Approval Process

We took classes in Aug and were certified in Dec - so it took 5 months. I can tell you what we had to do: attend all the training classes, write a 1 page biography about ourselves, get 3 references, do the fingerprint clearances, and have 3 homestudy visits (the first was to go over the type of kids/needs we would/wouldn't accept, the second was to start answering the first half of hundreds of questions and have our home inspection, and the third was to finish the questions and review the rough draft). So what I did to keep busy, was prepare the rooms that we would use for placement. Start to buy/get/receive items that would be for the children in those rangs (coloring books, legos, etc). Since we would take boys or girls between 5-12, we tried to get some pretty universal things. We also got toothbrushes, brushes, shampoo, brush/comb, etc. You may want to start getting some clothes off of freecycle or craigslist. Just having some solid tshirts, pants, long sleeved shirts in a variety of sizes would be helpful. The kids don't usually come with much. Maybe start stocking on small gift cards to use after placement so there isn't any large expense at once. Also, identify people that would be willing to be references for you. They'll have to write a letter stating why they feel you should become a foster parent (our agency had like 4 essay type questions for them to answer). We also started doing the prep work to make our house safety compliant (locks on medicine chests, kitchen cabinets where there were chemicals/cleaning solutions, baby gate, carbon monoxide detector, emergency phone numbers next to EACH phone in the house, etc). READ...READ...READ - get adoption/foster books, especially about parenting the hurt child or children with attachment issues. Get friends/relatives cleared so you have a support group/babysitter when needed. Start getting your paperwork in order - we had to provide copies of our home insurance, car insurance, driver license, marriage license, divorce papers from previous marriages, vet records for each animal, etc. Call around and make a list of DRs, Eye DRs, Dentists, Therapists, Psychologists, Psychiatrists that take medicaid. Make a list of daycare places if you will need that. Find out what services your local schools offer - for behavioral classrooms/issues, emotional classrooms/issues, etc. The homestudy wasn't much of anything. It was one on one time with our worker to go over our family likes/dislikes, habits, activities, etc and what would be a good fit. Also, the types of children we would take or not take. They also inquire on how you handle stress in the family, what your support network is, if you have other kids, ages, what are the kids feelings about bringing in foster kid, etc. The autobiography just gave background about where we lived, what our family unit was made up of, our educational background, our work background, how we met, how our marriage is, why we want kids, etc. I know referrals have been a bit slower in our area then in the past, but I do know the more open to race, ages, sex, sibling groups, needs, the higher chance of getting a phone call. Good luck and if you have any more questions please feel free to PM me or post them.

Thanks for the detailed response. I can at least start digging out some paperwork and feel like I'm doing something. I know that it will still be a long wait after we start the process but I'm hoping that "doing something" will be better than waiting. Thanks again.

What county are you both with?

Im in Dauphin county, but with a private agency.

i am from pa, i am in franklin with a private agency

We live in adams county but are choosing to go through cumberland county as it is a larger county and we are hoping for an infant. How about you...what county are you in?