Foster Children and Going on Vacation Question

We were with a private agency too and they were fine with it after getting a copy of the travel letter from the county worker. The county worker really went to bat for us because the bio-parents had to agree with the travel. In the end she convinced them it was good for the kids and we got permission and only had to make up 1 visit.

Our DCS made us show a copy of her most recent report card to ensure that FD was doing well in school before authorizing taking a day off. (but taking days off for court is not a problem... something seems off there, but I digress)

I've taken 4 foster kids on vacation. 2 on a cruise; same 2 to Florida (I'm in NY) and last set on a cruise. During MAPP training, we're told if fp's object, usually cw's agree. They want fk's to be treated like they're family.

We took 2 of our FC out of the country - granted it was only to Canada, but still - and no problems. We got copies of their birth certificates, and a letter of authorization from our agency and we were good to go!

We have taken 2 different placements out of state and clear across the country. We had to give the CW at least 2 weeks notice, which wasn't hard since we were booking the trip a month or so before travelling. Technically they had to get consent from the parents, but neither placement had parents that were involved. The CW provided consent, it was written into the court orders and we were on our way. The one placement, we brought the placement paperwork and court order, just in case. The other, we had that paperwork and the shot records as the child was under 1 year old. For our current placement, we actually have a court order permitting us to take them out of state with prior approval from the CW, no biological family needs to be contacted for consent. From what we have heard with other foster parents, travelling out of state usually isn't too much of an issue as long as it doesn't interfere with visits. Our CW didn't really care that the 1 child was going to be missing 3 days of school for it, either.

In my area, if the goal is still RU then the birth parent must sign off on the trip (which is where most FPs loose the fight...most BPs won't allow it).In our case, because BM had gone MIA the GAL & the CW had to approve it and then take it to the judge to sign off on it. It was very easy...neither the GAL or the CW had an issue with us taking her out of state.

Since the kids are on state Medicaid do you have trouble getting medical treatment out of state?

I have taken my fkids out of state a few times. The CW just wanted to know the details and they ok'd it, despite the fact that it meant missing visits. To my knowledge the bio parents did not need to give their permission.

I didn't even worry about that personally. It crossed my mind at one point, and I decided that if it got to the point that we needed to use our Medicaid in another state, that we'd have bigger things to worry about! To be honest, we visited family and my mother works for DHS where we were visiting, so I figured I'd be covered. I would imagine if you were talking about taking a child with chronic health conditions on vacation that you'd want to worry about it.

I live in Indiana and this summer my whole family went on vacation to Florida to watch my nephew wrestle at the Disney Duals. My foster daughter was able to come and the DCS worker very much endorsed her to come. It made her feel that much more a part of the family. I did have to get papers signed by a judge allowing me to take her over 300 miles away. So, I would get with your worker as soon as possible so that she can get that done if it is required where you are. We loved taking her. We got to experience so many things that were new to her together. We had so much fun but in the back of our minds very sad because she was to start visitation with an aunt to be placed there. Things did not work out with her aunt because she was too much for her to handle and is back with us. Hoping with some luck I can get TPR done and adopt her by the end of the year. I support relative placement, but in this case, it was not a good situation. Can't wait to get those court papers to take her again. My sister, mom and I are deciding where to go this year.

When my sister was fostering her now adopted children, we traveled all over the country with them including Hawaii and Alaska. We even took them on cruises to Mexico and Canada. Her son's birth parents were both MIA so the social worker just signed the travel forms. For her daughter, they always had to go through the charade of asking her birth mom's permission, but when she refused to give it, the social worker would just get a court order authorizing the travel. That sounds like a big intimidating process, but was really very easy. The social worker handled it all with paperwork, no court visits needed.

We took our fks on a 10 day trip out of state to see my family. The cw was fine with it, but did have to convince the bps. They wanted the kids to go to respite. The CW fought for us, but we almost had to change our plans.

For us, we had to give 2 weeks notice to the caseworker. And then they got a letter of authorization signed by the judge, which we carried with us.

We have been allowed to take ou fc out of state many times on vacation. The bp needs to sign permission but if they won't then the cw gets the GAL to sign. We had one time when our adopted sons were still foster and bd wouldn't sign but the cw was able to get bm to sign. We even were able to take 5 foster children to Canada on vacation one year. Bm of our 2fd had to sign a notarized consent and since our boys parents had already signed voluntary termination papers their GAL signed for them. Our fd did miss a visit by going with us but bm wanted them to have the experience so she had no problem giving permission.

Pre-TPR was tougher than post-TPR. Pre-TPR, we needed bp permission; post, i needed to tell AW, who got me a letter in case TSA wanted to give us a tough time at the airport. Good luck!