Adoption

Fostering

Hi All,

We just started our journey to become foster parents and most likely will not have a placement until next year. I was wondering when you started purchasing the things you would need? Like the big items, beds/cribs etc? Fostering will be our first attempt at parenthood, and we are most likely only going to be a placement for kids under 5. I have worked for DCS before, so I know a lot of the ins and outs of the system but not so much about the fostering side of it. I have completed my 4th training class as of today.

Re: Fostering

  • Hello!  Welcome and Congratulations :)

    We are getting licensed and all that we have left is to wait to be officially licensed.  Our paperwork should be submitted to the state by the end of June I would think, and we were told that it would take 1 to 2 weeks to be officially licensed. (Holy CRAP that is coming up fast lol) 

     

    We had to have all of our big purchases done before our last homestudy (we had 2 home visits) so that included the two twin beds, crib, crib mattress, infant car seat, and convertible carseat and booster.  (we ended up buying one that will cover from after the infant seat to when they no longer need a booster seat.) 

    We are getting licensed for up to 3 kids ages 0 to 9 years old, so we have to prepare for quite a huge range of ages.

    dx MF & FF IF
    Off B.C. Jan '06, started charting Feb '08, 2% morphology and PCOS, no O with meds,
    IVF w/ICSI only option to conceive.
    Licensed Foster Parents 07.11
    Miracle BFP 7.20.11 1st beta 6,274! EDD 3.17.12
    Miracle Baby born March 5, 2012 . 6lbs 1oz, 19 3/4"
    Miracle BFP #2 10.8.12 - edd 6.20.13

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers BabyFetus Ticker
  • Thanks for the info! I have been lurking for a while and have been following your blog...I love the nursey. 

     My DH's work schedule doesn't allow him much scheduling flexibility for the classes, however MIL runs a non profit that deals with children in care and will soon be able to teach the resource/foster parent licensing classes, so we are waiting for her to become a trainer before he can attend the classes. That's kind of why our timetable is about a year out, I thought that would him enough time to complete all the classes, homestudies complete and give us time to get the room ready.

    How exciting about the 1-2 weeks!

     

  • Loading the player...
  • imageTheDuchessT:

    Thanks for the info! I have been lurking for a while and have been following your blog...I love the nursey. 

     My DH's work schedule doesn't allow him much scheduling flexibility for the classes, however MIL runs a non profit that deals with children in care and will soon be able to teach the resource/foster parent licensing classes, so we are waiting for her to become a trainer before he can attend the classes. That's kind of why our timetable is about a year out, I thought that would him enough time to complete all the classes, homestudies complete and give us time to get the room ready.

    How exciting about the 1-2 weeks!

    It really depends in what State you live!  We were able to do Thursday nights from 6:30 to 9:30 pm and my DH was working over time through all the classes and licensing requirements.  I really can't believe we were able to work it out, but mostly it was because I met him there.  I would drive to the classes which were 45 minutes from home and he would drive from work which was about 30 minutes of city driving to where the classes were. 

     You can do it!  Where we were licensed through (Bethany Christian Services) they also offered Saturday classes.  I guess the Saturday classes are always super full, but we had no interest in that and were perfectly fine with the Thursday classes.  There were less than 15 people in most of the classes and some, less than 8!  It was nice to be able to have all the freedom we wanted to ask as many questions as we needed and not feel obligated to a time table or to keep our questions to a minimum because of having to allow for all 50 people to be able to ask a question if need be.  

    And yay thanks for the likes on the nursery :)  I need to try to get a little more personality in our other kid bedroom but I feel like kids really have a personality once they get into the big kid bed, so they will probably want to pick their own room colors and what not, so I think I might just leave it pretty blank and empty for that reason.  I mean what is a $30 gallon of paint if it makes the kid happy eh? 

    dx MF & FF IF
    Off B.C. Jan '06, started charting Feb '08, 2% morphology and PCOS, no O with meds,
    IVF w/ICSI only option to conceive.
    Licensed Foster Parents 07.11
    Miracle BFP 7.20.11 1st beta 6,274! EDD 3.17.12
    Miracle Baby born March 5, 2012 . 6lbs 1oz, 19 3/4"
    Miracle BFP #2 10.8.12 - edd 6.20.13

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers BabyFetus Ticker
  • Like everyone said, it depends on your state! :) We are licensed in Washington, and we had to have everything required in the license already set up to have our homestudy finalized. I could be missing something, but I think this was the list:

    -Crib, with mattress meeting specifications

    -Changing table w/ pad

    -Toodler potty/sanitizing materials

    -First Aid kit

    -Outlet plugs installed and big furniture secured

    -Filing cabinent for documentation

    -Dresser

     Best of luck in your journey! 

    Daisypath Anniversary tickers image image
  • Welcome and congrats!!  We started getting things when we started our training class.  We had everything in place by the time they came out to do the actual homestudy.
    Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Premature Baby tickers Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker image
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"