questions on agency foster homes

It depends on where you live. You should call your county and some agencies and ask lots of questions. What is your goal? Do you only want to foster or do you want to adopt. If you only want to foster then you need to work with the one that is going to be the best for you to deal with. Personally, I prefer the county. Our county actually had LESS rules here than the agencies (ex. agency required toilet locks, even if your foster child was 17!!). I did not like the idea of working with someone who is then having to turn around and co-ordinate with the county. Our county is a large county with many foster children. All foster children are given to county foster families FIRST. Some small counties do not have a county children's services and only have agencies.Certification for us was 30 hours of classes plus CPR and first aid.

I'm with an FFA because I didn't have the time or inclination to drive an hour away for six weeks of classes. Also, the FFA had more perks and meant I'd always have a social worker on call. I feel like I have representation. The county doesn't communicate well and it's purely about RU so you don't get as much information. Just my experience.

Hi 7kiddos! Our county is a very large county and when we went to orientation we were told it would be a year and a half until we could even start our classes due to budget cuts. I just called a local agency today and was told you could have everything done within 30 days, matter of fact they offer an incentive to push you to get your end done as quickly as possible as they said they are in extreme need of foster parents. It used to be that not as many children ended up in the private agencies and the private agencies had more "hard to place" but here's my thinking. If the county says they really need foster homes but aren't able to get families through because of budget cuts then that means that they most likely have ALOT of children that are getting bumped right now to the smaller private agencies. I recommend going to an orientation with both and seeing what you feel more comfortable with and what the wait time is. (If that matters to you.) good luck!