[FosteringMama]

DH and I are starting the process to foster. My DH has 5children from his first marriage. Two are adults, one a teen who no longer comes to visit but once a year and two children who visit about once every 6 weeks for the weekend (because of DH work schedule and the distance the kids live from us). Has anyone else fostered with step-children that come to visit? Will my step-children also have to be interviewed and have medical paperwork filled out?

Any advice would be so much appreciated!

[Scrapsathome]

That won't be a problem, but you'll have to consider the bed situation as if they were there all the time. For instance if you only have two beds available, and that's where your step children sleep every 6 weeks, then where will they sleep when you have foster kids? You aren't allowed to kick your current kids out of their bed/room and make them sleep on the couch floor so that foster children can have their spot.

If the adults sleep at your house regularly then you'd probably need to have background checks done on them, too. I don't know if they'd need medical papers filled out, but they may be interviewed.

[FosteringMama]

Thanks! I wonder what they will say about my step-son who visits once a year, literally.. I hope that it won't hurt us in terms of sleeping arrangements and beds. We are hoping to get a baby but would consider 0-3 so the baby could stay with either the girls or my son in his room.

[MomGoingCrazy]

I have 2 biochildren and a stepdaughter. She had to be in the interview process as well and we had to provide her shot record as with my two, but here they were not required to get a physical. We have her half of the time. (We live in the same town as her mom, so we get her just as much as her mom) My two live with us and we try to keep all three of "our" kids informed on what is going on. She did get upset with us once because she thought we were going to take a placement without talking to her first. We try to make it a family decision when it come to foster care. I think what has worked for making our situation work is communication.

[jenbear78]

My stepdaughter comes every other weekend for 2 days, so 4 times a month. they didn't ask for her medical records, and we don't have any for her as we don't take her anywhere...she is 16, they did briefly interview her and made us get a background check for her, but other than that it wasn't a big deal.