Quote Originally Posted by Lou View Post
Wow, this child sounds just like a child I took care of in my 'Centre Care' days. She always came in wreaking of cat pee and smoke...her hair was knotty and greasy...and since she had many toilet accidents we asked Mom to send in more extra pairs of underwear and get this: she sent in her back pack a pair of XXL woman's underwear, unwashed, with feces still in it. It was beyond disgusting and CAS was called on numerous occasions.
Has it reached a point of being THAT unsanitary for this child? Do you believe he is living in unsafe/unclean condition? It might be something to consider.
And yes, the reason you are not terminating them is because you feel for the child...it's not his fault that his parents are losers, and I don't blame you a bit for feeling a sense of revulsion. It's gross, no doubt about it.
Definitely, address his state of hygiene upon arrival today...perhaps send a note reminding them to please be sure that _____arrives clean, with clean clothes on a daily basis for sanitary reasons. This will be their warning...give thema chance to turn it around immediately or show them the door and call CAS.
Well I don,t think at this point it's CAS issue really... I think it's their way. The parents are young and don,t know any better. They also have a low income which makes things difficult for them. I don't doubt the child is cared for at home but the parents could be overweahled beeing so young with all these responsabilities. The mom spends the week mostly by hersef with the child. All grand parents are too far to help over the week. One thing I am sure of they certainly don't know about good nutrition or maybe don't really value it. The hygiene issue I think could be due to a lack of organisation and knowledge. I don't think it's to a point of abuse or neglectfull to a point that I worry about the child's safety but it's not healthy and is disgusting. It's hard for me to explain in english terms but I think the word is clueless... it's just no worries and clueless. If all the things that has happened with this child would have happened to my child I would have been purple with embarassement.... But not them.

Urgh ! It"s that my feelings for these people are becoming negative and I HATE that and I also feel guilty about it.

Thanks for all your comments...they are helpfull and I will sit down and really try to find the reason why ...as Valerie suggested. I think this will help .