[kathyandmark]

Hi. My husband and I are in the discussing & information gathering stage of thinking about becoming foster parents. We have three bio children - ages 7, 6, & 3. We chose to not have any more kids after our last was born, made the decision permanent with surgery, and now regret that decision. We always - even early in our marriage - talked about potentially doing foster care someday, and now are talking about doing it, soon. Because of our kids' ages, right now we'd only be willing to take babies - birth to 12 months. But we would be willing to expand that as the others got older. We are also interested in fostering to adopt, if possible.

My question is, it seems like it is hard to find polite people who are willing to answer questions and be helpful! I live in Central NY. I have called three different state run DSS places, and also one private agency. Phone calls don't get returned, and the people I speak to on the phone have been consistently rude and not helpful. How do we overcome this? We really want to do this, but it's also a scary prospect. I guess it would be nice if we could deal with someone who could at least be nice to us! Any suggestions?

Kathy

[Buzzed]

Hi there, I probably won't be of any help to you as I live in NZ, but I want you to know that fostering is a wonderful thing to do. I have been a fostermum for 23 years and it is soooo rewarding. Please don't give up. There is a HUGE need for foster families in all areas in most countries I would think. I hope that someone from your city can come in here and be of help. Don't give up there will be someone out there who will return your calls, and somewhere there will be a child or children who need you badly.

[riley6]

Is it possible to walk into the DCFS's and ask for their foster parent application/information packets? Then be sure to ask when their next training session is. They may be more polite to you in person than a phone call.

Good luck!

[Anigel]

I'm in FL, but just now did an online search (NY FOSTER CARE) and found your state office of Children and Family. They did have what appears to be quite a bit of information, which you could read at your leisure. There is also a link for finding who you're to call within your county. Which you could followup with should you be interested after reading what they have to say.

In my county here in FL (each state operates differently) there is an unbrella system setup. With the company working directly with DCF for our county HCK, and then under that company there are 7 agencies you can work with to foster, adopt, etc.

I have found that when calling DCF directly it takes more than a week to get a call back. No kidding, I was shocked as well. That's why it really pays to find out if you can work with another company and still be in the system. Such as we are doing.

I don't know what NY requires, but try to go to the next orientation. These are very helpful and educational, with no $$ output, and no obligation.

Breaking into the system is hard, but that's what we're here for.

If you still keep hitting brick walls you can try what I did. Online searches for things like waiting children NY, but what I gave you above should act as a good base.

[kathyandmark]

Thanks for all your helpful replies. I did do an online search and you are right, there IS a lot of information on the Web, which I guess is why I was so discouraged that when I reached "real people," they weren't as excited and encouraging as the website was! But, like was mentioned above, what I think will work best is if I just drop by the county office and talk to someone face to face. We are allowed to do that. Hopefully all will go well! Kathy