Rescued by Republicans!...

Yesterday was a pretty bad day.  One of those days where if something could go wrong...it did.

Like using your little window of time in the afternoon to find a place to notarize something.  This something happened to be a form to replace Gavin's handicap placard for our car.  It was "misplaced" (stolen, I say) when we had our car at the dealer.  It's not the biggest deal - we've had the placard in our glove box for about 3 years and used it probably twice.  But anyway... there were two places that listed themselves as having a notary service.  And when I got to each place I was told they don't have that service anymore.  So I gave up and came home UGH!  I hate wasted time.  Next time, I'll call ahead.

But the bigger, more critical issue involves Gavin going to school.  It's kind of a complicated story so I hope you'll follow this...

When Miss Sara started working with us, she had several background checks done - including a Child Abuse clearance done by a payroll agency as a requirement of our insurance.  That was in November or December.  Now that Sara is going to go to school with Gavin, she needs background checks for the school district.  FBI check, Fingerprints and this Child Abuse clearance.  I decided to get Fingerprints and the FBI check done on my own - thinking that they would be more current and last longer through the school year.  I called the payroll agency about the Child Abuse clearance though - I don't know why - and asked if they could send me a copy.  It took a long time for them to respond, but I had time so I wasn't sweating it.  Then - when they got back to me - they told me that the original (and only) results were mailed to Sara back when she started with us.  I asked Sara is she could bring it in.  She didn't recall ever seeing it, but she tore her apartment apart looking for it.  Not finding it, her parents tore their house apart looking for it there.  No luck.

While Gavin was in the hospital, Sara came to visit and we filled out all new paperwork for this background check.  I gave her money for the required money order and she took care of mailing it in.  The only problem?  It likely wouldn't be back in time for the first day of school.  And Sara wouldn't be allowed to go with Gavin is all her clearances weren't back.  THEN I started to panic.

I started trying to call the Department of Welfare - the keepers of the Child Abuse Clearances.  Thinking it was crazy that the ONLY copy would have been sent to Sara - and they MUST have a record of the results that they could mail me.  Getting through to a person at this agency was ridiculous. After about a week of persistent trying, I finally reached a person.  The heavens parted - I knew everything would be okay then.

It wasn't.

I was told that they had NO RECORD of Sara.  Meaning - NO RECORD.  As in EVER.  This particular background check was never done.  An oversight, likely, and not an issue for our family as we have no reason not to trust Sara.  But a little scary nonetheless, wouldn't you say?  I found all of this out around 4pm yesterday and for the rest of the day and night I was pretty upset.  This clearance has a turnaround time of at LEAST three weeks.  If this was going to keep Gavin from starting school on time - because of someone else's mistake - I was going to be pissed.

But.  Have no fear.  I am my father's daughter.  And if I learned anything from that man it was to figure out how to get your needs met.  And go to the top if you have to.

So I contacted the Pennsylvania State Representative office of (Republican) Warren Kampf.  I explained the entire story and they said they could absolutely help us.  This morning we took a field trip to his office and met with his Chief of Staff, Sean, and his assistant.  

They made some calls to their Harrisburg connections - told us that this clearance would be fast tracked and mailed the form for us.  Even with their contacts, it may arrive a day late - which means that Gavin might miss his first day.  But it's better than weeks late.  They are also going to look into why she never got one done to begin with when she started with us.

As a bonus, Sean is also a notary!  He took care of notarizing Gavin's handicap placard replacement form and mailed that in, too!

Today turned out to be a pretty great day.  But, uh... let's keep the fact that I voted Democrat between us, shall we?