[UTbrie]

Hey everyone!
I wanted an opinion based on experience about job hours and what would work (or not work) while fostering. I am a PTA working for a local hospital system, outpatient Rehab. I am now working 4 (10) hr days with Fri-Sunday off. I work mon, wed 730-6 and tues, thur 830-7. I have already arranged a family member (who will be my alternate caregiver) to pick up the child from daycare on my two later days. My question is, do I need to start looking into changing my hours now, to a more 7-3 or 9-5 type hours? Or is my schedule workable as it is? I only ask because I will be taking medically fragile children 0-5. I know they will need additional doctors and specialist appts and increased visits with birth parents due to their young age. I am nervous because I have only been working at this clinic for 2.5 years and have no seniority. Seniority secures better hours (like 7-3). As a newer higher, they expect to close the clinic 2-3 times a week. What is everyones opinion on this? And is it worth it to change jobs if they will not work with me on my schedule?? Any thoughts, wisdom? Any advice is appreciated. (Oh, and I will be a single foster parent)

[jp4ga]

This is a tricky question. I found that after we got into fostering the kids had more appointments than I ever imagined they would have. I ended up having to take a lot of time off work to take kids to visits, counseling, medical and dental appointments. My hours were M-F 8-4, it was hard to fit in all of these appointments in late afternoon.

After several months I mentioned to the SW that the appointments for 2 kids were overwhelming, that is when she told me funding was available to have the kids transported to appointments that I did not need to be at (Dental, routine medical). You could check to see if you state has a similar program it was called "wrap around services." I went to most counseling and visits so that i could answer questions first hand, but the wrap around service really helped. They also found a counselor that would see the kids at the day care which helped me out a ton.

It never hurts to ask your agency if these services are available.

[greenrobin]

I'm going to say that it kind of depends.

Do you have family members who are going to be helping you out? Do you have a back up for the days you have to close? Who will be taking care of the kids while you are working these very long hours? Especially when we're talking about medically fragile kiddos.

I don't do medically fragile. I do, however, do large sib groups and the upper end of the basic kids--those that have some pretty tough behaviors. I limit the ages, but it's still intense. When we had the Fantastic Four, we had neurology appointments, physicians, early childhood interventionists (2), HeadStart, upcoming therapies of various sorts. I was going all of the time. With the Tasmanian Devils, another group of 4, the kids all started therapy, family visits, school related stuff, and then just the crazy behaviors that required containment and a ton of paperwork. There were, of course, the usual trainings and paperwork as well.

It was insane! The Tasmanians wore me out, but the Fantastics were different. I was for sure tired with two babies and 2 big girls, but they were easy and fun. Except for the neurology stuff.

I work full time. Then I was also a grad student. Now we have Bubba and Flower Girl, both in therapy, one with challenging behaviors in the beginning, sws out the wazoo, visits no more but in the beginning it was with extended family in another town, then that got moved to a town 2 hours away to accommodate family. And court dates. And planning meetings. And, heavens above, if anybody got sick, there you go! I had to spend only 1 night at the hospital with the youngest baby we had.

I teach school, and I can tell you, our secretary gives me the evil eye whenever I say I need a sub!

But, I also have a terrific hubby and grown kids who help me out all of the time. They do what they can and it really helps.

So, think about what you are doing. Can you afford to take the days it will be necessary to do? Visits are often not at your convenience. Medically fragile kids may require more time away from their daycare option.
It isn't impossible, just logistically challenging, even with the best of circumstances.

And, I also work 9-10 hour days. If I could find a way to cut back, I would. It's just stressful.

[afamilythroughfoster]

I work part-time (3-4days) and of course, all appts seem to fall on days that I am working.

It is important to gently remind your DSS liason that you will need help with transportation when you get "the call" for a potential fosterchild.

Find out what your agency's policy is on transporting the child. I worked with one county that said only the assigned fosterparents or a DSS employee could transport the child. Then I switched to another agency and their policy allowed any fosterparent associated with them to help assist with any needs of the child.

Have you told your employer that you are considering this? Kids get sick-it's a fact of life-especially infant/toddlers and then to add a medical condition on top of this increases the chances of needing unexpected leave time.

I just had a medically fragile child and man, did this girl have a lot of appts. Counseling, visits, several doctor visits a month! thank goodness she did not get sick and miss school.

Any services that can be done at the babysitter's should be..speech, PT, OT, etc. Also, email is a wonderful thing. I just discovered the beauty of emailing the caseworker with my last placement. After all the kids were in bed I could sit down and concentrate. Talking on the phone was difficult during the day..the kids would be quiet until I got on the phone and then they would start demanding things or fighting. And, of course, my employer frowned on too many personal calls during working hours.

I also work at a hospital and this is huge advantage when working with kids w/special needs. I found other depts to be very accomadating. The nutritionist dropped by and did a consult on my lunch break. I had backline numbers so I could get through to the person I needed w/out going through the secretary or playing voicemail tag.

I think having at least one day off during the work week is tremendously helpful vs. working every day and not being available at all. Of course, this is from the standpoint of appts only. Working long hours and then coming home to care for a very young child is exhausting. Those 2 and 3 yo's don't have a wide vocabulary and whew, they can be sceamers.

You work in a field where you take care of other people all day and then to come home and take care of another person all night can be weary at times. Make sure you have a plan for re-charging your "battery".

My favorites were:
to hire a teenager for the day and then we would all go to the park together or stay home and do nothing. I was there and available at all times but someone else was doing the hands-on work of entertaining or getting up and fetching the milk. Meanwhile, I could read a book, get on the computer, or *gasp* get some housework done.
Or I would set up playdates with multiple families and then we were all watching everyone's kids but I still got to relax with other adults.

It takes an extraordinary amount of organization and excellent communication but it can be done. It is certainly rewarding and worth it.

[excited2adoptsoon]

I think this depends totally on the fosterparent and the fosterchild. Every situation differs a lot. I have a healthy newborn and I tried for 7 months to manage on my full time 8-5 pm job. I felt that it wasn't working. Thankfully I could afford to cut back and my job allowed it. I am now part time, 2 days 8-5 and 1 day 8-12. This schedule is ideal for me and my baby. She has MANY appointments all the time and I just tell everyone they must schedule it on my 2.5 days off and that has been working out perfect.

But I've read many posts where single mothers have multiple fosterkids with medical issues and they seem to manage just fine.

[potentialsinglemom]

It depends on your support system. I work a steady schedule, but I have the FMLA to get off when I need and not have my job in jeopady. The dr's appointments I schedule myself. The cw visits are centered around my work schedule. The caseworkers facilitate the visit with the parents and do all the transportation.

Having a great support system helps out a lot. While you are taking your classes, get to know your classmates...you can use them for back up, respite or for short term run to the grocery store kidsitters, have playdates, and are wonderful for venting purposes and brainstorming purposes.

I too am single. My family lives in a completely different state.

My daycare is open for 20 hours a day... I do not mind having to pay extra for a couple of hours of me time when everyone else is busy.

[ladyjubilee]

Originally Posted by UTbrie

Hey everyone!
I wanted an opinion based on experience about job hours and what would work (or not work) while fostering. I am a PTA working for a local hospital system, outpatient Rehab. I am now working 4 (10) hr days with Fri-Sunday off. I work mon, wed 730-6 and tues, thur 830-7. I have already arranged a family member (who will be my alternate caregiver) to pick up the child from daycare on my two later days. My question is, do I need to start looking into changing my hours now, to a more 7-3 or 9-5 type hours? Or is my schedule workable as it is? I only ask because I will be taking medically fragile children 0-5. I know they will need additional doctors and specialist appts and increased visits with birth parents due to their young age. I am nervous because I have only been working at this clinic for 2.5 years and have no seniority. Seniority secures better hours (like 7-3). As a newer higher, they expect to close the clinic 2-3 times a week. What is everyones opinion on this? And is it worth it to change jobs if they will not work with me on my schedule?? Any thoughts, wisdom? Any advice is appreciated. (Oh, and I will be a single foster parent)

I wouldn't change my hours to foster. I don't know how your system works, but here the social worker takes Little Guy for visits and appointments. I can't make medical decisions anyway, so he goes. And I can't observe the family---so he and the DSS social worker do visits unless something just comes up. I save my time off for things that area REALLY important (ex. psych eval interivews or ER visits.)


As a side note, I just don't think its appropriate for foster parents to do the parent visits. We're not trained. We can't intervene if direction needs to be given etc.

[mnmomma]

I agree with the others that the transportation issue will be key. My county does not provide transportation for anything. We were able to schedule visits after my work day at a visitation center (usually 6-7pm), but needed to drive to all Dr. appointments that occurred during the work day.

[shaslove]

Here, we have no-one to transport, since its an ICPC, and the visits are just over the border in WA. So my nanny transports to her weekly visit, and I take time off to go to doctor appointments, WIC, etc. My ss workers/CASA have been fabulous about scheduling home visits after I get off work, so that has been nice.

[humanchild]

I would run this by your SW. I am also a single foster parent, and I was told by my homefinding worker (and her supervisor because I went over her head to ask as well) that under no circumstances would they allow me to be a single foster parent and work 12 hour shifts. My best friend lives with me, ("foster auntie" role) and she went through classes and background checks as well, but she is not considered a "certified foster parent" because she does not have a home with an extra bedroom and she is not a "parent" and they would not approve her to watch my kids while I was at work, because "Only certified child care providers can watch the children while you are at work". Are you sure they will be ok with your mom picking the kids up from day care routinely?

For me, the decision did come down to foster parenting or changing jobs. I had been a foster parent already for two years when it came to this (I was not single when I became a foster parent, and my partner worked "normal" hours so it was not an issue in the beginning) and I felt like my first calling at that time was to the kids, so I did choose jobs.

[Vitality08]

I'm not going to say it can't work but for me it would not work.

I'm single and my job is flexible in that, I can work shorter hours one day and make up the time the next. I have to leave early to get the kids to therapy. They don't have family visits and I can schedule cm and sw visits around my schedule. I have to have the kids picked up by 6:30 so the latest I can work is 4:30 or 4:45.

If I had trust worthy teenagers, I would be able to work a schedule similiar to yours because they'd be able to come home alone and wait for me to get home. Right now I have a 10 and 5 year old that can't be home alone.

That being said, maybe you can make it work. Only you know the flexibility of your job.