Fostering: second home visit

We just had our second home visit with the foster lady! Naturally, I freaked out - why let all this awesome worry go to waste - and cleaned like crazy, even though I had been assured by other people in our class that they didn't look at the house at all. Late last night, Andy even hung a picture in the downstairs bathroom, because the paint on the wall in there is a little bubbled and I didn't want her to tell us we have to repaint it. She didn't, possibly because she only was in the living room and the doorway to the kitchen.

This meeting was basically a chance for our caseworker to chat with us outside of our classes. The lady we met with today is the one who will be responsible for putting kids in our home eventually, so it's important for her to know how we roll. She had our paperwork from our first meeting (with a different caseworker) and clarified some things for our file - what school district I had worked in, how long I had been on antidepressants, how long I've been off of them. She said she likes to be as thorough as possible from the outset, so if there are any questions she already has the answers. I like that.

I also felt a little relieved about having a chance to clarify some things I'd shared in class that I felt had been misunderstood a little. I've worked with kids who have been in foster care and I've seen the kinds of situations some of them get released to, and I said in class that I would find it very difficult to see a kid be removed from my (safe) home to go to a home where it might not be safe. The trainers pointed out several times that it's out of my hands, and I know that. I guess I was just voicing frustration at having seen this and eventually having it happen in my life, and I worried that it sounded like I'd try to fight against the birth parents or something. I explained to the caseworker a little about my background and I think it helped her see that I'm not, like, a crazy kid-snatcher or something, and that I want the birth parents to be successful. I just don't want them to meet the minimum requirements, get the kids back, and backslide.

She said she has all of our requirements except our physical evaluations, so I'm going to call the doctor tonight and make some appointments. After our tenth class (we're halfway done! Last night was Number Five!), she'll come out and do our final home inspection, at which point we'll need to have our sunroom painted, some shit moved away from the furnace downstairs, and that mysterious certificate of non-use about our fake fireplace. Oh, and we'll need to get a crib mattress. But she said we're in great shape and that the county doesn't have any concerns about us.

What else do you all want to know about this crap?