I think I'll call her Jade...

...although this girl is not Jaded at all! She's smart. Both of Jade's parents basically said, "you're responsible enough to be on your own [at 16], so I give you permission to live as an adult." Well, at 16, you aren't an adult. She's been living with friends and hopping from here to there. She has her GED and has already taken college courses. She is enrolling in college in the fall. She talked to her dad before doing this. He dad okayed it. She had sort of threatened her mom that she would and now that she did, her mom is getting scared. Texted her incessantly last night, so much that Jade almost blocked her. This was Jade's decision. She wants to be 17. She wants to be parented. She wants someone to set boundaries and care about her and where she is and what she is doing. She wants a responsible adult to guide her decisions. She's a bookworm and a talented writer. She smokes, but asked if it was ok. I said as long as she smokes outside and I'm not buying the cigarettes. Her mom has been sending her the child support from her dad, so she has money. Because she's in foster care as a teen, the state will help with her schooling. This really is a benefit to her. They're going to help her get a drivers license. Her social worker, I'll call her SW Helen was nice, but only gave me her work number. Um, it's the weekend. I'm new at this. I thought they gave you another form of contact. Most foster parents that I know have their kids' social worker's cell. I asked her for an emergency contact and she said to call the Sherif's office...I was like, WTF? Jade's eyes got real big. I assured her I had no intention of calling the Sherif on her! That's not what I meant. Anyway, today or tomorrow, I'm taking her for her required physical. Found out DSS has an agreement with one of the emergency patient places and although Jade doesn't have a card or anything, the patient place will just bill DSS. That makes it easy on me. So that is where I'm at now.