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My husband and I don't have any kids, so our 2nd bedroom has an adult bedroom set in it. The room is large enough for 2 kids, but when should we make the changes to the room? Before our first home study? I hate to purchase either not the right things or anything if we don't get licensed (though I can't figure out why we wouldn't)
Thoughts?
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Where I am the room needs to be set up for kids before you can be licensed, but it does not have to be done before the homestudy. When I had my homestudy I just explained where the child would sleep, on what, etc. I already have a child, and I still have furniture for baby, so I didn't have to worry about getting anything new. I would suggest waiting, mostly because different areas have different regulations about what is acceptable/ necessary, and you can talk to the licensing worker about what you need during the homestudy.
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We do not have to have rooms set up where I am, so I would wait until you are liscenced. We actually only have one crib, because we only have one placement at the moment, so I would need to run out and buy another if we were to get another child (hopefully soon). Babies and toddlers can sleep in a pack and play for a night should we get a call in the middle of the night, so we have one of those instead of having a second crib set up. We have 3 bios, and a foster in a 3 bedroom house though, so space is limited lol. With so many kids we have extra clothes storage and such already, so it is just a bed that we need.
dogmom814
I am in the same boat as you - not sure what we should do. My recruiter told me to start looking for a convertible crib so coincidentally we bought one today. It got a bit more real today. Very exciting.
In our state, to complete our homestudy we had to have the bedroom complete. Our original configuration was a convertible baby bed and a twin trundle since we only take siblings. Well our first placement was 15mo/4mo so I added another baby bed. Now, the room is back to its original configuration because the 4mo, now 11mo, baby bed is in our room.
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Talk to your licensing worker. For us, we don't need the bedroom complete until the final homestudy visit, which is the very last thing completed before everything is sent to the state. THe first visits are just walkthroughs looking for major issues that would disqualify. We do have to have it completely ready, though for that final inspection, complete with bedding and set up to recieve a child.
Smarty
I wish we'd waited. Not sure if we'll ever get a placement...
emrldkikiteatro
I've seen a couple of your posts today, I can sense your frustration! Remember, today is the first day back after the holiday season, so regardless, they are gonna be bogged down.
I'd give it till mid-next week then give them a call again to clarify that March date you were quoted.
If you don't have any kids, do something that you couldn't do with kids, even if it's just eat dinner in the bar section of a restaurant!
Good Luck!
okay, so I can tell from looking at these posts that it must depend on your state or agency because when I got licensed the first time, my certification was given based upon how many beds we had and how many seat belts we had, so if I only had one bed, they would only license me for 1 child. If you are getting a crib, remember that it MUST be a FIXED side crib because the drop side cribs are now illegal.
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Ask the office you are being licensed through. A phone call is all it takes.
We were being licensed for 0-18,boy or girl, so having a room set up for a kid was a bit hard and our LW understood that. We went with a basic bed/dresser set up, no extras. Yes the room looked bare but it was much easier to then adjust as needed. Eventually I did get a crib second hand that I kept in a closet, till I got tired of moving it do things and got rid of it. As of yet we haven't needed a crib. Bed have worked for the 22 month - 16 year olds we have had.
Since I know what age limit I'm going to be working with I was just going to get the simple stuff. I don't want to wait til the last minute and since it's a long process, that gives me time to get things together. I was going to get a least a bed, bedding, dresser, and books. Simple enough. I'm excited.