We are talking about fostering

[GrowingUpMad]

but have no clue where to start. Dh knows I am not done with kids and I know he is done. So we talked over the weekend and both are thinking fostering (even possible foster to adopt) may be a good way to go as we would be helping out a child(ren) that is already a part of the world. We both have great backgrounds, lots of family support, good financial standing and since I'd be staying home it's an even better reason. I do not know a single person that has fostered and I have no idea how to even go about looking into it. Help anyone? Is there anything I should know ahead of time? Are there certain situations that I must meet before I can even be considered?

[MamaMel]

I have no advice but I just want to say how wonderful it is for you to do this. We plan on doing this when the kiddos get older

[jenn5388]

You don't even know how much stuff there is to be considered. lol Most of the time there's VERY strict rules in place.

Look it up online. There's different ways to find foster children. Good luck!

[Proverbs169]

How awesome! I don't have any advice either, but just wanted to offer my support... we plan to foster to adopt in a few years so I might need to live vicariously through you for a while.

Let us know how it goes

[mamato5angels]

Call your local social service office. My DH and I went through 12 out of the 13 classes. DH had a real problem with one of the last classes and decided that it was not for us. You will need to have fingerprinting done, a background check done, physicals, as well as a homestudy done. At least these are a few of the things that we needed in upstate NY. Good luck to you. My mom does fostering and is on her 89-91st child ( she just took in 3 this weekend) She has adopted 3 of them the most reacent one in November. That would be my little sister she is 3

[GrowingUpMad]

Originally Posted by mamato5angels Call your local social service office. My DH and I went through 12 out of the 13 classes. DH had a real problem with one of the last classes and decided that it was not for us. You will need to have fingerprinting done, a background check done, physicals, as well as a homestudy done. At least these are a few of the things that we needed in upstate NY. Good luck to you. My mom does fostering and is on her 89-91st child ( she just took in 3 this weekend) She has adopted 3 of them the most reacent one in November. That would be my little sister she is 3

Thanks for the info! We are planning on waiting until Lilly is a little older and the kitchen and basement are finished (hopefully by next September). I just wanted to get the ball rolling since I figured it would take a while. I have always wanted to foster and help out children in any way I could.

[Choose2bgr8]

I want to foster children too, but we are not in the place to do so and I do hear the classes take awhile so for you having the courage to do this.

[annes_cottage]

Every state and every county is different. Even agency to agency is different as far as classes go.

We were licenced thru a private agency for awhile and now thru the county. We had to have a background check, physical, tb test, first aide classes, cpr classes, take the required foster classes, and have a homestudy. For the homestudy they come in and look over our house, measure the bedrooms and determine how much space we have, which determines how many children they will give us. They also see how we interact with our family and spouse.

We have had 19 different children in the past 2 years. We are in the process of adopting one right now. I love it. At one time we had a sibling group of 5 with our own 6. Eleven at once! It was great!! The more the easier for me!!

We do have a 15 passenger van and our house is 4608 sq ft....lol

Good luck mama! PM me anytime!!

[MCR]

Yay, welcome to the fun world of fostering.
We don't have any fosters right now, I think we should go on hold for the time being, not sure.
We just updated our adopton homestudy and will start looking for #5 in the new year
If you want state specific advice visit www.fosterparents.com and visit the fosterparenting discussion board. Lots of very knowlegable mommas.
We've had 15 infants and toddlers in 6 years. The last one stayed forever.

[Choose2bgr8]

I am sorry to hijack, but I had to share.
DH is 32 (will be 33 in February) and is having a lot of trouble because he diidn't know what he wanted to be "when he grew up".
I emailed him recently about the issue (well, kindda, I wanted to let him know that I was here to support him no matter what) and I got an email this morning (he must have replied after I went to bed last night) that he has made a decision.

He wants to help abused children. I am not sure what he has in mind exactly, but we have talked of fostering so I think that will definitely be included. Now if we only had a house that was in good enough condition to take kids in. Anyway, it made me

Thanks for listening ladies.