[turbett55]

Hello, I am new to this board and I was wondering how to decide what type of furniture to buy for the rooms? My husband and I had just started the foster classes and will be licensed in October but I don't know how to go about furnishing the rooms for the children. We had put in the age group of 0months to 5yrs old, boy or girl and either one or two children. So, do we buy a crib and two sets of beds just in case? Or do we wait and see what child will be with us? We are doing a foster to adopt so I don't know if that will make a difference. If anyone could please let me know how you went about setting up your rooms I would greatly appreciate it.

[luv2scrap]

hi turbett55
we are researching agencies to foster and foster to adopt through. We want to children between the ages 0-4 years. Who are you using to go through your classes? what city are you in? Please send me a private message because we are not allowed to talk about agencies names on the forum.
thank you
Kim

[mommyto9]

We foster the same age group. We have a crib, a toddler bed, bunk beds, and a twin bed, so far we've had to use them all.

The baby bed is in our room. Bunk beds in my son's room, and the twin bed in our daughter's room. We've had to do some rearranging depending on the age and sex of the child.

Good Luck...btw....we foster through the county.

[turbett55]

Thank you for your reply. My husband and I have been going crazy trying to figure out what beds to get because of the age range that we had requested. If you don't mind I have another stupid question. How did you decorate their rooms? I want the rooms to be cheery because of the stress the children will be going through and not sure if I should just stick to the plain neutral colors or if there is something else that you could suggest. I want there first time here to be inviting and not so cold for them. Any help would be great. Again we are requesting between ages of newborn to 5yrs old if that helps any.

thanks, Christy

[naca]

It all depends on your financial situation. Personally I would just wait til you get a placement to get everything. Perhaps 1 crib and 1 bed.. That way you have at least something. We only accept 0-3 and have a crib, but then we already had the crib from our bios.. I've only been placed with a newborn so far so it worked out great! We do still have one opening and if we get the call then we'll run out and buy another crib!!
Just a side note - I was told that it's illegal in Indiana to have your foster child in the parents room unless they have a severe medical condition that requires 24hr monitoring.. We always placed our bios in our room for the first few months at least before moving them to their own room but I was told that it was not allowed. Just thought I'd throw that out there..
Good luck with your classes!

[turbett55]

Thank you Kelly for the information. I wouldn't be able to put an infant in my room because my husband is on swing shifts and it just wouldn't work out so that's fine that Indiana doesn't allow that. If I had to I would most likely put a extra bed in the baby's room if need be but that is definitly a good thing to know. Thank you again.



Christy

[mommyto9]

I just wanted to mention, that I'm not sure that (baby bed in parents room) is against the law in Indiana. Our cw did our homestudy and saw the baby bed in our room and I asked if that was okay and she said "yes". Also we had a placement from another county and he slept in our room (he was 4 mo old)and he cried all night, he even slept in our bed b/c that was the only way we could get ANY! rest, the cw knew about it, the visitation supervisor knew about it, the family preservation worker knew about it, and no one said it was wrong?! If it is against the law, no one's saying anything. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying I have no idea if it is or isn't.

[naca]

I was initially told ( when looking into foster care) by my county that they didn't care if you had a fosterchild in your room or not.. However when I contacted Catholic Charities ( who is in charge of licensing us for the county) they said that it is against state policy to have a foster child in the parents room ever.. They also made sure to mention it in the classes.. But I guess if your CW doesn't care then it doesn't make a difference?? Perhaps it varies on how strict your cws are? I'm not really sure.. I never asked my CW b/c I was told during classes that it wasn't allowed and we didn't have the baby bed set up when they did the homestudy..

[gregorysparents]

Kelly,

I know this original thread was started back in July, but I have just "run" across it.

I was really surprised to read that a foster child is not allowed in a foster parents' bedroom.

I put Gregory in our room from day one. When we received Whyatt, I had a crib for Gregory and a bassinet for Whyatt in our room. Now, THANKFULLY, Gregory is in his own room and in a toddler bed, while Whyatt is now in the crib - still in our bedroom.

I am going to ask my cw (the next time I talk with her) what the rule is regarding this subject.

Thanks for the "heads up" - I was just really surprised to read that there might be a concern. After all, we have been foster parents' for over two years and have never been questioned about this.

Christina

[naca]

lol Christina, from what I've seen alot of ppl dont follow that ruling. It's just what I was told in class and when talking with Catholic Charities.. If your CW doesn't care then I say go for it! It's so much easier to have a baby in your own room