A Slew of Questions!

I've sent you a PM.

I did too.

I'm also interested in the answers to some of these questions. If it's not too much trouble, could somebody please send me a PM with the answers as well? Thanks in advance.

I'm pretty new to this, with just one teen - but here are my brief answers, based on my experience and the law where I live:[FONT=Times New Roman]1. About how many foster kids do you have in your home at a given time and how many are you able to hold (is it based on house size, state laws, etc.)?I have one. It would mainly be limited by available bedrooms in my case , but I think I'm "allowed" to have up to 6 children (including my own). 2. What is defined as an emergency situation where it is okay to just take the child from their home without completing the evaluation of whether their home is safe for them or not? Are rape, severe physical abuse, etc. reasons a social worker might remove the child immediately? Yes. In fact, the "last straw" that resulted in my foster son and his siblings be removed was that the social worker showed up and the house was filthy![/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]3. Is it realistic that a social worker could call your home in the middle of the night and ask you to foster a child, then show up with the child that same night? What is the general procedure regarding placement? Does the child usually arrive on the same day, etc.? Definitely could happen in the middle of the night - if they seize the child then, where else is she going to go? And they usually arrive on the same day, unless it is a planned transfer from another foster home (as it was in my case).[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]4. Is the social worker that goes to the child’s house and brings them to foster care the same social worker that will work on their case the entire time? Are they the same worker that will ask the child questions about abuse, etc.? In our case (small town) yes. [/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]5. When a child first comes to your home, what do you do? Do you show them around, lay down the rules right when they get there? Both? Would this be different if they came in the middle of the night (do children come in the middle of the night)? I. e. would you let them sleep, then talk to them in the morning? If the child arrived in the middle of the night, I'd leave the 'tour" until morning. For our teen, we took him out for coffee to discuss chores and rules, after giving him a couple of days to settle in.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]6. How quickly would a foster child become enrolled and start going to the local school? They try to keep the child in the same school district, when possible. There was no change of school for my foster son - good thing, since his life this year involved 3 moves.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]7. When a child is first put into your home, how do you go about getting to know them and building trust with them? Do you just give them time and space, do you do things with them, etc. Both? Lots of including in family activities and actively trying to figure out what interested him and was important to him. I tried to spend one-on-one time with him without my own kids around - which is a luxury I realize many busy foster parents don't have![/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]8. How much do you know about the children coming into your care? Do you know everything the social worker/case worker knows about it? Or do you just have the basic knowledge that they have been, say, neglected? More than the basics, but certainly not everything in the file. One point I want to make here is that even the social workers may not know everything! They weren't aware (my foster son told me) that he'd been sexually abused when he was much younger. I asked specifically about sexual abuse before we took him in! They DID tell me everything they knew about various psychological disorders, since he'd been in the sytem before and thoroughly tested.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]9. If the foster child was removed from their home based on an emergency situation and therefore did not bring clothes, belongings, etc. with them, would someone bring them some of their possessions (clothes?) from their home? Or would you go out and buy new clothes, etc. Usually the foster parents get new stuff - over time, the parents (if they have visitation) may bring some of the child's former posessions, but no on goes in there and takes anything. Ours came with virtually no clothes that fit, so we got some extra money up front to provide these things. [/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]10. Is it common to have both male and female teenagers in the house at the same time, or are social workers leery about this kind of thing? It certainly happens, although I wouldn't do it. It would be up to the individual foster parents - but the social workers likely wouldn't consider it a huge factor unless there was clear history of sexual acting out on one side or the other - group homes, after all, often have both genders. In the case of your lead character, though - since she's be sexually traumatized, they might avoid a home with teenage boys.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]11. Have you ever come across the situation where two foster teens have been interested in each other, or have there been feelings between a foster daughter, for example, and your biological son? What would you do in this situation? Sit them both down and talk to them, tell them it’s not allowed? If it continued, would you punish them? Would you ask for one of the foster teens to leave your home? My experience is that by the time they start feeling comfortable with each other, they already feel like brother and sister. I have a 15 year old foster son and a 13 year old bio daughter. They are siblings in every way. IF there was an inappropriate feelings going on, I'd have my foster son removed, as it is impossible to be everywhere and supervise everything all the time![/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]12. If a relative was willing to take in the child for the time being/until the parents got their act together, would the foster child need to stay in care for a certain amount of time (4-6 weeks?) while the relative was evaluated, or would the child just be taken straight to the relative?[FONT=Verdana] Relatives have to pass the same screening as anyone else - and where I live, that includes a home study and 36 hours of foster parent training. It would take a while![/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]13. If you, the foster parent, do not usually take in teenage mothers who are pregnant/with children and a foster daughter finds out she is pregnant, what would happen? Would you keep her in your home, or would she go to a different foster home that takes pregnant teens? That's a really individual choice - and depeding on the situation I'd probably keep her. Unless the reason for her pregnancy was dangerous behaviour - such as prostituting herself, etc. [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]You might want to consider this for your character : Was this really a one time abuse that suddenly came to light? Most kids who are in care by the age of 14 have been known to the sytem and in and out of care for many years. My son has been placed in foster care 15 times in 15 years.[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]14. Say S is a fourteen-year-old girl, and her brother, C, is seventeen. If S is removed from her home on an emergency basis but C is not at risk in the home, would he have to be taken from his home, too? Usually they take all children. you have to broaden your definition of "at risk" - maybe C isn't going to be raped, but he is certianly being damaged by being parented by someone with inapprorpriate and criminal behaviour. Wouldn't his dad be going to jail, anyway? And if dad is gone and mom has the kids - either they wouldn't take either kid, or they have deemed that she is unable to protect her children, and would therefor take both. [/FONT]

I just wanted to comment when my mom was licensed before she was called about a couple teen girls then cw decided not to place because my brother was 17-19 at the time. Hope that helps.

[FONT=Times New Roman]1. About how many foster kids do you have in your home at a given time and how many are you able to hold (is it based on house size, state laws, etc.)?[/FONT] In our state you are allowed to have only 5 children in the home total that includes your bioloigcal/adopted children. Sometimes exceptions are made for you to take more...(to keep siblings together, or emergency placement and no other home could be found etc.) It also depends on your home the size of your rooms and how many bedrooms you have. [FONT=Times New Roman]2. What is defined as an emergency situation where it is okay to just take the child from their home without completing the evaluation of whether their home is safe for them or not? Are rape, severe physical abuse, etc. reasons a social worker might remove the child immediately?[/FONT] children are almost always removed from the home immediately while other times the home is being followed and when they don't comply the children are removed. They can be removed for almost any reason, if the home is messy and not stuable for kids to live in, if they don't have running water/electric or food in the fridge, if a meth lab was involved, if the child is in any danger or is afraid to stay there, if there is evidence of abuse like bruses etc. Really DHS doesn't have to prove right away why the child was removed...within 72 hours of the removal of the child they must go to court and DHS must state before the judge why the children were removed, the judge then decides at that point wether to keep the child in custody or to send the child home. In only 1 case out of 43 kids I've had has the child ever been returned at that time and that was when the parent wasn't involved in the matter that happened. [FONT=Times New Roman]3. Is it realistic that a social worker could call your home in the middle of the night and ask you to foster a child, then show up with the child that same night? What is the general procedure regarding placement? Does the child usually arrive on the same day, etc.?[/FONT] Usually the child is just being taken into custody and they call asking if you could take the child right then. The only cases where you might get the child later is if they are hospitalized or if they are coming from another foster home. Yes, many calls come in the middle of the night and the children are always on your doorstep within 15minutes-an hour(unless they are at the doctors with them or something like that). All children are medically evaluated either immediately or within that following day. [FONT=Times New Roman]4. Is the social worker that goes to the child’s house and brings them to foster care the same social worker that will work on their case the entire time? Are they the same worker that will ask the child questions about abuse, etc.?[/FONT] They have assessment workers who handle the case at the very begining. This person investigates the allegation , their the first ones at the home. They usually are the ones who bring the child to our home and the doctors appointment and are the ones in charge of the case until the time they go to court and testify why they brought the child into care....then if the child stays in care they are assigned a different social worker. That social worker is briefed in what happened and after that the child never deals with the assesment worker again just their permanent social worker. [FONT=Times New Roman]5. When a child first comes to your home, what do you do? Do you show them around, lay down the rules right when they get there? Both? Would this be different if they came in the middle of the night (do children come in the middle of the night)? I. e. would you let them sleep, then talk to them in the morning?[/FONT] No no rules right off the bat. The child has just been through a tramatic event. You introduce yourself and your family, show them around and let them talk when they feel ready...ussually they will tell you right away everything that just happened to them on their own. You don't pressure them to share stuff they don't want. Your building a trust with them, letting them know they are safe and they are welcome there. As the next few days follow you begin to go over the rules of the home and that sort of thing. Yes you do get calls at all times of the day and night there really is not real common time to get the calls they come at all different times just depending on the situation. [FONT=Times New Roman] 6. How quickly would a foster child become enrolled and start going to the local school?[/FONT] usually the very next day. Even if that means they conitune to go to their old school for a couple days until they bring you the paperwork necessary to enroll them in school. Sometimes the child is able to stay at their old schools....a lot of that is up to the foster parent wether they change schools and up to the social workers. Some social workers have been big on keeping them in their old school. I find the child does better going to the new school. I think they feel safer...and more secure. That way their teachers and kids in class don't have to know what is going on with their family and personal life....if they do go home...it's a joyful reunion and they could choose to tell them or not why they were gone...rather than everyone looking at them bad forever just cause they were taken into custody and everyone judging their family etc. Many times when they come they also don't have contact with any of their family or friends.....other than supervised visits for an hour with their family each week at DHS. They make new friends and new teachers and new everything....which they seem to enjoy at least the kids I had did.... it was like leaving that other stuff behind them for a bit. They didn't have to deal with it....just got to enjoy beign kids and being in a family. We always treated it like they were on vacation...ahd lots of fun with them, brought them lots of places and stuff. [FONT=Times New Roman]7. When a child is first put into your home, how do you go about getting to know them and building trust with them? Do you just give them time and space, do you do things with them, etc.[/FONT] You just make them feel loved, wanted and welcome and safe. You let them know this is a safe place where no one can hurt them. You let them know they can talk abotu stuff and that you won't be mad at them or ashamed or judgemental etc. You treat them like part of the family. You bring them out to dinner or to a movie or somewhere. Let them feel like it's a fun good place to be. Usually they feel welcome right away. They enjoy doing things together and open up pretty quickly. [FONT=Times New Roman]8. How much do you know about the children coming into your care? Do you know everything the social worker/case worker knows about it? Or do you just have the basic knowledge that they have been, say, neglected?[/FONT] sometimes you know next to nothing "female age 3yrs broguht in for allgations of abuse" etc. Sometimes they share almost everything they know with you right away just depends on who you talk to and how much info they've been given. Usually once they know the child is coming into care the assessment worker contacts the placement worker and tells them what they know about the child and the placement worker is the one who calls you asking if you'd accept the placement. then the assessment worker brings them to your home. Many times you accept the placement not knowing much at all about the child and most times what has been told to you anyways is only part of the stroy or completely wrong in the first place. They need homes for these kids so bad they often either don't know the whole story about them or stretch the truth till you get them in your home...then you find out their case was much worse than you thought or mostly their medical/behavioral needs are much greater). [FONT=Times New Roman]9. If the foster child was removed from their home based on an emergency situation and therefore did not bring clothes, belongings, etc. with them, would someone bring them some of their possessions (clothes?) from their home? Or would you go out and buy new clothes, etc.[/FONT] Sometimes the kids come with a bag of their clothes r whatever could be gathered in a very short amoutn of time but most of the time the children just come with what they have on their back at the moment they were brought in. If they didn't come with stuff they usually aren't brought their stuff later. The foster family has to go out and buy the stuff which they don't get reimbursed for) other than their normal subsidy that comes at the end of each month. But usually the children are given an initial clothing voucher of about $70 for the new social worker to get them clothes/shoes(they don't usually get to pick it out they just find out their sizes..sometimes you'll get a good social worker that will allow the child to come along and help pick the stuff out). But that clothing voucher doesn't usually come for a few days to a few weeks just depending on the case. Usually within about 2 weeks to a month the child will have a visit with their family at DHS and someitmes the parent will bring them one of thier things etc. but in cases where a meth lab was involved or the home was really nasty they won't allow the children to take or receive anything that was in the home. [FONT=Times New Roman]10. Is it common to have both male and female teenagers in the house at the same time, or are social workers leery about this kind of thing?[/FONT] Yes it does happen...I haven't had much experience with the teenager part of fostering though. My oldest kids were 10 and if they were of opposite sex then they were brother and sister. [FONT=Times New Roman]11. Have you ever come across the situation where two foster teens have been interested in each other, or have there been feelings between a foster daughter, for example, and your biological son? What would you do in this situation? Sit them both down and talk to them, tell them it’s not allowed? If it continued, would you punish them? Would you ask for one of the foster teens to leave your home?[/FONT] Yes to all of the above....but no I have never experienced that. While they are in the home it is clear that we are a family and each are brother and sister to each other....and that kind of thing would not be permitted at all. [FONT=Times New Roman]12. If a relative was willing to take in the child for the time being/until the parents got their act together, would the foster child need to stay in care for a certain amount of time (4-6 weeks?) while the relative was evaluated, or would the child just be taken straight to the relative?[/FONT] Just depends on the situation. Sometimes the judge will allow the child to be moved right away while stuff was in progress other times they weren't allowed to take the child until after they were approved....including the foastering classes and everything so it would be more like 3 months or so before they got them...it just depends on the judge and the family i guess. [FONT=Times New Roman]13. If you, the foster parent, do not usually take in teenage mothers who are pregnant/with children and a foster daughter finds out she is pregnant, what would happen? Would you keep her in your home, or would she go to a different foster home that takes pregnant teens?[/FONT] I would personally keep her. I'm not sure what others would do. It would be up to the foster parent. The foster parent must give a 10 day notice for that child to be moved to a new home....only in emeregnecy's can children be moved sooner. [FONT=Times New Roman]14. Say S is a fourteen-year-old girl, and her brother, C, is seventeen. If S is removed from her home on an emergency basis but C is not at risk in the home, would he have to be taken from his home, too?[/FONT] no just depends on the situation. who was involved in the incident. In a case where father raped daughter i'd say yes however it could go both way. If daughter was taken in and father was taken to jail then they might permit son to stay with mom till they at least wernt to court and had the judge decide. Any more questions feel free to ask!!

We are new to foster parenting, so I don't feel comfortable answering most of your questions. But I did want to recommend a book that my entire family read when we were going through the process of being approved. "A Child Called It" by David Pelzer. There are 3 books in the series. The first is about his life prior to foster care. The 2nd (can't remember the name) is about his life IN foster care. The 3rd (haven't read this one yet) is about his life as an adult.The first 2 books were awesome. It lends a great amount of understanding to what the kids go through before and during foster care.Good luck on your project.