I used to work with this lady who is now fostering my two little cousins. I’ve been watching them a lot while foster mom works. They are 4 and 6. The 6 year old is a handful (ADHD and ODD) and I know foster mom isn’t crazy about her.

So I was babysitting earlier and something was said about how foster mom is mean (not the first time they have told me this). I asked why they say that (the 4 year old started the conversation). She told me that foster mom screams, makes them stay in their room, kicks them and spanks them. The 6 year old said she doesn’t kick her and the 4 year old (who is pretty a reliable resource for being 4 and doesn’t lies or makes up stories) said that the 6 year old was lying and that she does kick them. Then the 6 year old said that she “smacks” her in the mouth and face. I was able to get the part about kicking recorded.

Then I drop them off with foster mom and she texts me saying the girls told me she beats them. I told her that’s not what they told me and told her what they said. She was defensive like I’d expect her to be. She said it isn’t true, she has “kicked toys towards them” and has “popped” the older one in the mouth when she “won’t stop screaming” and that she has spanked them “a couple times” and “smacked their hands like you would a toddler when telling them no” a few times.

I hotlined her. The girls had no way or reason to make this stuff up. Foster mom is on their radar for missing sibling visits (they have a brother) twice this last, missing counseling, and missing parent visits all this last week.

I have to babysit the girls tomorrow and DCFS has to look into the problem within 24 hours after the call is made. She will know I called, but it isn’t about her. I’m a mandated reporter so when the girls told me she has smacked/spanked/kicked them, I had to take it seriously. Not to even mention (which I did tell DCFS) about the overflowing sharps (used insulin syringes) container on the counter where the girls can easily get to it.

I just needed to vent. I’m worried about the whole thing. I know I did the right thing, but I’m worried the story will change and the girls won’t be removed and I will have jeopardized me seeing them.