[Scrapsathome]

Since we are currently thinking about a big sib group and debating the merits of having three beds in every room, this question is on my mind. If you've had a large group of kids either foster or adoptive or bio or a mixture, how did you arrange the sleeping situation? Do you just have a ton of bedrooms so that they can have their own rooms? Do you have a written or unwritten "policy" about how many kids you can/will allow in a bedroom?

And how did it work out if you did have multiple kids sharing a room? When I was younger I shared a room with two sisters for a year and thought it was great. I do remember my oldest sister eventually wanting her own room, though. Most of my life I shared a room with my younger sister. She was 5 years younger, so often it was frustrating, but mostly I think it helped us to be closer. I might have ignored her more otherwise.

Thoughts? Opinions?
Jess

[FullQuiverMamma]

We are adopting through the county and the rule is two kids per bedroom, but they said they would make an exception becuase one of the rooms is very large...

[enchansin]

last Time We did foster care..1997-2000
BD and FD shared a room.
and other time BS and FS shared room.
both rooms had bunk beds.. 2 BC wanted top bunks in both case's so was no problem with CW..
We did add a room on and gave another FD that was pregnant our room and We took new room,
We still had FS and BS in same larger room..
BD in smaller room..
after BS got older, We turn a small room in basement for him to have his owe bedroom..

[shycar]

I see that you are in CO (what county?). Here in CO the rules are based on the size of the room (I forgot what exactly I wil ask my sw for you if you like). Example our kids rooms are small so only two per room. We almost had a placement of three girls legal risk and they told us that if we put them in our master bedroom then all three can share. So we started to plan, but did not work out.

Oh also if your interested I have a web site that sells bunk beds made for three or four (We are planning to buy one next month and some prices are not too bad). Its really neat..there is two beds on top and one or two at bottom. If you want me to give it to you PM me. Just something to think about.

[Mama Julie]

We have a bunk bed & a single bed in our daughter's room... but when we got placement of a child who was acting out at night, we had to separate that child. So, the needs of the foster children need to be considered; for example, if there is history of sexual abuse, you might need them to sleep in a separate room.

[Mummy_Big_Bird]

In MA, they go by the square footage of the room to determain how many kids are allowed to sleep in the room. I think it is 70 square feet per child. The kid room in my house is big enough to fit 1.5 kids. They just rounded it up and said I can take 2.

[jbee]

i dont know if they have sq feet req here...our old house we had 3 in a big big room, here we have two in a small room in bunks, so i don't think they care. they actually approached us about taking the second 17yo and suggested bunks in our fs room. we only have 3 br and we and ds, 2dd share the others.
we are converting the garage into 2 more ok bedrooms, one small bedroom and a second bath as we speak.

[Scrapsathome]

According to the rules and regs handbook I've got, we have to have 40 sq ft per bed with two feet of space between them. Bunk beds only need the same 40 sq ft of floor space. We're fine on that front. We measured the kids bedrooms and all four of them are over 100 sq ft. My son's room is especially large. If need be we could even switch rooms with one of the kids and be able to fit two sets of bunkbeds in our master bedroom. At our last home our girls had the master bedroom because the other bedrooms were just too small. We don't have much bedroom furniture, just a bed and dresser. DH and I aren't very picky about that sort of thing.

We also will not accept any kids with a known history of sexual abuse for the sake of the other kids.

I've GOT to see the triple bunkbeds, Shycar!

Jess

[quiescentfury]

When we asked this question they said 4 kids per room, so technically we can have 12 kids!! We only have 5. We have our two foster daughters in one room, and we have our 9 and 2 year old in another room and the baby has her own room. We do have an extra crib, but I am not up for another baby anytime soon!! I can't imagine having more than two kids per room. When we had the girls baby brother he slept in the room with them. It was crowded, but it was the only way he would sleep and not scream all night.

[mommy2fiveplus]

They go by sq ft here in michigan, 40 per kid. Seems tiny to me but whatever. We have three bedrooms upstairs including the master and 2 bedrooms downstairs.

bunkbeds and a crib in one room and bunkbeds and a toddler bed in the other.

we also have a crib in our room (6 mos old is there)and space to set up a portacrib when we need it.

Of the downstairs bedrooms (walkout basement w/egress windows in each room) 1 bedroom is set up for 1 kid (this will eventually be my oldest son's room) and the other bedroom can accomadate 6, but we only will ever put 4 in there.

The kids are separated by boys v girls right now but we often find them all in the same room in the am (they are a mix of adopt/foster/bio and all under 6yo).

We currently don't use the downstairs rooms b/c the kids don't seem old enough yet.