[blueflower]

There is a question on the homestudy that I'm not sure how to answer. The question says: "What kind of children are you willing to foster?" Not really a hard question per se, but how do you put it in a few sentences? At first I could only come up with things that we would not want, but then realized there was a way to convey what I wanted without having to write a book. Aren't there levels of care (like 1-4 or such) for different children? But I can't find those mentioned in any of the handbook stuff I have or online on their site. I'm in IL if that makes a difference.

And what is the order of severity? Is it - mild, moderate, severe? I've read too many things lately and words are just swirling in my brain without me being able to remember where I saw them.

[DTmama1]

We said things like "We are willing to adopt children who will one day be able to live independently. We are willing to foster children who have been physically abused or have been neglected, but not children who have been sexually abused" Tried to word it positively if we could basically. We didn't put ours by mild, moderate, severe, etc, there is a LONG checklist for every possible condition you have to fill out you can go into more detail on. But put your biggies written out on your homestudy.

[c.a]

I hated those questions on the homestudy. How are you supposed to answer that?

- I am willing to foster children with a sense of humor
- I am willing to foster children who love to eat peas

How about . . . I am willing to foster children who need foster care?

[blueflower]

Originally Posted by c.a

I hated those questions on the homestudy. How are you supposed to answer that?

- I am willing to foster children with a sense of humor
- I am willing to foster children who love to eat peas

How about . . . I am willing to foster children who need foster care?

I know! Peas? Yup, Dh would love it as I think he could eat them at every meal. Personally I only take a spoon full or two because I know they are good for me; I really don't like them. Oh, mom would be so proud that something in their raising stuck.

DTmama1 - great way to put it, "staying positive". Mind if we use some of the sentences you wrote? Dh and I need to sit down to make sure we are on the same page with these things. Talk about forcing a deep/serious converstaion.

[DTmama1]

Absolutely feel free to use it. Another thing I would recommend is if ou think you may become more open int he future to some things, be very general. For example we listed 0-12 and 3-5 children. We ended up deciding we would go up to age 14 for large sibling groups and inquired on groups of up to 7 kids. I wish we had gotten our homestdy written for that many previously, even though we ideally only wanted 3-5 at that point, so that we could have been more seriously considered for those larger groups. (We are now matched with a sibling group of 5 though, ages 6,8,10,11, and 13, which is perfect!).