[JLOSTL]

I have been with the Children's Division for 2.5 years now. I am a single female. I own a 2 bedroom house in St. Louis County. I have only been invited to one staffing and that was after I went to an open house and found the child. I am getting frustrated and now I am thinking about trying out the Foster Care, but not sure how to go about that without hurting the feelings of my case manager. Can you sit down and talk to a case manager from the Foster Care side and how well do they work with you? I have an adorable nephew from the Foster Care program and he is the joy of my life. I am just at a loss of what to do next.

[Sam-N-Tony]

As far as deciding to switch to foster/adopt ultimately the decision is yours. I don't know about where you live my in Florida there is no such thing as the foster/adopt program, its either you foster with the hope of adoption or adopt. I suggest being open with your cw and she might even think its a good idea. Of course, it still takes a lot of time if you decide to foster with the intent of adopting. You can do both.

Be very open and honest and if she can't handle it, she's in the wrong business.

[CaddoRose]

Can you clarify your situation a little more? It sounds like you want to adopt and found a child on your own and want more, but haven't been offered any.

In Texas the term foster/adopt means that you are open to just fostering , but want to adopt if the foster child's parents have their rights terminated.

[JLOSTL]

No, I went into the program wanting to adopt. My sister adopted her child from the City 4 years ago. Two and half years ago I finished all my classes and such. I do not have any children, and I have been in only one staffing. I was asked by the Lawyer for the City why wasn't I a foster parent. I informed him that I was told you can either be a Foster parent or an Adoptive parent. He informed me I was not given all the information and that the Foster Parents once TPR occurs are offered to adopt the child. But now it's been such a long and frustrating road for me. I have decided to foster, even if the child is only with me for a short time I will at least know that they were given love and support during that time. Maybe that is what I was meant to be a "Foster Mom"

[Scrapsathome]

We started the process basically planning to just adopt. Then after taking the classes we decided to do foster-to-adopt/legal risk. Then after hearing how badly they needed emergency & respite homes we volunteered to do that. Now we just do everything except special needs foster care. I asked our worker what our home would be classified as the other day and she said we don't really have a classification any more. Oh well. We're loving being foster parents and are still hoping to eventually adopt.

Jess