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I think that it would be depend on your state, social worker, etc. I was my FD's Volunteer Big Sister. DCFS asked me to take her, because her great-grandmother couldn't handle her and her own family would not take her. I am not kinship but I am "non-related extended family member" because of my ongoing relationship with her. I became a foster parent only for my FD. I am now her foster parent and legal guardian. I do believe that there are a few people on this forum who were former teachers of their foster.P.S. I am a high school teacher. I don't know how it would look to become a student's foster parent. We're not supposed to give students' rides home, etc. I'm sure it's happened but I definitely don't know the procedure.
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I have a 16 year old FD who was my student in 6th, 7th and 8th. In 8th grade her grandmother with whom she lived suddenly passed on. Her mother's whereabouts were unknown and she had never known her father. She had been with her grandmother since the age of 5 with her mom in and out. She had an aunt who was the cook at our school that wanted to take her but the aunt had a house full and couldn't pass the home inspection nor could she afford to move to meet the space issues. She had a great aunt and uncle who were ill but were very much in her life. The day she went home and found her great grandmother dead, she called the school looking for her aunt and I happened to answer the phone in the office (after hours) she was crying and I asked her what was wrong and that was how I got involved. She had always been very special to me and we had always been very close. She went home with me that night. We dealt with DHS the next day. They let her stay with me because I had the necessary clearances from being a teacher. They came out the following week to look at my house. I had a few things to fix, nothing big and I did it the next day and they came back to make sure I did. I never did the classes or anything and DHS said I didn't have to since I was taking just this child. She is still with me, in 10th grade and doing great. I want to adopt but she wants things to stay the way they are. She sees her aunt and great aunt and uncle every weekend. I am going to get guardianship of her since she doesn't want to do adoption. Her grandmother left her some money and the property. Her children's lawyer got a probate lawyer to deal with all of this and the money is being held in trust until she is either in college or 25 per grandmom's will. I have nothing in it. Her mom reappeared right after the funeral, tried to get custody (we think because she thought she would get the money). Found out she wouldn't get the money and left again. Why grandmother never got mom's rights terminated, I don't know but they are now.
I have a son that came to me as a foster child at the age of 14 (he's not 16). I had not known him before that year, when I started teaching him in Grade 9. Where I live, that DID qualify me as kinship. I didn't have to go through all the same steps for certification - I was able to take him with nothing more than a police and Child Welfare check (which took less than a day), and then was able to do my medical, home study, and foster care classes after the fact (I had 6 months to complete). Here it is considered "kinship" if you have a pre-existing relationship, even if you aren't a relative of any kind. Believe me, his bios FOUGHT this, insisting that he go to 'family', no matter how distant - but this was considered in his best interests.
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