Please Inform Me On Caring For Foster Children

[Baby Beluga]

Aside from thinking it is a wonderful thing for families to open their homes to children, I admittedly know nothing about caring for foster children.

I have a prospective parent who has 4 foster children and is looking for care for 2 of those children. She seems like a wonderful lady, and if she enrolls her two children here I will be able to term my problem parent - which is something I will happily do. Although I am not too keen on siblings, I think that is the lesser of two evils (enrolling siblings vs keeping my problem parent).

My question is this: Are there any legal differences when caring for biological vs foster children from a family? Is caring for a foster child or children usually a long term thing or will I need to replace this family in a few months?

Please excuse my ignorance in this issue - this is all new to me.

[Controlled Chaos]

If you have a problem parent a foster family might be a good patch. You just never know the length of time you will have to work with them. They may also have emotional or social issues to consider. Get as much info as you can before
Hand.

With that said, if you can take them, I think that is great. :-) and I have considered taking in foster children when our kids are older

[Blackcat31]

Since most foster children are only placed temporarily, I would have to say that their enrollment could possibly be temporary as well.

I know that applies to all family situations but I see it as more applicable to foster children since they are foster children. kwim?

My parents were foster parents while I was growing up and we often had other children in our home. Some stayed a long time (years) and others were only there for a short while. It really depended on WHY they were in the foster care system to begin with.

As a care provider, I know it really isn't that much different, although there are more adults (foster parents, case workers, guardian ad litems etc) in that child's life.

I would talk with your licensor and I am sure she can help with all of that....Seems each state is different when it comes to child care and foster care regulations.

[Annalee]

Aside from thinking it is a wonderful thing for families to open their homes to children, I admittedly know nothing about caring for foster children.

I have a prospective parent who has 4 foster children and is looking for care for 2 of those children. She seems like a wonderful lady, and if she enrolls her two children here I will be able to term my problem parent - which is something I will happily do. Although I am not too keen on siblings, I think that is the lesser of two evils (enrolling siblings vs keeping my problem parent).

My question is this: Are there any legal differences when caring for biological vs foster children from a family? Is caring for a foster child or children usually a long term thing or will I need to replace this family in a few months?

Please excuse my ignorance in this issue - this is all new to me.

I have kept a foster child that worked out wonderfully, BUT have also had 3 siblings that caused me to NEVER accept them again....I conveniently will NOT have an opening for foster children....The 3 kids were telling their biological parents that their foster parents were mean ( they had visitation with biological parents every other wknd)....the parents told them if they told the case worker that, the children would get to come home....I didn't know all this till I started asking questions when children services kept coming out to "check" these kids and I was being state paid at the time....I ended up with a child care audit and I will always feel it was because of these foster kids....Ironically, the last day for these kids was a Tuesday and on Wednesday morning the auditor was there to see all state records for when my state kids were in care....the only state kids I had was the foster kids....I do not have state kids now either...the system is NOT RIGHT to say it nicely!!!!

[rubyecro]

I have two foster babies in my care and I adore them!!! However. I will say this: I tend to allow more exceptions for them especially with drop off ave pick up times. They often appointments and visits with mom and/or dad. Also depending on the experience level of the foster parents you may be dealing with two brand new parents with a lot of things I their plate they did not expect.
Also foster kids usually come with very little meaning they don't have extras to send to daycare right away. They may have behavioral issues with dealing with aggression etc. Also drug exposure and separation anxiety or trauma. And then there is always the fact that they don't stay forever and most likely you will not get proper notice.
My husband and I will be fostering In the future so it just makes sense for us to have them. But you will get attached and there are alot of emotions involved

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Children that come from abusive/neglectful homes can have many, many issues. I adopted a child from an abusive/neglectful home and I have had one child in care here who was adopted from the foster care system.

While I think it is all wonderful, the amount of work that tends to be involved in being the caregiver to that child/that family is too much for me. Same goes for super "crunchy" families. I am one, but all that I know would make for very, very challenging clients so I refuse to accept them.

[LysesKids]

I have kept a foster child that worked out wonderfully, BUT have also had 3 siblings that caused me to NEVER accept them again....I conveniently will NOT have an opening for foster children....The 3 kids were telling their biological parents that their foster parents were mean ( they had visitation with biological parents every other wknd)....the parents told them if they told the case worker that, the children would get to come home....I didn't know all this till I started asking questions when children services kept coming out to "check" these kids and I was being state paid at the time....I ended up with a child care audit and I will always feel it was because of these foster kids....Ironically, the last day for these kids was a Tuesday and on Wednesday morning the auditor was there to see all state records for when my state kids were in care....the only state kids I had was the foster kids....I do not have state kids now either...the system is NOT RIGHT to say it nicely!!!!

See, I have 2 foster babies as Drop-ins; Yep I had the state in my home inspecting because the one child came from a set of 4 kids ( I only took the smallest ones), but the Bio parents were nightmares and having the kids come in then yanked by their worker for visitation in the middle of nap really screwed my other babies and my days up... Nope, I won't do it again either. The one other child wasn't an issue because Foster parents were getting legal custody and adopting, but little man aged out this past month

[GKJNIGMN]

We are licensed foster parents but we foster teens normally.

The foster parents should have some idea if the stay is short term, potentially longer term, or if the kids are on the way to being adopted, etc. Beyond that I would screen them like any other clients.

We fostered a little boy earlier this month short term while his foster family was out of the country. He normally had visits one morning a week but it was set up so that he just went to daycare a little late that day of the week I believe.

The kids can have behavioral issues because of everything they have been through but there are also kids who don't......just like kids who are not in foster care.