[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

Hi my husband and i have been talking about maybe looking into foster care...we feel it might be best for both of us...you see we dont work i am on disablity because of depression and weight problems and he is fighting with bi polar...but we both love kids and have always been told we are good with them...we have a lot of time and love to give to a child and we do have the room...money wise we have enough to get by on since we dont have any major bills....i guess one of my questions are would we even be considered since we do have trouble with depression...second of all we live with my in laws(that is why we dont have any bills) would that cost a problem if they agreed that it was something they would want us to do? I know i am telling strangers alot about us but who else better to be objective?
I just feel we could make a difference in kids life that would never have that chance...i just want to know what other people think...and yes i do realize what is involved in have to give the children back...i know it will be hard but if you made a difference in a childs like even for a little while shouldnt it be worth the pain?
if anyone has any thought please let me know and if you have any good online sights for us to read more on the subject before we deside please sent them...thank you all for your help

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by Mike.

I don't know but I'll offer some thoughts. We had a 13 yr old foster son whose care giver was bipolar. The lithium treatments made it so that she couldn't remember and even denied conversations, even to us. This left things very unsettled. Also a condition of her illness is that she was overly possessive of him, even though she was the step great grandmother. She alienated the rest of the family and us in efforts to keep him to herself.

Some of the research I did on this included a very good book, "The Unquiet Mind." It is written by a psychologist who suffers from this disorder. She said that it is possible to successfully raise children when there is another person to take up the slack during her phases. With both potentially in deep depression, I wouldn't think that this would be a good idea.

Nonetheless, your will is strong and your intentions pure. Maybe you could do respite foster care to give other foster parents a break on some weekends. If you are both not doing well, the respite can be rescheduled.

Perhaps there are other ways to volunteer to help chjildren, a community center or church, etc.

Since it is the in-laws' home, tehy would have to be licensed in our state.

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

I got in touch with the local county agency and found out that as long as both my husband and i can pass a physcial that the depression isnt a problem...and when it comes down to it my husband has mood swings none of which are violent and are controled with medication... we were also told the house needed to pass the fire inspection which for our county consists of a smoke alarm on each floor and a fire extinguisher in the kitchen which again we have...we were also told that we need 6 hours of classes a year two writen references a bed for the child and a private place they can change i was told it was no problem that we have three cats and that my in laws live here...so we are going ahead and getting the application...we have been told by all people we have talked to(both friends and family) that this would be the best thing for both of us because we both love kids and have our neices and nephew alot....just thought i would pass on what i learned i will keep you all posted in what we deside to do and how it goes

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by Live2shop.

Seems like Pennsylvania is more relaxed than Washington. My mother and father (the greatest parents in the world) were just turned down for a foster license because of medical issues. My mother is on Paxil for depression and my father has congenital (sp?) heart failure. They were hoping for Down Syndrome children. I had a Down's brother that passed away in 1997 at age 26. Both are great individuals and have a lot to offer children. Not to mention how great I turned out. hehe

Also, we had a home inspection (which included a fire inspection). We had to make several changes to the house. Like add some handrails on the stairway, the deck rails could not have spaces larger than 2 inches, all ponds (no matter how shallow) had to have a grate to cover them, my pool had to have a 6 foot fence around it, and my shed had to have a bolt lock on it. These were some expensive changes. This is to name a few.

Then in the homestudy they ask about your and your spouses childhood. They want to know every detail of your experiences growing up. Then they want to know everything about your household, marriage and children. They interview your children too. We also had to have three references so they could mail a 5 page questionaire out to.

In WA the fire extinguisher had to be a certain rating (can't remember what one). And each room had to have ample square footage per child. It had to have a minimum of 50 square feet of space per room, per child. A single person can be licensed for 3 or 4 (can't remember) and a married couple can be licensed for up to 6 (including bio children). As the space and capabilities allowed anyway.

Income was a factor too. They told us in class that we had to have other sources of income. They explained that some people are in it for the money and they did not want anyone dependant on the fostercare subsidies. We had to give a copy of proof of income and a current tax return to show sufficient income.

Hmmm. TB test, first aid, CPR and HIV training.

I think the only requirement with other adults in the house was that they had to have a background check. And, all your pets be current on their shots.


Hope this helped.

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

We just got the application in today's mail and i was just telling my husband the same thing that pa's laws must be very relaxed. I know i have read on here that people need 20 hours or more of classes not here 6 hours a year...i also know that pa is in great need of foster homes i dont know if that makes the difference or not...i guess we will find out and i will keep everyone posted once we hear from them when the application is filed...
If there is anyone on this list from Pa i would love to talk to you to see what you know about the the state laws... take care everyone

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by Live2shop.

These websites might help you-

http://www.psfpa.com

http://www.dpw.state.pa.us/ocyf/ocyffc.asp


Hope these help with information you are looking for.

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

Thank you that is a lot more information then i was able to find i guess i just wasnt looking in the right places...

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by Live2shop.

I was just wondering how your license process was coming? Any luck with those websites?

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

We sent in the application and now we are just waiting to hear from them i am guessing that its going to take a while since there was an artical in the paper that they are having trouble with caseworkers they are majorly overworked and under staffed something like 15 or more cases each...so i know its going to take awhile till they get to our application but i will keep you posted thank you

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by Live2shop.

Good luck. I will be waiting to hear how it goes.

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

Well i still havent heard from the County children and youth so we are trying a different root we are going threw a private agencey and we will be meeting with them on wed...I am scared or maybe i should say nervous...i will keep you all post on what happens please keep your fingers crossed...

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by Live2shop.

Good luck. I will be waiting to hear how it goes.

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by smedlock.

My husband and I have made the decision to do foster parenting. We have talked about this for a few weeks and decided we will give it a try. We are meeting with the Social worker next week. I have already let them no that are only requirements are no teen age boys since we have a 12 yr old daughter. We would like to keep the age from 0-10 years old. The social worker advised us that they would not place boys unless they were under 5 yrs old. I will be working full time days my husband works rotating 12 hr shifts so I will be the primary caretaker. I have received the list from the social worker as to what they are looking for when they do my home study, so far the biggest thing I have to do is put locks on my cabiets. That should not be a problem we also have a 6mnth old daughter. My biggest concern is working full time going to be more harm then good? and everyone around me that I have told we are doing foster care only tells me horror stories. I now not all the children are bad. Some advise and good stories would be nice to hear for once.

Sheila

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by ccgjrg.

Oh well i just thought i would let you know that we have desided to wait till maybe next year and try again...i dont know what we are doing wrong but we fill out the applications and then never hear back from the companys this is the second company we have tryed...i am glad i didnt spend the money to get the clearences done....so we have talked it over and are going to wait till maybe next summer when we should have a better idea of where we stand money wise...i wondered if that was the reason we never heard anything but both company's told us that it doesnt matter if we have money or not...that isnt a standard for Pa.....hope all is going well for everyone else and i want to wish you all Happy Halloween...i will still be in the rafters reading and putting my two cents in here and there but for now we will be childless....
Courtney & Jack

[Archive]

This message was originally posted by megwing.

Reading the description of the requirements for WA made me laugh. My husband and I were licensed in Seattle. After our little guy was given to distant relatives of his birth family for adoption (much to our great sadness), we moved to NY because of the job market. Now, we are relicensing in Suffolk County and we have to start all over because they say the WA training didn't cover enough.... yet it sure sounded thorough while I was reading your summary... Oh well.... papers are in... just have to wait and wait while they slowly grind through them... and then we have to wait until January to start the MAPP training. Slow... slow... infinitely slow.... but I *am* happy to be back in a state where you can more easily adopt across racial groups....

Megan