How to get started!!

[wfy2zrh10]

My husband and I are wanting to get into fostering. I think its amazing to give children a good home! First off, I know we have to do the training classes. How long do they normally take? And second off, is it unreasonable to want an infant? Are they super hard to get placement for?

[looking8186]

Start by calling your local dcf. They'll have you come to an informational meeting and then do a preliminary home visit and background check. If you are deemed capable and safe you will do a (generally) 10 week course one night a week for aprox 3 hrs. I'll come back later with more info. Have to go now!

[wfy2zrh10]

what Im concerned about it we only have a two bedroom house and our son is in the other :/

[newmommy13]

We only have a 2 bedroom also! The square footage is what really matters. We have a bio dd, 10 mo dfs and are about to get a newborn next week. We have enough square footage for 2 los in dds room (including her) and we are allowed one under 12 mo in our bedroom. Now that is a lot in our house and we initially just said we only would take one at a time but this our dfs had been in our care once before and we didn't want him to have to meet another family when he came back into care so we said yes the second time the agency called back begging for us to take him!

Our preplacement class was one looong saturday class so it really varies. Also including our home inspection we were completely licensed within 3 months.

[wfy2zrh10]

this is going to sound terrible! PLEASE dont think its the reason we are wanting to foster! BC ITS NOT! But Im curious how much you get to take care of each child. We are wanting to do newborn/infants...?

[luvsviola]

Here, infants are about $18 a day. They get WIC to buy part of the formula.

[dalynn1997]

Originally Posted by wfy2zrh10 this is going to sound terrible! PLEASE dont think its the reason we are wanting to foster! BC ITS NOT! But Im curious how much you get to take care of each child. We are wanting to do newborn/infants...?

The per diem varies by State and is normally paid a month arrears. Most likely it will be between $15-$20 a day and less if they assist with childcare and/ or diapers. You have to show that you can support your family already and be able to financially swing at least a month or two of caring for another child. I submit around the 1st of month for the kids I had the prior month and recieve my check around the 25th of the month.

Placement types vary and seem to go in waves. If you only want a newborn you may wait awhile mostly because a lot of agencies are leary of giving newborns to newer foster parents. Mostly because getting a newborn and losing them is vary tough and some agencies want to make sure you can handle having them for a short time and them leaving.

There are newborns that end up being adopted but most the time it is a long road with lots of visit hours with parents. Our State gives parents of newborns more hours of visit time.

If you want to do newborn only then be honest and stick to it. Dont' say you will take up to age 3 if you really aren't okay with it. During licensing they will try to steer you away and tell you that there aren't very many newborns ... this isn't alway true. But it is better for agency to have homes who will take more varied ages. Anyway, stick to what you want BUT understand there may be more of a wait.

And one thing you need to make sure that you understand is that for a newborn to come into care it will almost always be because of drug and/or alcohol exposure. You have to be sure that you are wanting to take newborns with exposure issues. IF you aren't and you want newborns ONLY then you will be wasting your time getting licensed.

Hope this helps, I am not trying to discourage you just trying to be honest.

[sunnymommy]

Originally Posted by luvsviola Here, infants are about $18 a day. They get WIC to buy part of the formula.

Wow - we got less than $300/month for dd2. That was three years ago so I don't know what it is now. I think it's some higher now because our state was close to lowest payment rates in the country.

[dalynn1997]

Originally Posted by sunnymommy Wow - we got less than $300/month for dd2. That was three years ago so I don't know what it is now. I think it's some higher now because our state was close to lowest payment rates in the country.

Just curious did you get anything else covered. Like childcare expenses, diapers, etc. or was it a flat amount that you had to use to cover everything? $10 a day is the lowest per diem that I have heard of. I have seen $12 a day but getting some help with childcare.

We get $18 but it has to cover everything. There is sometimes a clothing voucher but it is very hard to get it.

[WynneBabies]

It's quite a bit higher than most places here. The base rate is $24-$25 per day, but they add in extra if you SAH, if the child is in diapers, years of experience and if your training is up-to-date. Then they add extra for special needs. There is not any reimbursement for daycare here and they actually won't let you foster ages 0-5 if you would need to use it. This seems to be the exception though as it seems most places aren't like that, but it's a little more common if you want to foster babies.

As for babies, I totally agree the vast majority of newborns you will get are drug addicted. Exposed at the very least. I've had three newborns and one of those three didn't have exposure issues (that we know of anyway) and that was a weird custody (very short term placement) situation. Although it was obvious she wasn't being fed properly and she gained a large amount of weight for a baby that young in the short time we had her. My other two had withdrawal issues and it was not fun. Scary stuff.

As for need, it really depends on your area. Some areas seem to be in desperate need for foster homes for these drug exposed newborns and others not so much. My age range is 0-3 but all four of the placements I've had have been under 1. I also have gaps between placements so there is not a huge need in my area. My home has been empty 1 1/2 months now and I've never had my max of two kids at once.

You don't mention wanting to adopt, but some places (like my county) won't license you to foster 0-5 without being open to adopting but some other places don't mind straight foster homes. Adoption by foster parents only happens in 20% of cases here and has yet to be an option for us, unfortunately. We really want to adopt but so far it's been a long road as we started the process two years ago now. Most of our placements have gone to family members and you'll find that is pretty common these days as many states really push it.