[blau5]

Being a full-time employee makes it seem hard for me to figure out how to handle bringing a new foster child into my home. We've only had one foster placement that came and went after 9 weeks but I took 1 week of vacation to allow him time to adjust to us and our home before he started day care. It went well and he was fine, only to leave 9 short weeks later. My question is how do others of you that work full time handle bringing new children into the home? I only get 10 days vacation per year and have used all of mine up for this year and just wonder how the heck I'm supposed to do this? I can handle some days off without pay, but at the rate it seems that they might come and go, that's alot of money I won't have. I hate to bring a child into my home and have to send them straight to daycare the next day, that just doesn't seem fair to them. I was just wondering what the rest of you do?
It would also make for an interesting poll for someone to create on this forum with the title "Full-time, Part-time, Work from home, SAH parent?". I don't know how to create a poll but maybe someone that does can create one?

[hkolln]

When Alexis came back in June 2007 I took a week of vacation and then FMLA for the entire summer. I went back a week after the kids went back to school in August but I think it helped her immensely having me there for her all the time. It surely helped with the transition too. You could always take a few weeks off unpaid thru FMLA and then go back to work if you can't swing 2 months but I'd ask your employer if they have FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) U.S. Department of Labor - Employment Standards Administration (ESA) - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - Family and Medical Leave Act

Now, FMLA is not paid if you use it alone though and I'm not sure if you are financially setup to handle that but you can look into that. You get 12 weeks per year and it holds your job. It was great cause I was with her all day and we did some Mommy/daughter bonding Now she's stuck to me like glue

[athikers]

Not all employers offer FMLA. The company you work for must be of certain size, etc to be required to offer it. My husband's employer employs only 7 people, so he gets no leave. He is still requesting time off once we finalize so we can spend some time traveling as a family, but they are not required to give it to him by any means.

I am a SAHFM. We decided when we started that the kiddos have enough transition, if we could offer them a place with one caregiver that was our goal. I understand not all families have this option, or choose this option. Its just what we wanted to do. It has been challenging at times, as we lost over half our income when I "came home", but we have made it work thus far.

[hockeywoman]

Our kiddos were placed with us as an adoptive placement, so placement was preplanned. I took 1 week off work full time, and then went back 1/2 time with flex schedule. All of this was done under FMLA, unpaid time off. My employer has now changed FMLA (because of me - if they let me do it EVERYONE will want to - it was an oversight in their policy) to not allow 1/2 time off, so I'm not sure what we'll do with the next placements. I certainly cannot afford full time off for an extended period of time, both financially and from a career perspective.

My kiddos have great stability in their daycares - the youngest who have stayed in the same daycare have had the same main classroom teachers since we started 6 months ago - and they love them! They love going to "school", and it's a great routine for them. I had to move my oldest to a new daycare in the school district this fall, and I'm not so sure I like this one as well. But with DH and my work obligations, we really need the before and after school care option.

[lovingheart]

We cannot afford to do FMLA without pay so we have built a network with other foster families and they will provide "sitting" services for us in their homes which works better then daycare. In summer DH has Th, Fr off and we both have weekends so a needier child can spend more time with us.

[hkolln]

Originally Posted by athikers

Not all employers offer FMLA.
.

This is true that is why I mentioned to ask the employer if they offer it.

[greenrobin]

We've had 11 foster kids. Unfortunately, 7 of them were placed during the school year. Both of us teach, so we don't exactly have a flexible schedule at that time. The one summer placement we had only lasted about 6 weeks.

So far, the kids have gone straight to school or daycare. With only one placement did we have issues, and that was due to some pretty heavy emotional needs--2 of the kids went to a psych unit for a while. Yes, it is alot of transitioning in the beginning, but it's been okay. Our routine is established from the beginning. Our daycare providers have been very good with helping ease the kids into the daily routine.