Is foster care the right path?

There is commitment involved with foster kids. They need more commitment. You and your wife need to have a thick thick skin if you do foster care. As for days off: that's what I've done. I'm a single parent. I would try and get as many doctors with Saturday hours as possible. Then those without, I would use PTO/vacation days for.

"So a question I have for the community, is whether or not it is wrong to think of foster care as a way to experience aspects of parenting without the lifelong commitment, or should you already be thoroughly committed to being a parent before ever starting?"-- I don't think there's anything wrong with this at all. If you're willing to help kids whose permanency plans might involve them going back to their families of origin, that's great. You don't have to get into fostering with an eye on adoption and (in fact) I think that's often easier on all people concerned. "The next issue i have is about our current work/schedule arrangements."--Everyone told us before we fostered and adopted that it would be no problem that we worked full-time jobs. That was completely false. My husband was a realtor, so his schedule was very flexible, but very often we were both required to be off work. And/or we needed each other to be there. Fostering and adopting was much much harder than we ever expected it to be. Even now, nearly four years since they were originally placed with us, we have been unable to return to both parents working full time. I know some people manage it, but I have seen far more families decide to have one parent at home or working part-time. If you have parents or other close family/friends who will provide significant support, it might work better. Both of our kids have been school-age throughout.

I don't think you have to be prepared to make a lifelong commitment in order to be a foster parent. Lots of foster parents only intend to be a short term (which may be a couple years!) for a child. But I do think that it's important, as much as it is possible, to be ready to make a commitment to seeing that child's case through, whether that is until reunification or until they can be transferred to a pre-adoptive home (assuming you don't choose to adopt yourself). Also, please note that foster parenting isn't like regular parenting (and so might not be the best gauge on whether that is a good fit for you). You have far less control and authority as a foster parent, and you're also dealing with children who have experienced trauma - which is often quite different from a child that has known a stable, healthy environment in your care since the beginning.This is largely going to depend on your agency and your foster child's needs. I'm a single mom who works full-time, and although it takes some juggling, it's manageable. I've always found my agency willing to work with me - for example, my kids' social worker picks them up from daycare for their visit since it starts before I get off work. Other agencies/jurisdictions might not be so flexible. Court is almost always optional for me as the foster parent, unless the kids need to attend (once a year), though I have found it helpful to be there as much as possible. And I work doctor's appointments around my schedule as much as I can, and take sick time for the rest. It's worth noting, though, that some of these appointments are going to come from parenting, period, not just foster parenting. If your biological kid gets sick and can't go to school/daycare, you have to take off work. So some of this would apply whether you try to have bio kids, adopt, or foster. And some kids have more frequent illnesses than others - it really just depends on the child.Also, if you're worried about time off work, I actually find my kids that are younger than school age are easier to manage, schedule wise. Daycares (especially daycare centers) are closed far less frequently than there are days off school, it seems. Plus weather-related delays and closures seem less frequent.Good luck!