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Hi, I am confused if I should work with the County or with an FFA. And if an FFA how to choose which one. There are so many out there and I don't even know what questions to ask. I want to foster (not adopt) pre-teen or teenagers prefer girls but would accept boys. I am getting my home and the room ready so I can have 2 children max. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.:confused: BioMom of 2 grown sons
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My husband and I had the same problem, not knowing which route to take. We ended up attending an orientation with an FFA and an orientation with the County, just to get a feel for each one. We decided to go with the FFA b/c they seemed so much more personal and attentive. We went through their training (PS-MAPP classes) for six weeks, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We just completed the classes a couple of weeks ago. We learned so much. But, after all of that, we've decided to go with the County. With the FFA, I just got a nagging feeling we weren't being told the full truth about some things and my research confirmed that so we recently decided to switch. FFA's are great, but I just didn't like that we weren't told the full truth about their role. Choosing between FFA and the County really comes down to your personal preference. I'd suggest you call some FFAs and ask questions and attend an orientation. I'm a visual person, so seeing the facility and the person is helpful. Then, perhaps also, attend an LA County Orientation and compare the two. It sounds time consuming, but worth it. To know what questions to ask, you have to know what you want or what your concerns are. I hope this helps.
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I have been waiting 1 1/2 years with the county. I just found out the FFAgencies send out your homestudy to everyone all at the same time. The county will only send you out on one referral at a time which at times can take 3 weeks if they don't get around to the meetings. The county social workers are able to look at the Foster Family Agencies families and the county adoption people. I just think maybe the FFA work harder to find a faster match.
I'm sorry you're having to wait so long. What age, race and gender are you wanting to adopt?The FFA we dealt with was only given children to them by LA County. As it was explained to us by our FFA, the County calls them when they are in need of a foster/adoptive parent. Then the FFA looks through their files to see if they have a potential matching foster/adoptive parent, and they call them to see if they want to take the child. You mentioned that FFA's send homestudies out to everyone. The FFA we dealt with only dealt with the LA County foster care system and did not send out home studies to other facilities. Perhaps not all FFAs handle things the same way as I thought. This is interesting.
I think the FFA is the only way to go. They pay you more money per child, they have many more services such as therapy, monitoring for visists, transportation to visits, continuing education, and they actually answer the phone when you call. Try getting a county worker on the phone it is near impossible. You can visit the agencies until you find one you are comfortable with. You can also call county social workers and ask them who there favorite agencies are. The county workers like working with agencies because it makes their job easier.
amberleigh
I have been waiting 1 1/2 years with the county.
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I agree that calling and bugging them is a must! We had our 1st application to adopt lost and had to reapply with the county. We have for the last 6 months been waiting for a sw to call and update our homestudy for a second adoption only to find out today that they had our file on hold and were not working on it because they said we had to redo our PRIDE training. In reality it was a mix up on their part and we do not have to redo their PRIDE training so we have wasted 6 months thinking they were working on our file when in fact they were doing nothing! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep calling and bugging them!!!!
hi everyone, I am new to this forum and I have a question about agencies. We just moved to Ca. from another state where we were fostering. There, the state provided transportation to visits and monitoring. From a selfish point of view, I liked this because it gave me a the only break I got all week to get some things done.
We just went to an orientation at an FFA yesterday and were told that we would have to transport and monitor visits. The implication was that the county (OC) wanted fps to monitor the visits. Is this true? Or is it just the individual agency?
I guess I could transport if I have to, but I am uncomfortable monitoring visits - I think that sets up an adversarial relationship between the bios and the fp- especially when you have to fill out an evaluation after each visit. Any thoughts? thanks
We have 25 years with the County. 15 in L.A., 10 in Orange. It seems the GENERAL RULE is: if you are new to Foster care you might appreciate the extra involvement in your life provided by an FFA. If you've been at it a while, you might have figured a lot of it out and consider the FFA SW's to be pests! Think about how much help you'll need to get going, and then look at your options. Both choices are working well for Foster parents. Hope this helps.
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I have friends that I have met since I started fostering 3 yrs ago. Many are with the ffa, I am with the county. Unlike some ppl, I rearly have a prob getting a sw on the phone, or to call me back. In fact the 2 sw I am working with now, I have both there cell #'s.The pay is wayyyy better with ffa, so is the clothing allowance. But both will transport if you need them to. And as far as I know monitoring is done by the sw, either the county sw or county aide, somtimes the agency sw will do it, and the fp is asked rearly. I like the fact that with the county you can have a life. They see you and the child at the visit's, and so they come to your house once a mth..max, were a ffa comes weekly for a time. then less and less.I get councling, and all that with the county, Maybe I have been very lucky and have got the cream of the crop sw's, But I do ask alot of question's, and get alllll I can for my kids, I fill like they should all get the same.One last thing, I have been told by a few sw that the county tries to keep all te easy kids in county homes, we get a smaller stripet, and less help, so we get the good kids. The kids that get moved alot, or are hard to handle, or have known prob's go to the FFA homes. We went county because we were getting a family member. I had talked to the sw endlessly, and so thats why, I have never regreated it. There are benifits to both I am sure. Call the county, go to an orintation, ask the sw there which FFA to contact, here in Bakersfield there is one that the sw will not call until they have tried alllll the other's. Ask they will be happy to help you, they want foster parents, they would like us all to be county I'm sure, but they will take what they can get. Good luck!
kaylasmom
I have friends that I have met since I started fostering 3 yrs ago. Many are with the ffa, I am with the county. Unlike some ppl, I rearly have a prob getting a sw on the phone, or to call me back. In fact the 2 sw I am working with now, I have both there cell #'s.
The pay is wayyyy better with ffa, so is the clothing allowance. But both will transport if you need them to. And as far as I know monitoring is done by the sw, either the county sw or county aide, somtimes the agency sw will do it, and the fp is asked rearly.
I like the fact that with the county you can have a life. They see you and the child at the visit's, and so they come to your house once a mth..max, were a ffa comes weekly for a time. then less and less.
I get councling, and all that with the county, Maybe I have been very lucky and have got the cream of the crop sw's, But I do ask alot of question's, and get alllll I can for my kids, I fill like they should all get the same.
One last thing, I have been told by a few sw that the county tries to keep all te easy kids in county homes, we get a smaller stripet, and less help, so we get the good kids. The kids that get moved alot, or are hard to handle, or have known prob's go to the FFA homes.
We went county because we were getting a family member. I had talked to the sw endlessly, and so thats why, I have never regreated it. There are benifits to both I am sure. Call the county, go to an orintation, ask the sw there which FFA to contact, here in Bakersfield there is one that the sw will not call until they have tried alllll the other's. Ask they will be happy to help you, they want foster parents, they would like us all to be county I'm sure, but they will take what they can get.
Good luck!