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We are going to be foster/adopt here in hillsborough county. Our paperwork is in the mail and we will be attending the MAPP classes starting in May. Do they do the homestudy after we are finished with MAPP classes? Is there anything we can do to start preparing for the homestudy (electrical covers, etc)? I feel like we should be doing something. Also if we want to have either sex, ages 0-2, what will we need to have already before the homestudy (clothes, diapers)? Thanks for all your help!
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We had one homestudy done before we finished MAPP and then another right after we finished. We were told that we just needed a bed for the age child we wanted and a carseat...but guess what, the 2 babies we have had come to us already had their own carseat.
Besides that for the homestudy we had to have all chemicals, like cleaners and laundry detergent locked up. We also had to have medicines locked up..I used our coat closet and put shelves in there and put the medicine and cleaners in there...Then we had to get a building to put outside to lock up any paint and the gas cans that were in the garage. We have a pool so we had to take a pool safety class and buy a ring bouy. We had to have alarms on all doors going outside to the pool. We had to have a fire extinguisher, and it had to be dated and tagged. I have read where some people had to put safety plugs over there outlets. It probably wouldnt hurt for you to go ahead and do the outlets and the safety latches on the cabinets. And get the fire extinguisher. Oh, and if you have guns they have to be locked up and then we had to buy something extra to put the ammunition in seperately... And we were only wanting to do infants 0-6 months only...needless to say we spent alot to get ready. We also put up 2 baby beds in our bedroom because I knew if they called and they said they had a baby with no where to go that we would be overcapped and take it, and sure enough we have a tiny 4 month old and then one night or should I say early a.m. like 2:30 a.m. we recieved a 9 week old baby girl, so we had 2 babies, now I was really busy, but so happy that we had an extra bed for that sweet baby to sleep in....hope all of this helps...
oh, and by the way, I would not be able to survive without our baby swing...it is a life saver and it lets me get some house work done also...
mom of 6
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If you want to be prepared in advance here's some things that may help. 1. Electrical covers on all open outlets. 2. Thermometers in all fridges/freezers. (health dept requirement) 3. Chemicals stored in a locked cabinet or garage. 4. Ceiling fans need to be dust free 5. Stock up on bottles and sippy cups. 6. Thrift stores and church sales are great places to load up on clothes of all sizes. 7. Cribs, toddler beds and/or pack n plays will be needed in a room to show you have made sleeping arrangements for the baby/toddler. 8. If you have a pool, the doors leading out to the pool have to be alarmed and/or have child locks. 9. We also bought burner protection knobs, they're rubber devices that slide under the knobs on your stove that prevent the burner from being turned on. I believe a set of 5 was $5.00. They also have plastic snap on devices for door knobs that work wonders. 10. If you have pets, they need to have current vaccinations and you will need to provide proof. That also includes birds. 11. When you're about to start MAPP make a Dr appt for physicals, that's required paperwork too. They have a form the Dr needs to fill out. 12. Cords on blinds need to be rolled up, another little device thingy you can buy at home depot or lowes. Both stores have child safety sections. 13. Draw a floor plan of your house with dimensions of each room, then copy it to include a fire escape plan. (that's needed as part of your paperwork). Make copies of both, and hang up the fire escape plan/route in the kitchen or near the front door. They'll look for that. 14. Car seats! A must have before they place a child in your home. You need to have as many car seats as children. Call your local Florida Highway Patrol office and see if they have any car seat classes coming up. If they do attend the class and for a $10 donation you'll get a free NEW car seat, $20 gets you two, depending on availability. New they cost between $50 - $90. This saved us a fortune. That's allI can think of for now. I'd hold off on buying diapers. You never know what size you'll need until the kids are placed with you, they're expensive and you don't want to be stuck with ones you'll never use. Disclaimer :-) This was what was required in Pinellas County just over the bridge. I assume they're the same or very similar. good luck!
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