Is foster care the right path?

"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.