[mountaineermom]

After have my first 3 placements RU'd after only two weeks, I decided to call the homefinder and tell her that we want to be on the foster to adopt list, not just the emergency/short term list. I was unaware there were different lists for foster parents, but apparently we were only getting calls for short term placements and that was why.
So I told her we are willing to do both types of care, we would just like to keep a child for more than a few days or weeks at a time, and hopefully adopt eventually.
Here's my dilemma... We are only approved for two kiddos. What if we have a one or two short term emergency placements and they find us a preadoptive placement during that time? Will they let us know or will we not be considered unless our home is empty? If that happens, do we take the foster to adopt placement and send the other kids back?? I dont want to put myself in a situation like that, but I also dont want to have my home empty while I wait for who knows how long to a preadoptive placement.

[saj]

Are you licensed for 2 because that is all you can accommodate, or because that is what you origionally requested? We were licenswd for 2 as well, but because we had extra space, we were constantly being called to take more.

[AmahMama]

It depends on the area, demand, and who is doing placement. If cw's are placing - they may be more aware of your wishes than if placement is done via a central office. In my experience, most of the time - if the beds you are licensed for are 'occupied' your home is considered full. But as op said - depending on your space - you may qualify for a waiver if a lower risk placement is available.

Good luck!

[mountaineermom]

We only were licensed for two I guess becuase we only have one extra bedroom. But we have an office that we could convert into a bedroom if we need to. Do you think I should talk to someone about upping my license to 3 in case?

[CJinCO]

We are licensed for two foster to adopt and also agreed to take emergency placements while waiting for a placement.

Th "emergency" baby girls (sisters) we were placed with back in February (midnight on a Friday night) are still here. Now we're so in love with them we are going to stick it out to see what happens with their case which could be up to a year here in Colorado.

We wouldn't take any more placements because we have our hands full with our 11 yr old bio son and the babies (20mos & 6mos)!

This is the second time. Our first "emergency" placement was last October with a 20 month old and again we were in love with her and we didn't want her moved again so we waited to see what would happen. She left in February to be placed with relatives.

If these girls go home I think we will only take a foster to adopt placement next time with a bit less risk. At least that's what I say now lol!

I'm trying to be open minded... maybe I'm being called to just be a soft "emergency" place for babies to fall I've so enjoyed my baby girls.

Good luck!

Charlene

[sadoyle1216]

We are licensed for foster, adopt and foster to adopt. We don't really have any intentions on having more than 2 kids in the house, but we are licensed for 4. Where we are, if the house is full (regardless of the situations), they cannot consider us for an potential adoptive placements. So, if we have 2 foster placements, we are still open to be considered for adoptive placements. Granted, we run the risk of having up to 4 kids in the house, but we figured it was the better option for us.

[EandDmom]

What about if you took one emergency placement at a time and left a spot open for foster/adopt or longer foster placements? I know here if you are full then they don't call for any other placements. Although, I was at a visit at the library awhile back and another social worker came up to me and asked me if I was interested in adopting a 2 and 4 year old sibling set. I said we needed to stick to the placement we had and see how it went. Personally, I would have loved to take them but dh would have killed me if I tried to put 2 more kids in this house..lol. That would have given us 7.

[ladyjubilee]

I am licensed for 2, but have one placement and am being considered for an adoptive placement of 2. I've spoken with the caseworker (who knows all 3) and there would be no problem to get an excepion (all the kids are around the same age/sex/level.)