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Hello, My partner and I were approved to adopt as of April of this year. We have been matched with over 20 children but have not been chosen for any. Our case worker asked if we would do foster care for infants and toddlers up to 3 yrs. old. We told her yes, because we had discussed it before and told her we were willing but I guess she forgot and was only focused on adoption. She said that she called "a lady" to let her know that we are willing to be foster parents a few days ago. If you are a foster parent of infants or toddlers, how long did you have to wait until your first placement? We live in the Houston area and are with a private agency. We don't know if we should expect a phone call any given min. or if we will be waiting for quite a while. Should we set the crib up and get the room completely ready now, or wait a while? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks, missyfan
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Well I think if you have the space and the stuff go ahead and get a room ready, just be prepared the change it based ont he age of the child (crib vs toddler bed). You never know when you will get the call , so its best to be prepared as sometimes that can make all the difference in who they place with.
We have a 17 month old foster son who we are planning to adopt as soon as they TPR the bio parents.,
mandy
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I am from WA, and was only going to do adoption. I got tired of the wait too. We decided to do foster/adopt, and had a call within a week. I have to say, we did not go thru an agency though. I would set things up if you have the room. We did, and I was glad. I was just driving home back on January 26th when I got a call to pick up a baby boy at the hospital the following day. He was only 2 days old. With Bear it was also jsut the day before he came to live with us that we got the call. Fully how your entire life can change injust one call!
Hi there!
We live in the Houston area as well. All we do is foster infants. We have been fostering about 2 years and have never been without a baby in our home. Sometimes two infants are here at the same time!! We go thru a private agency and the day they called to tell us we had officially been approved, they said they had a baby for us!!!!!!! My advice is to not waste another minute!! Get your stuff together and be ready. Because the calls come at the least expected times!!! We have gotten 2 calls in one day before!!! I am shocked you have not already been called!! Get ready!!!!!!!!! Its a blessing!!!!!!!
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Missyfan
The only time I have ever heard of kids going to shelters any time of the year is if there are no foster homes available. Who was it that told you that? Someone from CPS or your agency? It really does not make any sense, why would they think it would be a better environment for these precious kids to spend christmas in a shelter vs. a foster home? No, I have never heard that. I know our agency is receiving calls on newborns!! You need to follow-up on that!! Let me know!!
Barbhuff, Thanks for your response. We are in the process of getting everything ready. We have all of the items we will need (we hope) but we are going to paint the room. We are trying to make the room very child friendly and bright. We have a cute crib and twin bed waiting....but we are very dicouraged that we won't be getting a placement until after Christmas. So far it appears that it may be our agency's policy and NOT cps's. It is hurtful knowing that there are kids out there who need us, who we can't help because of red tape that someone decided to put in our way all of the sudden. Does anyone know anyone in CPS in the Houston,TX area that might help us? Please feel free to PM us. Missyfan
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Mlbsands, They said that DFPS doesn't do placements of foster children during the holidays because the they go to "private shelters". We don't understand, and can't seem to get any good reasons. We are really thinking that it is our agency's policy and not DFPS's. VERY frustrating!! missyfan
I am also licensed through an agency and they do all sorts of wierd things. It can be very frustrating, plus you have to deal with twice as many social workers which can be annoying. I am often the middle man reporting the agency worker what the county worker said and vice versa. But, the agency pays more, and for me every little bit helps. I would say to contact the county and let them know that you are available. My agency discourages this, but doesn't outright say it's not allowed. If the county has a placement for you, they can call the agency, and then the agency will contact you. The squeaky wheel gets the oil! I'm such a pain in the rear, everyone at the agency knows who I am!
I got called for my first placement two days before I was licensed. She was released from the hospital, spent the weekend with another foster family, and then I brought her home the same night that I completed my last class.
I have always been licensed for two. I have been licensed since June 27, and I didn't get a second call until October 23. I had less than 2 hours to get ready before the brought the second baby. It was a Sunday night, around 7. I would say to definitely get ready!
Good luck!
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After discussing everything with our agency manager things have changed back and forth. They were reluctant to add us to the foster "list" and had us going to commitee on another child that was needing an adoption placement. We never got any information about the child except that the meeting to choose the adoptive family was going to be on Dec. 5th. We decided to ask the to pull our home study out of that committee hearing and put us on "the list" to foster. We were told that our case would be sent to the "fostering" side of our agency this week. We have a feeling that we will have to "pull teeth" to actually get a foster placement. I think they must get paid more by the state for adoption placement than foster placements. We are feeling pretty frustrated. Any advice? Missyfan
I have never heard of young children going to any kind of shelter. I am through the county and I understand we get paid less, but we don't have to go through all this b-crap that it seems like you are going through. I have been lic for almost 2 years and have never went without a child in my home. In fact they say there busy times are holidays, YOU may want to think about calling the county, or going county, these kids need homes, and ppl to love them, not ppl who are more worried about money, and timing then the child itself, and it sounds like thats your agancy good lick