Foster Children come only from your county?

In NY, we only get kids in our county. There is more bureaucracy to get kids from another county..

I live in Florida and have been fostering for a few years. I actually just recieved my first placement from my county. Up until now my former placements have come from as far away as 2 hours. More often then not though it was the next county over, about 45 minutes away.

In Missouri, the preference is for kids to stay in their home county to make visits, etc. easier, but they do place in other counties when needed (which is a lot in my county). We had one placement whose brother was placed Kansas City because they could not find any homes here. We have several children in our county placed in surrounding counties, some as many as a couple hours away. When they do have to place far away, they do try to move them back as soon as a spot opens up for them, so they can be closer.

I'm still fairly new (1 year licensed), but we have been called for placements from all over MO - though most of them from our home county and the very large (busy) county bordering ours. I would guess that you should expect to get calls from neighboring counties if there are a lack of kiddos looking for placement in yours.

I am a St. Louis County foster home with a St. Louis City Agency. We have had placements from St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Jefferson County, and St. Charles County.

I think it may depend on how big the county you live in is, and the size of the surrounding counties. It may also depend upon how many foster famiies are available in the area. The other consideration would be whether visits need to happen for RU, or if the child is going on the adoption track. There's a lot of factors to think on.