just the flu". And then March came and the world changed.
March 9the approached and things felt different. I can't quite put my finger on it but I knew next week wasn't going to start like this week. And I couldn't have been more right.
March 13th - day 1 of "social distancing" and a new type of anxiousness.
But to understand it all, I have to back up. Back up to 2019.
In January of 2019, I somehow convinced my husband that we should become a licensed foster home. After a few years of being a Court Appointed Special Advocate, the pull to foster care was strong.
Respite
Hotline
Extreme Short Term
That's what I was selling to him.
We did the training, we did the home study, we jumped through hoops, we were told respite but not hotline (for at least 6 months), we got licensed and we got the call.
September 16, 2019, at 2:40pm while laying on the bed with a migraine and trying to process the weekend events of our 20-year-old son, we got the call. At 5pm we got the 2nd call confirming they were on their way.
One night, 2 boys, fentanyl positive.
My response - we will take them for a week. Check-in with us and we can go from there.
A week later we told them they could stay a bit longer. Then in December, we got an "end date". That end date came and went and they are still here as the pandemic makes its way around the globe.
The timeline thus far:
March 12th - receive a call from Parker Charter canceling conferences for the next day so that teachers could "use the day to plan for significant anticipated disruptions to the school’s schedule and attendance patterns this spring."
Although I knew it was coming, things now felt very real.
March 13 - Parker Charter makes the decision to close for 2 weeks. WPI announces that Spring Break will be extended until March 24th and that classes will be moved online beginning the 25th for at least 2 weeks. No students will be allowed on campus during that time.
March 14 - Guild of St. Agnes closes all facilities for 2 weeks.
March 15 - Raytheon asks all employees who are performing jobs that can be done at home to do so.
March 16 - DCF suspends in-person parental visits, social worker visits, required reviews and notifies us that courts are closed.
March 18 - Massachusetts Governor (Charlier Baker) mandates school AND daycare closures through April 6th. He also mandates "essential workers" only.
March 20 - WPI announces that the remainder of D term will be done online and that the campus will remain closed.
March 25 - Massachusetts Governor extends school and daycare closure through May 4.
Things change day by day and seem to vary by state. VT has already announced the closures of their schools for the remainder of the year. Some states have stay at home orders while some have stay at home advisories. Somewhere in all of this GPS suspends soccer activities and the most recent announcement was through April 20th.
Grocery stores remain open. Some are stocked better than others and toilet paper still seems hard to come by but in the grand scheme, people have what they need to get by. For now.
So this takes us to today.
Day 19.
19 days of kids 24/7 ranging in age from 3-20 and a husband working from home.
19 days of occupying kids that don't belong to us while the kids that do belong to us can get work done.
Don't get me wrong, we care for the 2 boys like they are ours but if you had told me that a pandemic with countrywide closures and major social distancing would be happening 6 months after they arrived, we wouldn't have signed up for this gig. They are a lot of work. In-person visitation has been suspended and DCF requested foster parents supervise video visitation. So in between trying to figure out how to entertain them, make sure everyone else has what they need and trying to remain sane, I get the "pleasure" of supervising a visit between a mom and 2 of her 8 children. She comes on the screen all decked out. I come on the screen ragged and my hair in a knot. While she reveals that she didn't even know one of them was headed to kindergarten next year, I sit worrying about making sure he is ready for kindergarten. While she sits with only herself to worry about, I sit worrying about not only myself but the 6 others that live here and the adult son who lives a few hours away.
Day 19. The anxiousness grows. The "what ifs" grow - what if both Chris and I get it - what if our parents get it - what if the grocery store runs out of staples, again - what if school closes for the remainder of the year - what if - what if - what if.
Day 19 - seems like its been 10 years.
