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Hello!
My husband and I would love to foster adopt two young children. We already have a 5 year old daughter and a 13 month old son. The problem is we currently live in a two bedroom home, in Colorado, so we are not able to foster until we move or add a bedroom. We will probably be moving within the next two years but since we want to foster adopt younger children and have them close to the ages of our children we don't want to have to wait to start the process.
We are thinking about turning the living room into our bedroom and then having one bedroom for our girl(s) and one for our boy(s).
My question is what are the requirements for a parent's bedroom? Do we actually have to wall off the area and add a door? Or can we just separate it from the rest of the house with large closet/bookcases and not add a door?
If converting the living room does not work, does anyone have any other ideas that might help us bring our children home soon?
Here in California all bedrooms must have a door and closet so you'd need to find out the details and regulations for your area. Here we can have kiddos in our room up to 24 months but after that they can no longer be in our room. If that rule applies to your state you always just foster a girl and have her in the room with your daughter. Hope this helps....good luck
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We have to have walls, a closet, and a door also. How big is the kids' bedroom, and what are the age limits on kids in your bedroom? Currently we have two babies in our bedroom, and they can stay there until they are 2, though we have no plans to let them stay in there that long lol. Do you have a dining room you could turn into a bedroom for now?
I used to live in Colorado, and any bedroom walls have to be "permanent" structures. I would not have been allowed to use one of those folding walls that they use in large hotels to divide the large ballroom room into smaller conference rooms. Even though they would attach to the floor and the ceiling, they weren't good enough. So the bookcases and similar things would not work.
But it's worth noting that the closet doesn't have to be a built-in closet. It can be a freestanding wardrobe. Just somewhere to put clothing that needs hung and be able to close a door over it.
So it looks moving sooner is the answer if you wish to pursue foster care and adoption at this time!
Thank you! It looks like the living room bedroom idea is out. But I think we might be able to foster adopt a little girl right now if we can keep my son in our room for a while. I cannot find any regulations about age of birth children sharing a room with the parents. I know here in Colorado foster children cannot be in the parents room after 18 months. I have some calls into people to see if there are restrictions for my son in our room. Hopefully there are not or that they are higher, like age 3, so that we can get a girl for now and then once we move we will be able to have the space to foster adopt another child.
I wouldn't think that there would be any regulations on a bio child staying in your bedroom. Obviously you wouldn't want a teenager sharing your room, but I don't think there is any regulations about it.
If you don't have an office or study you can convert to a bedroom or a smaller area that could be a nursery for your son, then it would be best to put your son in your room and only foster girls for now.
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LoveBeingMama
I wouldn't think that there would be any regulations on a bio child staying in your bedroom. Obviously you wouldn't want a teenager sharing your room, but I don't think there is any regulations about it.
Here the same limits apply to bio or adopted kids as to foster. So, since it is only up to 1 yr that they can share your room, that means bios have to be in their own room after 1 year as well.