Special needs adoption/Riverside County

what TeddiN said! Good luck

I am so disappointed! We went to orientation class today for Riverside County has a 1 1/2 year wait for the classes you need to get certified. Does anyone know of any agencies that handle special need placements? We want to foster/adopt. Also found out that with the changes in the law you can only have 3 kids total in your home if you get a special needs child this number includes your bio children. We have a big enough house with 2 extra bedrooms that is wheelchair accessable but can't take but one child due to the law changes. There are so many medically fragile kids in the system and with this new law it will limit even more the available homes for them. They also said those wanting 0-5 non special needs children have a 2 year wait after class or more. Just an FYI for those starting out like us.

I think some of what they tell you is to scare you. When we first inquired, they said the wait for classe was six months. We signed up. Then, we were going to go another route. We called back and talked to someone again about general questions and the wait time. It turns out, our timing was perfect.Classes started a wwek prior, and the SW asked us if we'd be willing to make up week 1 by video and start immediately in classes. It turns out some people dropped out. Bam, we made it to the top of the class wait list. During classes, 4 yrs ago, they said wait for a girl was 6 mo to one year and a boy was quicker. We were open to either and were placed with a girl in 3 months after final approval. We are now going for #2. They they said the wait was 1.5 yrs. We got a call after 10 months. The placement fell through because we weren't quick enough. We got another call 6 weeks later, but it wasn't right for us. ] So . . . prayer and patience. They tell you not to, but I would sign up with the county and get certified with an agency for medically fragile and just wait to see which pans out more quickly. I assume you will get a higher stipend with an agency. If you aren't dead set on adoption, then I'd go with an agency. good luck

Due to budget cutbacks they are only doing the classes once a year now instead of 3. So they are almost fully booked for the summer of 2012 classes now. They only exception is if you want straigt foster of teens. Thanks for the encouragement!

You may want to check with private agencies in Riverside. They may be able to get you licensed quicker and some of them specialize in placing harder to place kids, which would include medically fragile. Good luck!

holy cow are these the PRIDE classes or the extra classes for medically fragile? I mean I already adopted one child from here and my sw just approved my amendment to the homestudy so I'm waiting for #2....but wow, I can't imagine hearing this if I were just starting from scratch again.

The wait is just for the PRIDE classes. Once those are finished they will tell us about the other classes for the special needs part of it. I have contacted an agency so we will see what their wait time is. We debated and discussed foster/adoption for awhile and we now own our own home with extra bedrooms, have enough love to go around, and the time just feels right for us to move forward we have medical experience so we know what we can handle and not handle. Then we go into Riverside's class to hear the wait times it is just disappointing. They talk about how badly they need new foster/adopt homes but they don't have the money to run the classes--yet they are still having monthly orientations classes and just keep adding to the wait list for classes. They said they expect after the October class they will be putting new foster/adoption parents on the 2013 PRIDE class list. CRAZY.

I'm venturing a guess that it's because of the overtime pay since the classes are done after the work day. If there gets to be a time where they can approve more overtime pay, they will up the classes....although don't know when that would be. They are talking about more furlough days for the school district I work in... CA is a mess.

Hi all! I have been a lurker on this website for a couple months now and finally decided to join in on the conersations. I am single, no kids (yet), and plan to fost/adopt. I attended the orientation class in June and mailed my apps to Riverside County and the State in late August. I was contacted last week by the county and scheduled for my initial interview in October and was told I am registered for the Pride classes in January because my app was received too late to get into the September class. Not sure why they are giving you different info....

You are very lucky. I called to talk to them to find out if there is any chance to move up the 1 1/2 wait time and was told no. Classes are all booked for the year. (only one class start date until next summer) The only excpetions was to straight foster with no chance of adoptions and if you say you want to do that and then change your mind "We will drop you out of class and you start at the bottom again to wait for a class date. We are not playing" If you want teens only to adopt you might and they stressed might get a spot in the next class but no promise. We are going to go with an agency. We have a class tonight to start the process with them and they cover 3 counties.

Wow. tha'ts crazy! I have my initial interview on October 5th so I will confirm that I am registered for the January 2012 class. When I spoke with Cherie, she told me that I missed this fall's class because I submitted my app too late but I am set for January. Hoping......

I am glad you were fast tracked into the classes. We are going with an agency now. We went to the orientation on the 30th of August and start classes Sept 10 for 5 Saturday's. They will do pre home inspections to let us know what we need to do to get the house ready for the main inspection. They are A LOT tougher then the state on how to the house has to be. The state does Prudent Parenting so allows the foster parent to make the call as to what needs to be locked up for safety and no baby gates needed until a child is a toddler. With the agency we have to have the house more baby proofed then with the state but I would rather be safe then sorry so I don't mind. They handle kids from 4 counties so we should have little wait to finding our forever special child and even a few foster's for emergency care along the way.

Hi. We are just beginning our journey into foster care. We hope it will lead us to adoption, but we are open to just fostering as well. We already have two adopted children, through an agency. So, we went to the county's orientation meeting on September 15th, filled out an interest card, and got a call back on September 20th asking us if we want to start the PRIDE classes on October 8th. Our county (Alameda) NEEDS 400 families in the next couple of years. I asked if we needed to do our application before the class, but she said no, we can do that in the meantime. They want families to be licensed within 90 days, hopefully faster! I don't know how soon a placement will happen after we are licensed, but it seems like they are in such need of families, that it will happen quickly. I'm happy that they are "on our case" and pushing us a little. I'm sorry that there is such a long wait for just the class where you live. CA has so many waiting children who deserves families. So sad that it has to take so long to get a family for those kids. Good luck!

I just wanted to say, please keep your eyes open, just because a child has medical or physical issues does not mean they will not also have emotional issues. My son is in a wheelchair, he was born completely missing three limbs. However, he has also been diagnosed with RAD. The missing limbs and wheelchair are easy the RAD is not and he would not be safe around another disabled child. He was in an orphanage with other disabled children and was quite a bully. Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there because some people assume that if a child has medical issues or is disabled physically that they will not also have emotional issues. Good luck in your journey.

Yeah! We are only have two more Saturday classes until we graduate with the agency. Today was a "pre" home visit to tell us what we need to do and we only have a few things to do which we knew would have to happen but everything else passed. We need to put up the stair baby gates and put the baby tot locks on the medicine and chemical cabinets doors. We have a stair lift so we have to come up with a baby gate that will be long enough to go around it completely at the bottom of the stairs. The top can be a standard gate. So excited for the next step.