Foster care?

Kayiena · 03-10-2006, 05:59 PM

DH and I are getting some information on foster parenting here in Kansas. He prefers to work from home, and doing this, he would feel SO much better about his work than the crap he's doing now, and it would benefit kids in desperate need of help too, so good for all.

Now, I have questions.

Do any of you have any experience with foster care? How does it work? Do they reimburse you for expenses? How long do kids typically stay with you?

Any info you guys have would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

macrod · 03-10-2006, 07:54 PM

You get reimbursed per child. Plus the child is on Medicaid and if you have a baby you can get WIC (formula). Also, you are supposed to get a clothing voucher every 3 months ($60 per child). Now, keep in mind that the reimbursement is supposed to be for the child. Somehow ppl think that foser parents get rich, LOL. Our state does not reimburse for daycare so I spent $400 for daycare and the formula was only 1 can per day and she drank 2. Also, I was always buying clothes and toys. The sad thing is that some children would come to me with everything they owned in a grocery bag and there would be no new clothes nor toys, just worn out clothes. Now some agencies reimburse for mileage and any out of pocket meds (Tylenol, Mylocen drops) that are not covered by Medicaid. I never filled out the forms to do this but a good agency will do this. In the end we got more out of fostering than we could ever have imagined. I would have never thought that we could get so attached to a child so quickly. My dh would get up at all hours to comfort our now adoptive daughter (former foster baby). We never dreamed that she would end up staying forever but my dh got really attached to her as did everyone in our families. Children can stay from days, to weeks, months and even a year. Be prepared to have your heart broken but that is okay as God has plans for you and your dh. He never gives you more than you can handle. Good luck!!!

Kayiena · 03-11-2006, 12:25 AM

Hey, thanks for your speedy reply

I've been talking to a lady close to home who is with one of the agencies here, and from what she says, they're great. They even give you liability insurance in case something happens while you are fostering! So, I'm going to call and have them send us more information.

Oomis · 03-11-2006, 01:26 AM

I don't know about Kansas but in Texas they hold info meetings in your area. You may want to check with your local CPS office to see when the next one is. We learned so much and are working on our paperwork now so we can get the home study done.

Kayiena · 03-11-2006, 01:58 AM

Oomis, thanks! I did do some looking, and there's an orientation meeting April 10th, a day before our anniversary

Do they make you pay for the homestudy, or do they do it free of charge?

anang · 03-11-2006, 03:54 AM

They won't charge for a your home study. Often you also have to take classes in order to become a foster family. Good for you fostering. My DH and I are doing a straight adoption from the state foster care right now which means we will be fostering only children who are free for adoption or perhaps kids who are not yet free but everything looks like they will be soon. Good luck

Sherri75 · 03-11-2006, 04:07 AM

Good luck with fostering. My DH and I are foster parents. We currently have a gorgeous 9 mo old DFD that we hope to adopt one day. I can't give you advice since things vary from state to state and agency to agency. The state really doesn't pay much and most of what we get goes for the care of DFD. However, there are private agencies that usually deal with the more difficult to place and often they do pay more. I'm not sure what you're looking to do. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer.

Oomis · 03-11-2006, 04:45 AM

We are looking into the same option as Anag. They do not make you pay for the home study. From what we were told if you adopt through foster care sometimes all the costs of adoption are taken care of. Good luck!!! Oh, in Texas we have to take 32 hours of "PRIDE" classes before we can foster. We also have to get CPR certified. From what they said if you have step children they will talk to them and they check to see that the children will not be living in a closet. From what they said they don't totally invade your privacy and dig in your cabinets or anything. If you have animals make sure you have their rabies shots current.

Kayiena · 03-12-2006, 02:03 AM

Thanks guys! We aren't trying to adopt, at this point. I might want to do that at some point down the road though, we'll have to see. Based on my reading, we do have to take classes, they're called "PS-MAPP" here. 30 hours. 3 hours a week, 10 weeks. And here, the state doesn't administer our Foster care/adoption system. They have contracted it out to several private agencies, and it seems to be working a bit better. Been that way since, I think 1997 or 1999, I can't recall.

And on the care thing, DH will be staying at home, so we won't have daycare expenses of any nature, thankfully.

That's part of the reason we want to do this. It'll kinda be a job for him, and we'll enjoy it thoroughly.

And yes, we do have pets, but they're 100% current on all their shots, as in, they got their boosters less than two weeks ago

And we don't have any kids of our own, so that's not an issue, thankfully.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate hearing from you!

tariana · 03-12-2006, 03:57 AM

It sounds like you got further with them than I ever did. They would barely talk to me and so I've pretty well given up on that idea of foster care or adopting through the state system.

Good luck, though!

Kayiena · 03-12-2006, 05:12 AM

thanks Kati

nice to here from you again!

Mindijean · 03-12-2006, 04:22 PM

Every state has different rules, requirements, etc.

In our state, we were required to take three weeks of classes, that's it! But we had references, background checks, etc.

We rarely ever get a clothing allowance, that comes out of our pockets. We do get WIC and medical coverage.

Your husband won't be staying at home all the time w/ foster children, that's for sure!! Lots of taxiing to visitations w/ parents, sometimes therapies, doctor's appointments. You get reimbursed for your mileage, but not your time.

Whoever said you can get rich from foster care is full of it! I don't know too many jobs that pay you 65 cents an hour and you can get rich from it!!

But it IS totally worth it to help a child!

We're going to adoption route now and we're almost finished w/ our homestudy process. The fees range from $500 on up for adoption homestudies here, plus the cost of fingerprinting and background checks.

Stacey1734 · 03-20-2006, 07:31 PM

We are looking into the foster care program in our state. We were going to do the State Adoption, but they told us that they really liked us and were sure we would be great parents...but with us not having parenting experience most case workers woul dnot give us a child. So we are supposed to do foster care first.

GOOD LUCK!!
Stacey

Kayiena · 03-21-2006, 05:19 PM

Stacey, we need to keep in touch then!!

Update, I got in touch w/ the agency that does the training, and we're enrolled for the classes that start in April! And, we got our packet filled out and back to the agency we want to work with. Yes, they're different agencies! oy... But anyway, progress is being made

Mindijean · 04-03-2006, 08:19 PM

Wondering if you have any updates on your training???