[fourbeauties94]

I agree that you have to protect your nuclear family, in fact, even our worker keeps telling us that. However, remember that the more restrictions you have, the longer your wait will be. We also started out hoping for a placement of 0-2, even though we decided to get licensed for 0-4 to make us look more open (this was our licensing workers idea). We thought we may get more calls that way and we did not have to take children that were on the older end of the age range. We are open to any race and gender. We have since changed our age to 0-6 because we have been licensed since before Thanksgiving and still have not gotten a placement. I do not know if you have started your classes yet, but we decided we were willing to take kids that are over two after the classes. I think it depends on the individual case and the foster family. I think you should difinitely make sure you know what you can handle and stick to it. Also, talk to your sw, he/she may have some idea of how long the wait will be in your county.

We have four bio kids and I have also worried about what kind of influence foster kids behavior will have on them. We have now decided that if God wants these children in our home, he will protect our kids. This has been a leap of faith for us, not knowing what the future will hold. That is not to say that we will take every placement that comes our way regardless of the issues of the child. We did have the opportunity to take one child who had issues that we thought we could not deal with. Let God lead you, He will never lead you astray.