Dear Boss:
When I came to you yesterday and suggested that the teen moms I work with attend a sexuality workshop (sponsored by the county health department) so that they can learn about abstinence as well as the prevention of HIV/AIDS/STD's, you said that the girls need to have fun actvities that they can do like going to the water park and shopping at the mall. Excuse me, these girls are having a little too much fun as is. They take their babies to daycare (which the city pays for) but aren't working or going to school; they can cuss me and the housemom and other staff out, but when we give consequences for their negative behaviors you go behind our backs and let them continue to have their sign-out privileges and allow them to go where they want when they want as long as they are back by curfew.
Please stop trying to be their friends. They had those when they should have had parents to guide them but didn't. We have one mother about to age out of the foster care system and she's expecting her second baby when her first one is not yet 2 and she does not have a high school diploma or at least a GED. We also have another mother who used crack and weed during her pregnancy, resulting in the very premature birth of her baby who is addicted and cries and shakes all the time.
Did you also know that she has an STD and is refusing to take her antibiotics?
Do you realize that her substance abuse alone makes her
very inappropriate for our house? Not to mention the fact that she too is about to turn 18 and has only a 6th grade education and cannot read!!
(I know this because I took her to Wally World to get baby formula and she couldn't read what her WIC coupons said and almost got the wrong kind of formula) I'm sure you know all of these things but you are too busy trying to plan these girls' next trip to the mall. I will continue to do the job that I was hired to do and try to get the proper services for these girls and their babies pretty much because I have my own babies to take care of.
Your very tired and frustrated case manager,
9dstpm