speaking a different language a problem?

I don't see anything wrong with the fosters learning a little German. If we were to get hispanic kids that only spoke spanish at home, guess what, they would be learning english at my house.

I JUST had this conversation with my husband yesterday. We speak Italian in our home, and we were saying how left out a child would fell amongst our extended family if they DO NOT speak Italian as well. I grew up in a family with half the family speaking Spanish and my mom didn't teach me and it was downright traumatizing to be so left out.My husband and I are going to do everything we can to have our adopted children speak Italian fluently-it will only make them feel more part of the family and a stronger sense of belonging. Not being able to speak will make them feel like outsiders in their own family (the way I felt growing up).

I don't know about the licensing, but you should be prepared for it to be grumbled about by birthfamily, especially if the child uses their new mastery of German to purposely annoy the bparents. Also, since language is a very defining aspect of humans, it will probably annoy the bparents. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with speaking another language, just that bparents are sometimes very critical of the foster parents and so maybe you should be prepared to hear complaints and not let it bother you. A coworker at my previous company was adopted from foster care and his adoptive mom is German. I don't know if German was spoken at home or not though.

To me it is no different that signing with a foster child. My boys both know English, ASL and a smattering of German. They both attend a new school this year with a large hispanic population, so they are both learning Spanish. I always signed and spoke German with all my foster children and, in 10 years, never had a single parent object.

I had a friend in high school whose mother was German and her father Puerto Rican. her grandmother lived with them. when she was brought home from the hospital, mama only spoke German, papa only Spanish, and grandma only English. my friend was fully fluent in all three--read it, wrote it, spoke it. one summer, her parents sent her to stay with friends in France. she came home fully functional in French. her brain was wired to learn languages quickly. we had kids who only spoke Spanish. we speak a mean Spanglish. together we all learned more of the other. I see absolutely no down side to being multi-lingual. I sign. I speak English. I am a toddler in Spanish, but I try. it helps bridge gaps.

Absolutely-there could NEVER be a down side to speaking more than one language.

Agree.......I would consider it an asset. :)

Learning languages is good for brain development. I would definitely continue speaking German (and pig latin, spanish, french, signing, etc). Seriously. It is a good thing and the kdis will benefit from it.

I am German also, and I never had issues about it with the bios. They actually thought it was "cool" that I taught the kids some simple stuff....like thank you, or good bye (dankeschoen, auf wiedersehen) :) One little boy sooooo wanted to call me "mom" but his family wouldn't allow it....it was a real struggle for him....so I came up with the idea, that he could use GERMAN, and call me Mama instead of Mom....he was so happy and the bios were ok with it too :cowboy: But I must say we only speak English @ home.....except sometimes, when my oldest kids come home and we want to say something in private ..... where in Germany do you come from?

@AMom2011 Oh wow, awesome to see "my peeps" on here ....I originally come from Darmstadt, rightnow live in Wiesbaden but about to move to KY. You should have never told me that you are German as well cause I might just make you my Go-to Person from now on,lol, I have been reading a lot on here but everything is still very confusing .................. Where are you from and how long have you been doing Fostering? everybody else,thank you very much for your input,I really appreciate it !

:) I'm going to answer you in a PM

My husband's first language is not english. On our homestudy questions they ask that, then ask what the main language in the home is. (It is english, though I would love for him to not speak english so I can learn the other language - there aren't programs out there to learn it.)

Learning other languages is great and living with a family is an amazing way to learn. Ive heard that the only way to be able to speak like a native is to learn the sounds of that language as a young child so being exposed to that is fantastic. If your planning on becoming a foster parent ONLY to adopt a baby, then thatҒs great. BUT... if you are dealing with kids in foster care who have been taken from their homes and thrown into a home with another language being spoken. Thats not right. I know thatҒs what people do with international adoption, but kids who have endured trauma and abuse dont need more things to deal with. One of the foster homes my sister was in was a family originally from Hungary. I donҒt know if they spoke the language but on holidays all the food they had was Hungarian. Lots of extended family also came for holiday dinners. It made a really bad atmosphere where my sister felt out of place and like everything our family did for holidays was gone. Her foster mom probably made really good Hungarian food, but all my sister wanted was what our mom made. That was really stupid artificial stuff like frozen pumpkin pie and Stovetop stuffing, but that was holiday dinners for us, not whatever Hungarian food they made. She was really really angry about that kind of stuff and she had enough stuff to deal with that adding on top it being in a real foreign place with strange people didnt help. I know all anyone on here cares about is adopting babies, so maybe this doesnҒt matter. But as a former foster kid, I wanted to add that if anyone really having foster kids and not just adopting through foster care, keep in mind that foster kids dont always want to live with your family. TheyҒre hurt and want to go home.They want their family traditions and the opportunity to learn a new language isnt a priority. ItҒs going to be something that makes everything more different than what theyre used to.