Sunday, June 15, 2008

Wretched basement woes

Found following in article from local station news from April when the new regs were passed into law:

Previously, houses with basements were less likely to be approved,
which often ruled out good parents. New regulations now ease up on the type of
home an approved parent can share. "The homes that we weren't able to license,
we're going to be able to back and see if they meet the standard's now and
then could potentially open up the number of homes we have for kids.



I didn't know that homes with basements were less likely to be approved. I understand, they don't want kids living in crawl spaces (neither do I - there are spiders and mildew and creepy crawly things in those places!), but I think this regulation seems extreme. And it frightens me that a basement would prevent me from doing something that I feel so compelled to do right now, would prevent me from helping a child in need.


Um, HELLO!!!!, this is KANSAS!!! home of Dorothy. I think homes WITHOUT basements should be banned. Can anyone at the state say T.O.R.N.A.D.O.???


But then I read this in the actual regulations:

"Living space" means the rooms in a family foster home that are used for
family activities, including the living room, dining room, family room, game or
television room, and sleeping rooms. This term shall not include bathrooms,
laundry rooms, and garages.

And I think to myself....if I take out all the actual furniture in our downstairs family room and office, then all that leaves in the finished portion is DH's bathroom and the laundry room. So, maybe we can get around this by moving our office upstairs to one of our other spare bedrooms and selling the hideous sectional and t.v. with the green "bruise" in the upper left hand corner of the screen. I would gladly give up that, and it would cost me nothing except the argument that will certainly occur if DH and I attempt to move furniture, together, up the stairs, again.


I think I will wait for the home visit instead of freaking out. I may have just found myself a loop hole....

8 comments:

DC said...

Aw, shucks. You say the nicest things. :)

BTW . . . That is a CRAZY tornado picture!!

Jamie said...

I think that sounds like an excellent plan! I mean, it just isn't practical to be in Kansas and NOT have a safe place!

Erin said...

Horray for loop holes. Excellent plan, wait to be told you must make those spaces "non - living" spaces.

Kristine said...

Who makes up those rules???!!??

Paula Keller said...

I'm with DC, I thought for a minute that YOU took that picture, but I'm now assuming that you just lifted it from somewhere.

And that's a logical excuse to get rid of said hideous sectional!

Portia P said...

Here from nacomleavmo.

I'm with kristine - just WHO makes up those rules?!!!!

Tanya said...

I don't get why a basement is a bad thing. Everyone has a basement here. Can you tell me why it's bad?

Tanya said...

Ok... now I read the older post. Still seems silly to me though.