Hubby and I decided to foster last night on our way to pursuing adoption! I am so excited. We still have to wait until May to start the classes but I am way excited. Is it true that you have a better chance of adopting a baby if you foster first?
Also, I'm looking for buddies from Louisiana to help me through these processes. I thought it might help to talk to someone who has been through this! Help please. I have a million questions!
Hi! welcome! i am doing foster to adopt also. i am almost finished with my classes, 2 left! i don't live by you, but i could tell you about how it is here. and i go to some other bb's about fostering that have lots of foster parents from all over! pm me if you'd like those. we too are looking/hoping for an infant to age 2 child. any race, any gender and special needs welcomed. i have a son who is almost 3. we would like for him to remain the big brother if possible. from all my research (and experiences with the classes and cw's) it seems that the cw's will tell you that you will only get older children and IF you get a baby it could be 5 yrs till you're able to adopt. i know that this can and does happen. but through my research i have also found it to be true that people DO get babie more often than they lead you to believe. and that some get tpr'd right away ( termination of parental rights), some go on for a yr or two trying to reunify and then end up being adopted by the foster parents. it can happen any number of ways. as long as you're willing/able to handle it no matter what way it happens or how long it takes, it can happen. it may not, but i might. i look at it as the same as ttc. nothing is certain. not with ttc, not with pg, not with adoption, and certainly not with foster/adopt. sorry to babble! ask away! i'll try to help if i can!
cyndl, you are so right you never know what will happen, and the more you are open to the more that will happen. We never expected there a possibility of adopting a 3 month old child, and here we are.
oh Thursday Thursday Thursday.
hurry up and get here
I tried pming you to tell you I wanted you to send me the bb's but it said your mailbox was full. My email is princesslandry@hotmail.com. You can send them there if you want to. I can't wait to start classes! We are starting in June after DH gets out of graduate school b/c the classes are at night. We are hoping for an under 12 month child. Gender is not an issue nor is race. Okay what is a cw? I looked it up on the abbreviations list and couldn't find it. I am so willing and able to handle whatever comes. I've been doing that in the ttc battle and now will do it with foster/adopt situation. You aren't babbling. Thanks for the info. So you can't say at all what age(s) you want to foster?
Lisa,
A three month old? CONGRATS. When do you pick up the baby? I'm so excited for you that is awesome. I can't wait! Hugs to you and the little one.
oops! i'll have to clear out my box i guess! CW is case worker. it's probably not in the abreviations list because it is not a ttc abr. but an foster/adoption one. although they chould probably add some of those. or maybe we should have a sticky at the top here for newbies.
we can request an age range for foster. but you will be ask for anything anywhere NEAR your age range. plus they are always looking for homes for the older ones. which i might do in yrs to come. but not while my ds is still so little.
I am a foster/adopt mommy to a beautiful 9 month baby girl. We have had her for 8 months now. There is still a 50/50 chance of reunification with her but for now we are enjoying watching her grow knowing that we are giving her a good start in life. I am from Texas so I guess that is close enough. Foster/Adopt is probably the best way to go to get a baby from the state. When they are free to adopt, their are usually issues as well as tons of families waiting for them. I believe that your chances of getting babies is better if you live in a large metro area. We originally requested toddlers 2-5 but we kept getting calls for newborns. Their is alot of work to be done w/CPS- ie the visits, court hearings, etc. in addition to dr. visits. I do not have to remind myself that I am only foster mom, all these appts do it for me! I know that God has plans for my fbaby and me so I am just taking it one day at a time. I am trusting in Jesus as I know that he loves this baby and he is going to keep her safe from harm. Anyway, good luck on your journey through the foster/adopt system!
Cyn,
Oh okay thanks for the clarificatin on the cw issue. I probably should have guessed that. LOL Thanks for explaining about me specifying an age. So if I say I want under a year how much older do you think they will offer me? I can't see keeping older children right now. Thanks again for those links. I'm going to try them now.
Mac,
Oh wow that is so great that you are fostering that baby. I think foster parents are so wonderful. ( and not just b/c I want to be one LOL) I live 10 minutes from New Orleans. Is that metro enough? I think you have a great outlook on the foster parent system. I especially liked what you said about Jesus keeping the baby safe. I am so excited about getting started but nervous too b/c it seems like so much to do. =0) Thanks for the reply and encouragement!
our cw's told us that they would offer us children 2-3 yrs under and/or above what you asked for. now keep in mind, that does not mean you have to accept every child they call you about. you have to make sure that the child is a good fit for your family. my son has some special needs (minor ones) and is doing therapy right now. i don't feel comfortable with taking children the same age or older than him right now. he just doen't do well with older children, whereas he is VERY good with anyone he considers a baby (anyone samller than him). i have to look out for my families needs first. if my family isn't taken care of then how can i do the best for a foster child? that is what we are being tought in our classes. we have very nice, knowledgable and caring cw's i think. i have heard horror stories and feel blessed to have such wonderful ones. my personal cw has even gone through secondary IF and international adoption. so she's "been there, done that". it's wonderful. gosh, here i go babbling again!lol! i'm sure you'll learn all the same things in your classes. i will turn down any child that i don't think could fit in our family, we have to be able to "help" the child, you can't do that if your house is in turmoil or any one family member resents the child. and i came to all these conclusions through what we learned in our classes, i was so frustrated to have to take 9 wks of classes. now i am soooooo grateful for them. it really opened our eyes as to how we could help these children specifically and what we feel we can handle. we will probabbly do some special needs children as i am already dealing with that at home.
Oh okay so if we say newborn to 12 months they prob will offer us up to 3 year olds. I get it now. I have been investigating some of those foster sites. Kinda lurking right now. LOL Just seeing what is going on. OH wonderful news for me. Dh and I have decided to take the next available orientation. We still have to wait until May/Jun to take the actual classes but we were told that it takes 3 months to get the background check in anyway so that's going to fit right in. We also have decided to start remaking our extra room for baby(s). Gotta move some furniture around. What do you reccomend buying upfront to have in the home for the home study? We already have some things. Bedding, some clothing, a walker, a jumper, some toys. I guess we need a crib and some first aid stuff and to try to start childproofing. I am so excited!!!
I understand what you are saying about taking care of your son first. Makes absolute sense. Now I will tell you my reason for not wanting to take over 12 months. My dog (pug) has epilepsy and I think I would have a hard time getting an older child not to show aggression towards the dog which may cause her to have a seizure. She is VERY good with children. My neice who is 9 months adores her. I just wouldn't want an older child with anger issues to hurt my dog. =0(
I am alot worried about the cw meeting and homestudy. I always obsess about things and I'm worried I'll say or do something wrong. LOL I dunno. And I'm scared she won't like me or I'll have a horrible one. Ok now I've written a novel. LOL Thanks for talking to me.
Fostering! and La. buddy! 
CW is case worker. it's probably not in the abreviations list because it is not a ttc abr. but an foster/adoption one. although they chould probably add some of those. or maybe we should have a sticky at the top here for newbies. 
