[sergekel]

Hello there,

I was wondering how many of you are regular/family foster families and how many are specialized/theraputic...and why you chose that route.

I'll start.

We're regular family fostering because I homeschool our 3 bios and I don't feel that I have enough time/energy or recourses available to me (live very rural) to fully take care of a special-needs child. My husband works a lot and all of the children's school stuff and discipline falls on me, as does the housework, meals, sports practices and games, appointments and..eveything else!!!

[jphollen]

We are specialized. We went that way because both of our first two placements that we supposed to be traditional ended up being specialized. Our oldest bio child is very high functioning Aspergers/OCD so we already had an environment of structure and didn't have to make many changes.

That said the sibling group we have right now is considered traditional. Even though the boy is highly emotionally disturbed and the girl is drug exposed.

[Withay]

I started as regular and am now specialized. I primarily take the most medically fragile newborns and infants/toddlers. This is where my heart is.

[meshsgrl]

I am theraputic, only because I really wanted a christian agency. This is one of the best agencies in the area. I do limit the ages and issues that I can deal with.

[greenrobin]

We are a basic level home because that's where everyone is started here.

We have a bioson who has bipolar, ODD, ADHD, and depression issues. And that's why we tend to get kids who are a little tougher but don't qualify as therapeutic care.

I live in the gray zone!

[Ians mom]

We are a "regular" foster home, but since I am a nurse all of the placements we have had needed some kind of special care. Our CW once told us we had a 'succer' sticker on our file because she knew we would accept kids other families couldn't handle.