Single Foster Parents= How many kids?

Well, I'm a single mom of 5 (soon to be six).If its something that you an handle, I say go with your heart, but know your limitations. As far as questions form caseworkers, they will want to know what kind of support system you have in place. If you can't get to the kids in case of emergency at school, who can? They will want to know that you have the means (financially) to take care of a large family. Does your vehicle hold the number of children you will be licensed for (if you drive. If not, it's a non-issue)? Can your home accomodate? Etc... I didn't have many questions to answer. I adopted two. My twins were placed with me. Then exactly a year ago, my baby, and I will be taking placement of the twins younger brother at some point soon. Just check my signature, lol! There are plenty of single moms here that make it work with multiple placements. Oh, and I work outside of the home full time too.What works is that I have a variation of ages. My twins are the oldest. Then my 6 and 8 year old. Then my little mama. The Princess is the only one that is 100% needy. Looking at your ages, you might not want to break birth order, but I've known my twins their entire life, so when they came into care, they fit right into my family because everyone knew them. I can't say that I would have taken teens that I did not know.

I have had up to 7 with 6 being 5 and under. As of Friday i will have 5 (17, 5,5,4,1). I will be open to 1 or 2 under the age of 5. My 17 yo is gone 90% of the time between school, work and friends....so it is me and the littles. I work full time - 3 days in the office and 16 hours at home. It is perfect for me. i think most of it is what works for you and your family. My family feels lopsided when we have 5....6 is much better - it just needs to be the right 6:)

Most I have had is 4 (including my bio son). I think my that is doable as long as two of them are teens. Actually life seems really nice right now with two. I do work full time at a very high pressure job which does afford some flexibility (since I am always "on duty", lol), which helps.

I have two right now. A few months ago I did an overnight emergency of 3 kids so a total of 4 (Sweet Pea wasn't her yet). They were 9, 4 and 3 yoa twins. I thought I was going to lose my mind and I only had them overnight. :) I think maybe I could handle three but I'd have to think long and hard about more than that.

The most I've had was 2 fosters and 1bio. But I'm open to having 3-4. I have had 4-5 kids running thru the house at a time with foster, bio, relatives or former fosters over for a visit. I'm hoping for a large sibling group and bought a minivan instead of my medium hatchback I had. With littles who pick and poke at each other I am happier when everyone has space in between. You've gotta think about your support system capacity too. I have at least 2 people to call that would come and pickup all kids in my care in an emergency.

I'm single with five right now (12,10,8,8,6). I have my three adopted kiddos and two foster kids. I've had up to six. My ages are pretty self sufficent, with exception of my 6yo who has some special needs. When everyone can bathe, dress and eat on their own its seems to me, easy. My usual number is around four with my three plus one and when the plus one is a baby everything takes a bit longer and there is a different level of supervision required. Ever since I've had more than two I've always had to prove myself to workers that I have things in control. Ditto the previous poster who mentioned the support system, transportation and house space. I like when I work with workers that know me and know I have things in control. Proving all over again is tiresome. I do get lots of OMGs, how do you do it, you're amazing, you're crazy, etc, etc, etc. and of course the stares when we go out. I love it though! I work full-time outside the home but have a strong support system and been doing this a few years so I feel comfortable with big numbers. It works for me -its hard work keeping it all together but my life is so full!

I am super brand new, I had 3 kids within one week and that was too much too soon. Now that I have settled into a routine with angry bird and rapunzel I could add in a 3rd easily. Also while I am single, my dad lives with me and has to have a say. So while if it was just me I could do 5 kids easily, I am going to stick to two right now until he tells me that he is comfortable with adding a third. But everyone is capable of different things, good luck.

For me, the littles are the hardest and I'd not want to do more than two, what I have now. Blue Eyes is old enough to walk just holding hands but he will wander if I don't stay on top of him. Chubbs not so much. Although, we made it the entire ten feet from his daycare class to the DC exit holding hands yesterday, but as soon as we got to the car, he wanted to run.The other issue is carseats. Yesterday I ran out of gas, which was a topper to the worse day ever for me. Thankfully road service got there in time because none of the people in my life have car seats, so even though I have people to help, like do a grocery store run when I or kids are sick, they can't help out getting the kids without some planning. Older kids with simple boosters, not as hard.Right now, I am at max, but I have a 20mo and a 28mo. Arranging doctors visits, EI visits, CW visits, it is exhausting and I am burning through PTO, which I get six weeks of because I have been here for 15 years.When Chubbs is able to walk alone, assuming BE is gone, I am dropping down to six weeks old. If BE doesn't leave, I am done. By the time the kids can do their own seatbelt s and such, I'll be too old to want another little. The downfall to being an older parent.But if I was ten years younger, didn't have to work, I'd take up to five, depending on ages.

I have 5 kids in my house right now (3 bios, 1 adoptive & 1 foster), ages 1 - 12. I also work at an internship 20-30 hours/wk & attend grad/law school full time. You are in the best position to know what you can and can't handle, given the specifics of your particular situation. If you feel you are ready & able to take on more, more power to you.

I have 2 kiddos now (1 AS and 1 FS). This is perfect for my family. Last year I had 3 kids, all boys within 18 months of each other. That was incredibly stressful for me. The constant jealousy issues and bickering stressed me out. I felt like my son wasn't getting the attention he needed and while he enjoyed having the other boys living with us, he was very stressed also. He has some minor special needs and the stress in the house was affecting him negatively. The situation I have now, with a 4 year age gap between the two boys, just works for us as a family. That's not to say that I am not crazy busy, but our home is pretty calm. I need a calm home, as does my son. I can see myself taking more children, but not for at least a year or two. (This is embarrassing to admit, but I downsized my car recently because I know my heart is bigger than my head and I could see myself accepting another placement, which wouldn't necessarily be good for either of the kids in my home...I just don't have very good willpower when it comes to kids in need, lol...now I can't accept another placement because we can't fit another car seat in the new car. I can always trade my car for a bigger car in a year or so.) I think the right number of children for your family depends on your personality, the needs of your forever children, and the support system you have.