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We went to an orientation on July 24th to find out more about fostering. On August 5th we had someone from the local state agency come to our house to just give us a home evaluation (they check us out first to see that we can even accommodate a child in the home before going through the process of accepting our application. Nothing formal, just want to make sure you're ok to proceed). We sent in our application on Thursday the 8th. She couldn't possibly have received it until the 12th. I emailed her on the 12th with the schedule info for which classes my husband and I preferred to be enrolled in. Yesterday I got a cc'd email from her that she sent to the respective trainers, asking them to add us to their class schedule. I replied, and in that email I asked her a few questions, one being "when does out home study begin? Before or after classes?" Today I get an email from a completely different woman introducing herself, and letting us know that she will be doing out home study and that it has officially begun! I've heard many times that it takes more than 6 months to get licensed, but at this rate, could it be possible that we might have a placement for Christmas??? :eek: I'm VERY excited (more like cautiously optimistic), but at the same time, I feel badly that I'm excited about it. The circumstances of the situation aren't really something to celebrate, but still, I am excited for our family to go on this journey... How long did it take you to get your license? How long after that to get your first call? Your first placement?
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Took us just shy of 6 months from the first email saying we were interested to being officially licensed, but from the start of the home study, it was more like 4 1/2 months total. However, we waited over 7 months to actually get a placement that came. Fifth one ended up being one that will stay forever, which is about right because it my area, 80% are reunified with parents or go to other family.
I called Jan 3rd.I was licensed March 3rd (after boo-hoo'ing about the weather slowing us down!).First call March 4th.First kid March 7th.Brother March 11th.Moved April 3rd (deal fell in our laps).Called for emergency respite for 3 kids 10 minutes after we got key to house (we said yes!).My kids' call came April 6th.Moved in April 13th.Adopted 15months later :)Lots of other kids in those 15 months and several since. BTW, my agency now does classes even faster sometimes. I could have probably done it in a month, possibly less had I done classes the way my friend did them. I think there are benefits to allowing people to go faster if they are fairly sure about what they want to do and the agency is equipped to help them. I also think there could be some real drawbacks to doing it that fast. However, our agency still is done based on how fast the person wants to do it and most people still take a few months. Rarely are people doing it in less than 3 months. They have many other things going on. There is a LOT of paperwork. You have to have certain inspections. The list can go on.
You all's times just floor me. When I got my license 8 months was typical in my area. 6 months was a miracle. People were just stunned, because they were responding to ads and flyers saying, "We need you!" -- zooming through classes, and then waiting for the license.I'll have to check and see what typical times are now.
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When I called the local DCFS they told me that the only way to "get info" was to attend orientation. When you sign up for orientation you sign up for PRIDE... I thought what the heck... I can learn something. I took the classes in Aug. Then I sat on my application.I had a few months prior found out I couldn't have any kids, and I was devastated and it caused a lot of problems in my relationship (he didn't actual know I was doing this until I already had a home visit). Then I went into emergency surgery. So I sat on my application and starting doing the checklist myself to get myself ready. I wanted to take my time. The county doesn't "count" any time prior to submitting the application. So I turned in my application in December. And my LW went on vacation for 3 weeks about 2 weeks later. So mine took about 2 weeks longer then it should have. But my county has a requirement that a decision HAS to be made within 90 days of receiving the application. Due to my LW going on vacation they allowed 2 extra weeks.So I submitted 12/2012 and was licensed 03/13 and got my first placement within 5 days of licensing. When I got my expansion waiting on Sis to come, they called 3 or 4 times in like a 2 week period before I told them why I wasn't accepting. They were itching to get my beds filled!So here... you would be licensed by Christmas and I would most certainly say you would have a placement.
I just wanted to say that the only reason it went so fast was because we used an agency. The dept themselves are extremely slow. When we tried that route (though life happened so we didn't follow through), the call was in Jan and the classes weren't til June. I can't say what would be normal from there as our LW was a deadbeat. She is no longer with the system.
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I believe we did all classes, paperwork, clearances, homestudy meetings in a 2 month time frame, and were licensed a month later. So, 3ish months total. We had our 1st placement 6 weeks after we were licensed, but that is the longest we've ever waited for a placement in 7 years of fostering, haha.
We went to orientation on Feb.12th, have completed all training and paperwork since. Our homestudy was mailed to DCFS last week and we are still waiting to see if we have been approved. RW said SW is on vacation all this week so we are hoping to hear something next week. Good luck on your journey!
Ours took 4 or 5 months with Christmas and Thanksgiving thrown in there. We do PS Mapp and they do the homestudy at the same time you are taking the classes. The trainer is actually the worker that writes up your homestudy. PS Mapp classes are 10 weeks. Because of the holidays I think ours took 12 weeks. The goal here is to have you licensed the week after you finish classes.
We can't do the classes until October (DH has a business trip at some point in Sept), but all classes will be done within that month. I'm thinking if we finish the home study by the time the classes are finished, we could be licensed by mid November. Unreal thought! After having waited more than 7 years for an international adoption (that we no longer can afford to go through with, however we still aren't pulling our paperwork), this seems like a blink in time in comparison. Wow... getting excited at the thought!
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Remember, the licensing will likely be the easier part. You will be shocked at how laid back the paperwork portion is. I swear our worker said to my husband, "can you just take a photo of your divers license and text it to me?" I love to see people switch from international to foster. If they can make it through the uncertainty once they have kids placed with them, they seem to do really well with the social contract aspect of fostering. And I promise you, the licensing process will go slower than you think it should at some point ;)