[7brats]

My Pennsylvania private agency just told me that I would only recieve calls between the hours of 9 to 5 Monday thur Friday. I have read the post and I have heard a lot of you say that you say that have gotten calls all hours and any day.
I am awaiting my second placement.It has been 6 weeks since my last placement left. I am waiting for the to ring but as the evening hours set in,hope fades as the clock reaches 5pm and I know that hope is gone for another day.Today is Friday and as I hope and pray that this is the day, with each passing hour I come to the reality that now I must wait 2 more days knowing I will not get a placement call.
I am wondering,are there others of you that have been told this? Are you okay with it or have you chose to switch agencies?
I just want a placement but I can only expect a call between 9 to 5

[jarian]

It's hard to see how they can say only 9-5. Kids are taken into custody all times of the days and nights and the placement workers work to find a home ASAP. My CW called me the other day to see if I still wanted to foster. (I just found out I'm 8 weeks pregnant) I told her give me four more weeks because my first trimester has been very hard on me and she said "Ok, I would hate for them to call you at 2 a.m., so I will take you off the list for four weeks". I realized then that it is possible to be called late at night.

[7brats]

Originally Posted by jarian

It's hard to see how they can say only 9-5. Kids are taken into custody all times of the days and nights and the placement workers work to find a home ASAP. My CW called me the other day to see if I still wanted to foster. (I just found out I'm 8 weeks pregnant) I told her give me four more weeks because my first trimester has been very hard on me and she said "Ok, I would hate for them to call you at 2 a.m., so I will take you off the list for four weeks". I realized then that it is possible to be called late at night.

I wonder why my agency does that? That is what I thought too.They said counties place with their own after hours and weekends and the best they would be able to do with a week end call would be to call me during the week.
It may be time to get a new agency

[MamaTo6]

Could it be that they have other foster parents that do the 'emergency' late night/weekends?

[dachshunds4you]

I have heard that the county does tend to place with the county homes during the night/weekend hrs. It seems it's easier for them to call their homes direct (since they have a list of available homes) than call an agency, wait for the agency to call the foster parents and say yes, then call the worker back...and on and on.

It's probably easier for them to just call their homes.

We received 1 weekend call from our agency, and it was only because the county worker was a friend of our worker at the agency.

You may want to see if other agencies are the same way before making the switch.

[7brats]

Originally Posted by MamaTo6

Could it be that they have other foster parents that do the 'emergency' late night/weekends?

They told me no,they said they only get daytime referals and never on weekends

[7brats]

Originally Posted by dachshunds4you

I have heard that the county does tend to place with the county homes during the night/weekend hrs. It seems it's easier for them to call their homes direct (since they have a list of available homes) than call an agency, wait for the agency to call the foster parents and say yes, then call the worker back...and on and on.

It's probably easier for them to just call their homes.

We received 1 weekend call from our agency, and it was only because the county worker was a friend of our worker at the agency.

You may want to see if other agencies are the same way before making the switch.

thanks for the advise,it is certainly worth looking into.As it stands right now after 5pm today my first chance at getting a call is 9am Monday morning

[DannieAS]

are you a regular foster home or are you a shelter home?

It could be that they are using their seasoned foster homes from the county as shelter homes (where the kid goes directly from a removal) before they see what happens in court and determine which foster home to put him/her in for the case plan time....

shelter homes get kids all hours of the day/night.....regular foster homes get children between 9-5pm.

Something you may want to ask if this is why.

[7brats]

Originally Posted by DannieAS

are you a regular foster home or are you a shelter home?

It could be that they are using their seasoned foster homes from the county as shelter homes (where the kid goes directly from a removal) before they see what happens in court and determine which foster home to put him/her in for the case plan time....

shelter homes get kids all hours of the day/night.....regular foster homes get children between 9-5pm.

Something you may want to ask if this is why.

I am regular foster,until you mentioned it I never heard of a shelter home . It does sound like that is what is happening to me.Monday I will check with the agency and see what they say.
Thanks for the info

[DannieAS]

Originally Posted by 7brats

I am regular foster,until you mentioned it I never heard of a shelter home . It does sound like that is what is happening to me.Monday I will check with the agency and see what they say.
Thanks for the info

This may be something different that happens in some counties as well....so yes check on it to see what is the deal.

I know in my classes (they do foster and adopt families in same classes) there were a couple of people that wanted to do emergency/shelter homes, but they have to have a min. of 2 years fostering experience before they can be considered to be a shelter home.

keep us posted on what they say and what you decide. I wish you the best!

[7brats]

Originally Posted by DannieAS

This may be something different that happens in some counties as well....so yes check on it to see what is the deal.

I know in my classes (they do foster and adopt families in same classes) there were a couple of people that wanted to do emergency/shelter homes, but they have to have a min. of 2 years fostering experience before they can be considered to be a shelter home.

keep us posted on what they say and what you decide. I wish you the best!

Thanks to everyone who posted and gave me great input.I will check on Monday, and let everybody know.You are all great!!!!

[upbeatmom]

I suspect the previous poster is correct about regular vs emergency homes. The logic is that if a child comes into care in the late night etc it is probably due to a significant crisis and that creates a bigger disruption often on top of bigger trauma...therefore more experienced parents are the best bet for the immediate need. Check with your locals though...it may be experience or specialized training or both that makes the difference.

While you're waiting try using the time to make a Welcome Book. It's something I teach in my workshops and talked about in an April entry on my blog. Everyone who tries it loves it. Making one helps the time pass, it helps the child/ren when arrival final happens, the process itself helps you prepare AND it's easy to do.
Take a peek and let me know if you need more info.
The basics are on the April 28 entry at:
Upbeats and Downbeats

Good Luck! Keep us posted...
Upbeat Mom

[Heather5458]

I am a foster parent through the county without any agency and I am on an afterhours list and most of my plavements have been after hours. I have gone to the hospital and have had kids dropped off at all hours of the night. I am not a receiving home. I also have got to know some of the social workers and when they are on call and have let them know when there were openings in my home. I rarely go with out a child or children in my home for more than 2 or 3 days.

[7brats]

Originally Posted by Heather5458

I am a foster parent through the county without any agency and I am on an afterhours list and most of my plavements have been after hours. I have gone to the hospital and have had kids dropped off at all hours of the night. I am not a receiving home. I also have got to know some of the social workers and when they are on call and have let them know when there were openings in my home. I rarely go with out a child or children in my home for more than 2 or 3 days.

I have never heard of an after hours list.That is also something I need to check on.I think it would be really great to have children in my home as often as you to,however my agency already told me my wait may be longer due to the ages I will except.

[7brats]

Originally Posted by Heather5458

I am a foster parent through the county without any agency and I am on an afterhours list and most of my plavements have been after hours. I have gone to the hospital and have had kids dropped off at all hours of the night. I am not a receiving home. I also have got to know some of the social workers and when they are on call and have let them know when there were openings in my home. I rarely go with out a child or children in my home for more than 2 or 3 days.

I have never heard of an after hours list.That is also something I need to check on.I think it would be really great to have children in my home as often as you to,however my agency already told me my wait may be longer due to the ages I will except.