[michelleb]

Hi there!
My name is Michelle and I live in PA with my husband and two school age children. I am 34. We got the call yesterday that our LICENSING was FINALIZED and we are now, legally, FOSTER PARENTS!! (I can hear all of your applause, thank you!) We are sooooo excited to start this journey! We are taking children 3 yrs and under and have specifically asked for short-term placements to start out with so our children can have concrete images of children coming and going before we would get a longer term placement who might be here for 6 months to a year.
But of course I now feel like a pregnant woman whose Dr. is keeping her due date a secret...everytime the phone rings I say a quick prayer, "PLEASE let this be a placement call!"
How do you all cope with the waiting? Have any of you done short term only? I am wondering if this is going to significantly cut down on our placements or could there possibly be a higher need for short term placement homes?
I assume I will be here quite often as I play the waiting game and I am SOOOOOO looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you!!! I hope to make some longtime friends here as we all work this MINISTRY for the children!
Bless you all!

Michelle in PA

[SashaSue]

Congratulations!

I am in Texas. Got my license in September 2004 and the next day got my first placement (she was with me 2.5 months), second one less than a month, got my third one 2 weeks ago tomorrow and getting another one later this afternoon. I don't know about PA but I've had placement workers ask me to take kids for just a few days which I never believed.

They don't know how long these kids will be in foster care, especially if they are taken directly out of the home and put in fc. My first placement was with me about 2 weeks or so before the parents had to go to court and then there had to be homestudies done on relatives/friends who would take the child while the parents worked their plan. If you're working with the State then there is no telling what kind of time to expect. Things just don't move that quickly, at least in Texas they don't. There is a lot of paperwork, court dates, etc. to be handled and that alone will take a couple of weeks or so. And if no relative is found then the child could be in your home a lot longer while the parents work their plan.

You never know what you'll get or how long they'll be with you. You just have to enjoy them and love them while they're with you...

Good luck and keep us informed!

SashaSue

[michelleb]

Thanks for all your kind words of wisdom!!
WOW!! How many children do you have in your home at once? Doyou have any of your own children? You must be a very organized person to be able to handle all those children!! God Bless you!!
I would take HOW EVER MANY they would give me at a time but my husband is not one for unorganized living!! He gets really uptight when there is too much going on. I am an artist so "the more going on the better" in my mind...opposites attract!!
Anyway,
I wish I could see abit into the future so I would know WHEN...it is so exciting to be all READY...but tough at the same time!
I look forward to getting to know you better.
What part of Texas are you from? We have friends in the Plano area.
Hope to talk again soon!
Michelle

[lambeausam]

Welcome to foster parenting! I have been at it for almost eight years and am licensed for four children. I only have two openings at this time.

Sam

[michelleb]

Hi Sam!
Thanks for introducing yourself! I should have my husband read these posts so he sees I am not a FREAK for wanting to open our hosue to as many children as need us.
Have any of you read the book "Another Place at the Table" ? It is SOOOOO good! I just read it a few weeks ago! It is the life of a woman in Mass. who took in emergency placements, adopted some and had some bio children. It is fascinating. She has fostered over 100 children - the book highlights the six or so that had the most impact on their family and her life...positively as well as negatively.
Any other books you all have read? I can't seem to find a whole lot out there in the way of foster care topics.

[SashaSue]

Michelle,

I don't have any bio children. I'm divorced and currently have a 2 year old fs and am getting a 2 month old fs later this afternoon. I'm licensed for 2, which will be all I can handle. This is my first time to have 2 at the same time. I live in Allen, which is a suburb of Plano!

I'm an artist too! Even though I don't work professionally at it now. I was a graphic artist for several years and still like to draw/paint when I have the time. But now with a toddler I don't have much time at all.

I am fortunate that Texas pays for daycare, WIC pays for formula and some toddler food. I found a good daycare that is only 3 minutes from my house! And so far when I've gotten a call for a placement they have had space so I just drop the child off the next day so I don't miss any work. I have a good boss and great co-workers and they are so supportive of my doing this as well as my family...

Talk to you again soon,

SashaSue

[michelleb]

WOW that's great! It does make a difference when your work environment supports your personal choices. I haven't worked since my children were born - 7 years ago- so it has been a long time since I have been in a work environment but I am sure it is much more cut-throat now-a-days than it was even 7years ago.
What time is your baby coming? I WISH we were getting a baby today. So do my children!! they are soooo excited! My son is 7 and my daughter is 6. So letme know if you have any questions about having TWO little ones. My daughter was born when my sone was 15 mos old. I am an old pro!!
WOuld love to chat more!
Michelle

[HeatherRene]

Hey ladies!
Welcome Michelle, and I SO know how you feel. I got my license in November and I'm getting my first little fs tomorrow morning. I am single, and another single in my class got 2, before her license even arrived in the mail! I was like, HEY!!! where's MINE!?!?! but then I just waited, tried to be patient, relied on God to make me wait for the placement that would be best matched in my home. and here he is.
Sasha, I'm in TX too, Austin. How does the WIC work? I guess I'll need to do some paperwork or something??
It's so great to have people to share this with. Thanks for being there.

Heather

[michelleb]

You hit it right on the head!
I was semi-complaining to a friend about all the stuff we had to go through and my fingerprints got sent back twice, then PA decided to change the medical testing AFTER we had already had it done so we had to go have more blood tests, etc.
My friend said, "You know, God has specific babies for you and Ken and if things went smoothly and quickly it would throw HIS timing out the window..."your" baby may not even be born yet..."
How old is your fs? How EXCITING!!!!! A am soooo happy for you! What are you doing to prepare? DO you have other children at home?
Look forward to chatting more!
Michelle in PA

[HeatherRene]

T. is 18 months old. No, no other children. What am I doing to prepare? EVERYTHING! tonight I am putting the crib together and trying to reassemble the car seat! I got it from a friend and she said to wash it bc her child had gotten chocolate ice cream on it. so I did, now I can't figure out how to get the straps back on! :-(
and praying. A LOT! I'm nervous, but so so excited.

[michelleb]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
I JUST did the car seat straps this morning on THREE new/used car seats we got form friends....SO I AM WITH YOU on the "HOW the HECK do you do this??!"

I am excited for you!
My email addy is MLKB@PTD.NET would love to keep in touch through this!!

Michelle

[SashaSue]

The worker is supposed to bring the baby to my office around 3:30 or 4:00 and I'll take him home on the train.

WIC is great, especially for formula. Just call your local WIC office and set up an appointment (they'll tell you what to bring as far as paperwork). You will have to bring the child with you so they can weigh and measure him/her. You get vouchers for formula, cereal and juice for infants. I shop at Wal-Mart and just go through the checkout, hand them the voucher and they do the rest. You've got to be careful about what items because they only approve certain ones, but that only pertains to juice and cereal (for the infants, but it gets more complicated for toddlers). Luckily I've received formula with the kids when they arrived and got the vouchers to buy a month's worth at a time. It's worked out great!

I have 2 young nephews (they're 4 yrs. and 2 yrs. old)but this is the first time that I've taken care of one toddler and one infant at the same time. It ought to be interesting...

[leenab]

I now I hate the waiting for a call time. That's where we are again. But I have found that on a day when you're really busy the phone will ring. And most of the time it catches me off guard. I'm either, cooking, driving, cleaning, taking a shower or bathing the kids. They never call when I'm sitting there thinking, "Gosh I wish I had another child."

The day I got a call for Om I was really sick with a migraine and vomitting. The last thing on my mind was having a child that day. But I said yes, and he came home 4 hours later. Talk about the best way to get over a migraine (be so busy that you can't even remember you had one in the first place).

WIC is great, especially with infants. And pediatricans will write out scripts for pediasure if they feel children are underwieght (then WIC should cover it). We've had underweight toddler placements on pediasure and it can get expensive.

Good luck with the car seat straps. Thank goodness for the easy adjusting kind. Now if I can figure out how to put 3 seats in the back of my mini-van that would be great. It's like trying to squeeze into those pants I wore in the 6th grade.....so many yrs ago, lol.

-LeenaB

[michelleb]

Yep. That's what I figure!!! When I am trying not to have busy day - they won't call but when I have a million things to get done...that is when I will get the call!
Let me run this by you - you can see how "frantic" I am about getting the first call....
I go to the YMCA to work out 3-4x a week...my cell phone does NOT get reception at the "Y" so what do you think the chances are that I get the call during those times? This has been driving me nuts!! Do I give my CW the phone# of the "Y" and tell her - "if you need to reach me on Tues. & Thursd. from......or on Wed. at this time...." UGH! I feel like a psycho but what if??
ya know? I am soooo anxious to help and be put to good use!
Well, I am so glad to be a part of this group....I had a lot I wanted to get done this afternoon when my children were in school but I chose to sit at the computer and build some friendships - I am so glad I did! I can already tell that you all are going to be my major support system when I need it...I only hope I can return the favor!!
Blessings to you all!

[Dmommab]

You are exactly right! You will get that call on the day you have 6,000 things to do!! LOL We had gotten a 4 month old little girl 2 years ago on Feb 18 & my older daughter (17 at the time), the baby & I were shopping for a swim suit on March 8 (a Saturday) because she was leaving in a week to go to Hawaii on spring break when my phone rang in the department store asking if I could drive an hour away to pick up a newborn baby. Of course I said yes but then it was a mad rush to get everything I needed (fortunately I borrowed an infant car seat as mine was already being used by my little 4 month old). CRAZY TIMES! but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I currently have 3 bio children who are 22, 19 & 14, one 5 year old I have legal guardianship of & we just adopted our foster son who is 22 months now (he's the one we picked up from the hospital). We also have 2 other foster children who are 5 & 2 years old who we are adopting & those adoptions will be final the end of March or beginning of April. So guess what I did last week?????? Told the caseworker I was ready for another baby!!!! LOL I truly don't think we will adopt any more (but never say never!) but I really miss having a baby around the house. GOOD LUCK!