Waste of my time...

So... before Jake had all of this crap going on I had never really had any experience with the state system. I had heard people make cracks about how they are wasting the taxpayer money but I never really understood it until now.

Right after Jake got committed I got a call from DHS. They said they needed to do a home visit because of the circumstances involving his committal. So, I agreed. Then my family and my friends all came over to clean my house and help me get ready for this "home visit."

On the phone I had not gotten a great impression of this worker and meeting her in person didn't help. She was a flake. (I can say this because she is no longer my worker.) She showed up 15 minutes late to the home visit leaving me sitting in my living room frantically worrying that I had gotten the time wrong.

Then once she got there she walked in sat in the living room asked me a few questions and then proceeded to talk about herself for the next 45 minutes. I learned about her dog and her cat and where she lives and cases she's worked on, etc.

Very sweet lady, very scatter brained. She left the first meeting and I thought to myself oh God I'm in trouble. My son's fate is in the hands of THIS woman?? She was supposed to talk to some people in her office about long-term treatment options. Two weeks later I still had not heard anything.

So I called her, she called me back with no answers and basically told me what I already knew. G-R-E-A-T... thanks for the help. After that she told me that she was going to call me later to set up an appointment to transfer me to another case worker. Basically she does the initial assessment and then any further monitoring (i.e. Jake's UA's (Urine analysis... drug tests) when he returns) will be done by the new lady.

So, another three weeks went by until one day I returned from work to find a message on my answering machine. "Hi Heather this is .... I'm here with the new worker and we are just calling to set up a time to do the hand off." Ok... she knows I work, I gave her my business card why would she think I would get her message. This was a Friday. Monday morning I call her back.

This time I give her my cell phone number. THURSDAY she calls again. Leaves another message on my home phone. Still NOT going to be there during the day. So Friday I call her back. I give her my cell phone number AGAIN and finally that afternoon she calls my cell and we set a date for last Tuesday.

So Tuesday her and the other worker show up. She introduces me and asks a couple of questions. Still neither one of them looks around my house (which is a tad bit messier this time). I could have a meth lab in my basement or a cage that I lock my son in upstairs. No one looks.

Then as they are leaving the new worker (much nicer, MUCH less scatterbrained) says to me "I will give you a call in a couple of weeks to set up a home visit so I can get some history from you."

Hello?? She was at my house. Why didn't she ask me the questions then instead of making me take time out of ANOTHER one of my evenings to meet with her??

So the final icing on the cake happened this morning. I go to the DHS office to talk to them about aid. I had mailed in an application at the beginning of last week. I figured I was over the income threshold but everyone told me to at least apply. So Monday I get this letter in the mail saying that I have to be at their office at 8:00 on Thursday for an interview for aid.

No where in this letter did it say anything about my income being too high or anything. So I thought maybe since Jake was on a state commitment order and my bills were more than my income there might be a program I qualify for.

I get there bright and early this morning, I wait with the 20 thousand other people for them to open the doors. The women with their screaming children even though it states specifically on the application NOT to bring your children. I'm feeling very out of place but I figure maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe there is some grant or something that I qualify for.

They open the doors and it is a mad dash to the front counter to check in. Then I sit down and I wait. Twenty minutes later they call my name and I head back to this woman's office. I no sooner sat down than she looks at me and says "it says in your application that you make this a month. Is that correct?"

"Um, yes.."

"Okay you are over the income threshold. Please sign here, have a nice day."

WTF?? They made me go down there for that? Couldn't they have told me that in a letter?

After 60 days of dealing with these agencies I now fully understand why people say that they are a waste of taxpayer money. They have paid two DHS workers to come to my house twice now to sit in my living room and make small talk. They have also paid someone to write a letter to me and then to process my paper work and speak with me this morning when all the had to do was say denied and save us all some time.

What a crock!!