Why Call It the "Mystery Mansion"?

The DHHS building must have at least 50 rooms. It has to have quite a few bathrooms. There are about 5 different play rooms and there is a grand entrance that you have to wait just inside the door until such time as you are called/announced. There are janitors to clean up and maintanence people to fix anything that might break. ..............If that doesn't describe a mansion, I don't know what does.

There are some areas that you need to have a special badge to get into as they are always locked. You also have to have your ID on. The building must be closed up by 5:00pm, but there is a special door out back where domestic agents and other spies are allowed special access. They make their decisions and refuse to give reasons for their decisions other than vague references that make no sense at all. .....................That all seems a bit mysterious to me.

Hence the name "Mystery Mansion"

Today we were told by our case worker that her supervisor said we can't take (S) out of state for 3 weeks, we can take her for 1 week. Well, I don't know if she is aware of how long a drive it is from New England to Oklahoma but how we are going to go there, visit the cities we want to visit and retun in one week is certainly a mystery to me. The only explanation she gave is it wouldn't be good to be gone that long considering "where we are in the case".....so where are we? We don't have that answer. It is another mystery. The supervisor wouldn't even give us the courtesy of telling us herself. She had our case worker tell us. I have a call into her but needless to say, she has not returned my call yet.

The people in the "Mystery Mansion" are always begging, pleading, and otherwise conniving to get foster parents and then they pull these kind of stunts. Well, we aren't going to hurt (S) at this point, but we are going to fight this decision. There is a court hearing the week after next (February 2nd) . It is my intent, if the supervisor leaves me unsatisfied, to ask to address the judge and personally ask him and explain why it would be best for (S) if we took this trip with her as opposed to without her. Can you do that? I don't know, but I will check if needed.

In the meantime, (S) is still sick and has been miserable. She has been on antibiotic for 2 days now but still not feeling well. We will probably take her back to the doctor tomorrow.

She had a short visit with mom, dad, and her brothers at the Mystery Mansion today. It was very closely supervised, and all future visits will be very closely supervised but at a different location. It would appear they are staring from scratch again, but I don't think they are going to get very far.

If I sound upset it is because I am. We were planning on taking (S) to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To an indoor water park. To see the St, Louis Arch. To see the cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum. To see the Vulcan Statue in Birmingham. Visit the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and of course the Graceland in Memphis. She loves ribs, so we would be stopping and having ribs somewhere along or near Beale St. The Trolley Museum in Fort Smith and a zoo, either Oklahoma City, or Erie. Now some of those places (S) probably doesn't care much about, but she was really looking forward to seeing a "Cowboyzeum" and going to a zoo as she has never been to a zoo before. I think she would love going for the ride up in the St. Louis Arch, and she loves our son (B) who lives in birmingham and was looking forward to getting to see him before the wedding. (He always has gifts for her). She can't get enough time at the beach and since we haven't been since September, the water park would have been wonderful.

Hopefully either the supervisor, her supervisor or the judge will find it in their heart to actually do what is best for (S) and approve our trip.