[fredalina]

We've been waiting for approval since mid-September.

[UTbrie]

I am in Ohio, and here you have to do the classes first, and supposedly will walk you through the paperwork. I asked if I could get home inspections etc started ahead of time, but the social worker said they are only good for 6 months, so not to start until after the classes. It sounds like it takes a long time to get approved! My county only has classes 4x a year, so I have to wait till the end of March to start my classes!!!! Other counties are full already. Impatiently waiting..........
Also, anyone have some suggestions on how to babyproof the home, and what suggestions they typically make during fire/safety and home inspections? I would like to start getting the house ready.

[just-breathe]

I was able to fine that info online for my state. Try a few google searches and you can probably find your state, too. Good luck!

[LacyMom]

fredaina, I'm sorry your waiting so long

as for the baby proofing, I've just done the general I've read about and for her that seems to be good enough.

have both working carbon dioxide and carbon monxide detectors. (2 of the monxide one for upstairs one for downstairs) theres the CD all over the house. a fire extinguisher for upstairs and down (I think they had to be the abc and 3 or 6 lbs can't remember) I know my 2 is bigger than what we had to have. one is in the pantry and the other is in my laundry room. I have the outlet covers up, all meds are locked up in a childproof cabinet, the knives are up high. the chemicals for cleaning are locked up. one ancient firearm dh had from grandpa is locked up in garage unaccessible. and we have baby gates for little ones for the staircase. the only other thing I plan on doing but wasn't asked about the last time the CM was here, was I'im going to post a list of emergancy #s (poison control, the hospital we'd go to, my neighbor friend, my inlaws and our #s. plus have dh come up w/a floor plan escape route in case of fire.

good luck! getting my house ready while completing the paperwork was the only thing that kept me sane.

[Ethans_Mom]

OMGosh... our first homestudy is actually scheduled for this Thursday! Now I'm nervous. What do we need to do? I know each person is different, but to they look in your closets etc?

[jarian]

Our classes ended at the beginning of December and I am still *impatiently* waiting. I'm trying not to bother my CW, but how long does it take to write up a homestudy?????

Ethans Mom~I wouldn't worry too much about the homestudy, unless your CW is really tough. Our homestudy was a breeze and they never looked in my closet. I kind of had to force them to look at stuff.

[Ethans_Mom]

Thanks Jarian!
Hope you get your report done soon!

I know the gal from church, and she doesn't strike me as one of the obsessive types, but sure as I relax (can we actually do that? LOL) then she'll surprise me...

[LacyMom]

Robin, they don't look in closets that I'm aware of. she just took a very vague look in each room and that was it. it was more about the paperwork then. course I"m still waiting on the official inspection, but it doesn't sound like its going to be much more than that.

Jarian, I know the feeling.

[SweetyBaby]

I also have someone coming for the first time on Thursday. I'm a little nervous because they've had a recent history here of doing emergency approvals. I'm not sure how different that is though.

[FirstFriends]

We are waiting as well. We took our classes in May and June. Everything was finished on our part by November and here we are still waiting. I know that it will happen when it is supposed to, but it seems to be taking a while. Got a crib mattress today so maybe it will be any time now? Who knows. And here we thought we may have a placement before Christmas 2008...maybe by Christmas 2009?

[jtsmommy]

We found out last Thursday that we will have our Home Visit on March 11th. I of course was hoping it would be quicker then that but at least we are moving along. This is the last thing we need to do before getting licensed. yay!

[csisemore]

We begin our classes again on March 5th. We have had a child with basketball games that were on the same night so we opted to go to them instead. WE are excited. We have turned in all paperwork and have had our first homestudy complete.

[Ethans_Mom]

Just got a call that our caseworker is sick and can't make our appointment today. It's changed to Saturday now.

I asked about classes and mentioned that some people have to complete them before they start the homestudy and she said that isn't the case here. We'll basically be doing the homestudy and classes at the same time.

[laceyc]

Our DHS worker...guess he is the cw...did not show for the home visit Tues. I finally talked to him today and he said he had the stomach bug all weekend and this is his first day back at work. DH is off all day on Fridays and the cw said he would be in our county tomorrow so he may call and go by tomorrow, otherwise it will be next Friday. He is getting us preregistered for classes starting March 21.

[Jenzebelle]

Hi. I am in Los Angeles Country. We are going through an agency and have taken our classes and orientation. We had our first home visit several weeks ago and have finally made our appointment for our home study on March 6th and it's my understanding that the license should be final on that day.

Our child education classes have been about school age kids and positive ways to deal with and encourage good behavior. My husband & I found them helpful for the two we have at home already. Our Orientation class (8 hours) dealt more with the issues that children in the foster system can have, worst cases, encouraging words, and all the procedures to follow.

All in all we should only finish about 1 month longer than we thought. That's okay, more time to work on that garage (yuck!)