[alana444]

Hi, my husband and I are completing our paperwork and classes to be foster parents in Rhode Island. Anyone have any experience here? Are there alot of children in rhode island go into fostering ? We basically wanted to foster hispanic children between 0-8. We are a bilingual family. We are trying to find statistics in RI about how many children come into care and how many get TPR.

Also, unrelated to the Rhode Island questions.We are also wanting to adopt, we have 3 kids in our home 18,15, and 12.We also have 1 grandchild in our home also. What are our chances of adopting if we get a foster child that fits in well and goes up for adoption? We have a large 5 bedroom, 2 bath house on 2 acres.

any info would be appreciated.

[Bug-n-Bears-Mommy]

My experience would be that if one of your placements becomes legally free and there are no other placement options that you would be the first in line. Best of luck!

[echobunny89]

Hi! I am in RI also and just completed my classes. You should read my post about the "Hostile foster parent". It was an insane situation and I hope something you won't have to experience. I think that if I wasn't so determined to help these girls I might have thrown my hands up in disgust and walked away from the whole mess.

From what I understand there are way more foster children then there are homes which is why so many of the children wind up in group homes or shelters. I have also heard that sometimes even babies wind up spending months in the hospital after they are born because there is no where to place them. My sister found this out when she was doing her internship at a hospital in Providence. It is really sad.

[sciencemom]

Hi,
We are also RI foster parents, and have been for 3+ years. Prior to this I was a CASA, so I have a decent sense for how many children come into and out of the system, and believe me, there is a great need for parents...you have a large age range, and I am sure the bilingual aspect of your home will be a great assest in placing children with you.
When we are open to children, we get calls regularly. Making sure that placement knows "who you are" is helpful, don't pester, but let them know you have space and are open. The Rhode Island Foster Parent Association has also been great assistanting us with questions/concerns.
Adoption may have issues with space, but that would depend on age and gender of a child placed in your home, and whether you children are all still living at home. There are specific space requirements, and they are enforced. But, remeber that even if a child were placed with you today for fostering, you are at least a year and more likely two before you will be looking at an actual adoption. A great deal can change at that point!
Good luck to you! Feel free to ask any more questions!
~M

[alana444]

Originally Posted by sciencemom

Hi,
We are also RI foster parents, and have been for 3+ years. Prior to this I was a CASA, so I have a decent sense for how many children come into and out of the system, and believe me, there is a great need for parents...you have a large age range, and I am sure the bilingual aspect of your home will be a great assest in placing children with you.
When we are open to children, we get calls regularly. Making sure that placement knows "who you are" is helpful, don't pester, but let them know you have space and are open. The Rhode Island Foster Parent Association has also been great assistanting us with questions/concerns.
Adoption may have issues with space, but that would depend on age and gender of a child placed in your home, and whether you children are all still living at home. There are specific space requirements, and they are enforced. But, remeber that even if a child were placed with you today for fostering, you are at least a year and more likely two before you will be looking at an actual adoption. A great deal can change at that point!
Good luck to you! Feel free to ask any more questions!
~M

Hi, thanx for answering some of my questions. So, heres another... We have a large 5 bedroom home. My husband and I share one, a 12 year old son in one, a 15 year old son in another, My daughter18, with her newborn share the 4th, and we have a spare, so what age,sex, how mnay do you think we would be liscenced for, if we choose to adopt would the answer be the same? We do have a extra den, and could convert to a 6th bedroom if needed.Any ideas I would appreciate, thanx!

[sciencemom]

Hi,
With the spare bedroom, if it is large enough, you could have two children of the same sex sharing, regardless of age, as long as they could each have their own dresser, bed, etc. I believe there can be no bed sharing unless they are very young and siblings, but I honestly wouldn't risk it. The beds have to be real beds, not air mattresses, or something that you fold up. You could convert the den to a bedroom as well, since DCYF doesn't tell you what is or isn't a bedroom (the fire inspector will tell you if a room is too small for you to put children in, as one of our bedrooms is according to DCYF regulations).
In the first year DCYF never licenses you for more than one child, they want you to get used to it. It is different I think if you are foster-adopt specifically because then they are placing adoptive placements with you, and I could see them placing more than one child with you if you were adopting a sibling group, or in some circumstances fostering a sibling group.
Realistically though, you need to think about space your daughters newborn may require a year from now, and whether that child will also need its own room. These are the sorts of things they would discuss with you when doing a homestudy for any adoption, and the department will help you come up with creative solutions is they are possible.
Good luck...sounds like you have a great set-up to do fostering/adoption...just be patient because everything is going to take longer than you would hope!
~M