[alkm]

Can anyone share with me the pros/cons of working with an agency over working directly with your county foster services office?

[Joy2566]

We chose to go with the private agency option. We only get kids that the county contracts out to the private agency. In our county, they generally only contract out the probation kids, or other kids that have washed out of county homes. We only got teen boys on probation. The kids we have now came to us from a county 6 hours away, again because they washed out of county homes. DS also blew through all of the agency homes there, so they were desperate. We were uniquely suited to his needs and he has done well here. They do usually try to keep kids closer to home. One of the main differences between the agency and county is the board rates. We are considered a treatment home so our rates are higher than the county, but not as high as therapeutic. A drawback is that we have an agency worker, that we deal with, and the kid's county worker, that our agency worker deals with. We are not supposed to have direct contact with the county worker, yet they have all the control over the kids. Especially as we move toward adoption, this has been more frustrating, as the two workers don't communicate. I have been mostly pleased with our agency, it just depends on your case manager.

[greenrobin]

I have an acquaintance who is straight DFPS and she loves it. She says that she is able to deal directly with everyone.

We work through an agency. Our situation is a bit different. Around here, if kids are taken into care, they just mostly look for homes. I don't know if county gets first choice, but I do know that there are lots of placements through the various agencies. We see the same kids that county fps see.

I guess I'm lucky because we've always had direct access to both workers, agency and county. Only 1 county worker was a real dud. The issues are usually around the paperwork for permission to travel for me. This time, I actually had an audience with the presiding judge, and he gave me open ended permission! Very unusual.

The upside of agency fc is that you have someone who knows the system who can run interference for you. You get additional support. There can be some additional stipends for clothing available. The agency I'm with also hosts a huge Christmas party with really good gifts for the kids. The agency can provide transportation to appointments and visits. They will send someone out to help you if you find yourself staying at the hospital with a fc.

Our agency is faith based, so we often get spiritual support as well.

The downside is more people in your life. Never forget that all of the cws are the KIDS cws, not yours, so they are in and out of your house frequently. They have the same requirements for visiting the kids that the state does, so you can get double the amount of homevisits.

There are times when I wish I had fewer hoops to jump through, but I really enjoy the people at our agency.

[Robbin]

I don't know because we dealt with the county before and wound up adopting 3 of our fosters.

But I am about to find out because we will (hopefully!!) be approved by an agency in the next 11 days! We didn't have a bad experience with the county, in fact, I recommend them to people interested in fostering. We just wanted to try something different.