[stevenstwin]

I let my 15 year old foster son go to his friend D's house for a sleepover on Friday, and they were having so much fun that they asked if he could stay there last night as well. After checking on him and taking him some more clothes and stuff, I said yes. It has only JUST now occurred to me - am I allowed to let him spend the night at someone else's place? I never really thought about it, because of course I make those decisions for my own kids all the time. But I was just thinking about how he wasn't allowed to spend the night here before we had our criminal check/child welfare check done. Do sleepovers fall into day to day decision making, or not?

[AmyAnne]

Depends on your state. In VA, we were not permitted to let kiddo stay overnight with ANYONE who was not an approved respite care provider unless we also stayed overnight.

[MatthewS]

In CO, no. Unless the parents have been certified as foster parents.

[hesabanana]

NY either.

[PAmomof1]

In PA you are not allowed to let them stay overnight at anyone's house. I believe the home would have had to be certified and the adults would have to get a background check.

They told us in class no sleepovers for the kids.

[Ians mom]

Not in OH either without permission of the agency

[scandi]

In the county I work in in MN we allow it with a background check completed. I am not sure about the rest of the state. We try to make things as normal as possible for the kids in our care.

[BrandyHagz]

In Illinois, anything longer than 24 hours requires CW approval...a sleepover does not require approval, unless it's for more than one night.

I'm not a licensed foster parent in Illinois, but I did complete the PRIDE classes.

[hubbyswife]

our state doesn't allow sleepovers either.

[knudsons]

I would say depends on the worker. My kids were allowed to and I made the decision. But I am kind of uptight about that anyway and we live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I never had a worker fus about it. In WI anyways.

[kellis121]

I'm in PA and through our agency you can let them spend the night only if all adults in the house have had criminal and child abuse clearances in the last year.

[Lylac]

In TN we had to get CW approval for anything over 3 days.

[stevenstwin]

Wow! a lot of variety there. I finally got ahold of his caseworker, so here's our answer (which is still very vague) "Considering that he is 15, I don't have a problem with it. I'll leave it up to your judgement.". So I still don't really know what they USUALLY do in our province/district!

[kaseybug]

In Texas, anything over 4 hours requires that the person be a respite provider. We were told that overnights would require background checks as well -- even if it is to stay with another member of our family.

[ajrl]

In GA no overnights unless DFCS has approved their fingerprints and background check. And that goes for family as well. I had to submit for my parents and brother who would take the kids for a fun outing overnight or in emergency.