My husband and I are starting foster care classes on June 2 in Oregon. We have a 9 1/2 month old son
and are currently looking to just do foster care. (am I crazy to want this when I have a baby?) In the future we very possibly might adopt. I had a hard time getting pregnant the first time, and I had always said that I would have 2 bios, and then adopt if I wanted more.
I feel like I have a million questions! Here are a couple that I have right now...
1. My first question is if we should go for fostering right now, or go ahead and do foster to adopt, since we may adopt someday. If we just do the fostering now, does it make it difficult to add on the adopting part later?
2. Our house is small - about 1200 sf with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (we live on a couple acres in a country setting). My son is in the second bedroom in a crib, and we have a twin bed in it (it is a very large room). We have other beds readily available, as well as a bassinet and playpen. We are looking at possibly fostering kids 3 and under (since my son is so young), or up to age 5 if a sibling group. Does anyone know whether we would be able to put 3 children in one bedroom?
3. My husband is a hunter, and therefore has multiple guns and a bow. What are the requirements for the storage of these? We do have a gunsafe with a lock - is that adequate? What about storage of bullets?
4. I am the one who has always wanted to be a foster parent. My husband is agreeing to go to the classes (which means he isn't against it; he would say no if he was), but it is obviously more my passion to do this. Does this make a difference to the SW?
5. When the SW asks about discipline, what are they looking for? Since our son is only 9 months, our form of discipline is saying "no" and moving him away when he gets into something. We don't have older kids to discipline in other ways. We both understand that there would be no spanking, etc. but I'm not sure if there is a right or wrong answer to this...
Thank you so much for all the help you have given me already! I enjoy sorting through old posts - so many questions have been answered before I even ask!
Courtney