[nixe1597]

Hello,
we are new here to this forum and decided yesterday to become foster parents:-))
We adopted a baby girl via an adoption agency 20 months ago, and we would love to have more kids in the house. But we cannot afford another adoption!! So we decided to foster and maybe to adopt.

We are from NC and I just called our county office, but they are very small and do not have a lot of foster children. They can provide the license, but this is it.

Can I go with any private foster agency? How does that work? Also, when I am licensed in NC and we have to move, do I have to go through the whole process again? And how long does the process take until we are ready to foster or adopt? We are open to any race, but we would like to have younger children in the house since our daughter is not even a Toddler. I am so excited and thankful for any information. Maybe you have some suggestions for an agency?

Thanks so much!

[anilorak13ska]

Hi! Congrats on your decision to fost/adopt. The process/timing/availability of children/hoops to jump through will all depend on your county of residence.

DH and I started our foster journey in March of this year, and while at this point I believe that we are licensed, we have yet to receive a letter in the mail confirming this fact. Instead, we got a call from a SW who took over to confirm our last name (how that's not obvious on fingerprint and clearance cards, copies of our ids, and numerous forms we filled out, I do not know!), and days later we received a sample form that foster parents will receive upon placement of a child. The letter was addressed "Dear New Foster Parents", which is why I am assuming that we are licensed! I called SW to get a confirmation, but so far no reply.

But I digress. Point being, the training itself will likely take 1-2 months (depending on number of classes needed), then you have to wait for your fingerprints/clearances to come back (you're already familiar with this from the adoption you recently completed), and then the SW goes over your file to make a final decision on whether to license you or not.

So it has taken us 4-5 months from orientation to licensing (again, assuming here). But how long before we get a placement? No idea. We're open to either sex, any race, newborn to age 4, one or two children. Our goal is to adopt, but we know we will likely have to reunite some kids with bio parents first.

I have heard of folks fostering from surrounding counties, so I would call the social services depts of your neighboring counties and find out a) if they'll license you, and b) what their availability of children looks like.

You can also do what's called "respite care", which is short-term fostering, a day, a weekend, maybe a week or so, to give either bio or foster parents a break. The way I understand it is that this way you may be able to care for younger kids.

I've heard of folks providing respite care for a child, and then that child becoming available for adoption, and if the foster parents aren't adopting, SW would turn to you as the other folks who have cared for the child in the past.

But this is all based on stuff I've read on here and heard through our training.

As for moving, yes, you would need to be licensed again by the county where you live (unless you'll be in the next county over, in which case it may not be necessary, depending on their policy). But certainly if you're leaving the state, you will need to go through the training/etc all over again.

Hopefully this has been somewhat helpful. I hope others with more experience than me will chime in.

Good luck!
Karolina

[nixe1597]

Thanks so much for your information!!!