An unwelcomed visitor...

About two weeks ago, we got a visit from someone with the Department of Human Services. It was about the kids. I think ever parent's heat just about stops when something like this happens.

Let me rewind just a bit....

Earlier in the week, my mother-in-law was visited by DHS because of some anonymous complaint. a child, about four or five years of age, was seen playing in the apartment complex playground by himself and later was climbing the patio fence to his grandparents' apartment because he was locked out. The address they told DHS was my mother-in-law's. The date of the complaint was around April 30th.

Issue one: Our children haven't been over to Grandma's in over six weeks.
Issue two: Our son, who is 3 1/2 albeit tall for his age, cannot climb the fence that surrounds her patio. It is way too tall and there aren't any footholds (meaning someone would have to jump to grab a hold of the ledge, then climb over).
Issue three: It wasn't even at our home.

After questioning her, they got our phone and address. Then they called Scott. Scott didn't take the news lightly that we were to be visited by DHS so they could inspect our home, see our children, check to make sure they had beds, and ask us questions. The visit was scheduled for a Friday (Scott's day off) for 10:00am.

Although, I knew that we would be fine I still worried. I still conjured images in my head of someone taking my sweet babies away. I decided to take the day off to make sure things went smoothly.

Fast forward to the visit...

We had cleaned our home from top to bottom. Everything as a neat and tidy as it could be. We didn't want to risk anything. We may have gone a bit overboard with cleaning, but hey, the house was clean.

10:00am came and went and no sign of the lady from DHS. Scott called a little after to find out what was going on. She was running a late. An emergency came up. He immediately gave her a hard time for not giving us a call. She said we could reschedule if we had things to do. He told her that he didn't want to reschedule and that he didn't appreciate having to wait around for her on his day off.

She finally showed up at about 10:45am. Forty-five minutes late. She stood in our doorway. Asked the kids birthdays and correct spelling of their names, glanced at the kids and said that's it. That's it!?? She made us worry, expect an inspection of our home, a laundry list of questions, and that's it? We didn't know whether or not we should have been glad that she didn't take our kids away or angry that she put us through all that. What a waste of our time and our tax dollars.

Scott called her after she had left asking her for her supervisor's contact information. She immediately got defensive saying things like, "it didn't seem like you wanted me there" and "you're trying to get me in trouble". Scott wanted to find out why they had to come to our home for an unfounded complaint made at a different home. He also wanted to let them know about being made to wait.

Scott finally got the number and spoke to her supervisor. She explained that it is actually part of their code to follow up at the child's primary residence as well. It was just to merely see if they were living in hospitable conditions (meaning the place isn't trashed and filthy and unsafe). The social worker should have let us know she was running late. And Scott did let her know of her attitude on the phone when he asked for her supervisor's number.

I am glad that all turned out well. I am not happy, though, that the situation ever happened.