No kids yet

I spoke yesterday with Evan's social worker, who is now the family developer. She is also on the committee that decides which kids go into the program. Though the program is private, the committee also has state workers on it.

After talking to her about Evan and assuring her that I would tell him to contact her about getting set up with a transitional services worker, I asked her if she had found a kid for me yet. I asked with something of a joking tone of voice, because I know very well that if they had found a kid for me they would have called. They are not going to forget about us.

She said that no, they hadn't identified anyone for us yet. There are 10 kids in the intake process, but as far as she knows, none of them is a match for us.

I reminded her that we the family had said that we would take kids who needed to be in a GLBT-safe home for any number of reasons.

She was a little vague, and I did not push, but I came away from the conversation with this impression: there is at least one kid in the program or in the intake process who they suspected is closeted. They are trying to figure out the best way to help all such kids. Though we might be a good place for them eventually, they don't think that it would be good to just plop them into the PFLAG house.

I get it. The kids have to travel their own journeys. Placing them with us is tantamount to "outing" them. Oh, they know that we would be accepting of a kid wherever he or she was in the journey. We would be cool caring for a straight youth who just happenned to ping people's gaydars. But still. We are the house that has taken three gay boys.

They are unlikely to give us a kid until they are certain that he or she is ready for us.

D*mn.

Oh...and before you ask...I know they are working on ways to communicate to the kids that it is safe to come out.

I just remembered that they asked me a month ago to send them some PFLAG brochures to leave in their lobby and I forgot.

Double D*mn.

I'll put them in the mail today.