Foster Mommy here!

[redarrow]

I was only 26 when we started the fostering process. I am the youngest in my agency but must say im the best! lol!

 

[Vic20581]

Hi
There is so much info to get. Well i wil be sendin off the form from the council to attend a meetin n then see wat happens from there. This is a excitin but nervous time, but i wil look forward to it
V

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

DH and I start classes on the 7th, Do you have to finish all the classes before children are placed? do they start doing the home visit while your taking classes? we were told in the us you can only have kids who are atleast 10 years younger than you so we can only have up to 11 with me being 21. We have one room set up as the school age room more 4-7,8 room it's a room built with independence of a little kid in mind, there is an infant toddler room for 0-3 and than if they ask us to take like 9 and older we will convert the sensory room that's upstairs that we designed for children with special needs into a tween room. right now we are starting to gather up beds and bedding and toys and clothes. it's all very nerve racking

 

[shuaandboo]

Hi new to forum I am going though the process atm to become a foster carer her in Australia and am having troubles finding other Aussies .. maybe I can join in here to share??

 

[redarrow]

Hi
There is so much info to get. Well i wil be sendin off the form from the council to attend a meetin n then see wat happens from there. This is a excitin but nervous time, but i wil look forward to it
V

eeekkk! Good luck hun, exciting but nerve wrecking time! Enjoy! xx

DH and I start classes on the 7th, Do you have to finish all the classes before children are placed? do they start doing the home visit while your taking classes? we were told in the us you can only have kids who are atleast 10 years younger than you so we can only have up to 11 with me being 21. We have one room set up as the school age room more 4-7,8 room it's a room built with independence of a little kid in mind, there is an infant toddler room for 0-3 and than if they ask us to take like 9 and older we will convert the sensory room that's upstairs that we designed for children with special needs into a tween room. right now we are starting to gather up beds and bedding and toys and clothes. it's all very nerve racking

Yes you do have to finish all the classes before children are placed, yes home visits can take place. We werent told any age we were approived for 0-14 and our first placement was a 14 year old. I wasnt old enough to be his "mum". We just have the one spare room that we use for fostering but to be honest it can be adapted for any age child or needs. We have had the 14 year old boy in there and now we have a 10 year old girl in there. Good luck, you will be fine and will enjoy every minute xx

Hi new to forum I am going though the process atm to become a foster carer her in Australia and am having troubles finding other Aussies .. maybe I can join in here to share??

Aww good luck hunnie, hope all goes well for you x

 

[Hayley90]

I'm 21, OH is 23 and we have applied with interest, due to meet with them & start the process this summer

 

[Emma11511]

I grew up in foster care and care homes, and once my child(ren) are older, I will be starting to foster as well, it's an amazing thing to do for children, and especially to those of you who foster teenagers aswell. I was moved into my 4th(?) foster home when I was nearly 17, as my previous homes were 2-3 hours from my school, and with every move they got me about half an hour closer! A lot of people judged me as being an 'unruly' teenager who had made myself homeless, but this was not the case, my mother wasn't the best and decided to 'get rid' of me. I have never drunk or done drugs, I'm not argumentitive or aggressive, so people labelling me as being so was extremely hurtful. The family I moved in with at 16 turned into being my family. Within a few months they were calling me their daughter, and I was completely treated as one of their own, their children referred to me as their sister. I only left because I moved in with my boyfriend! I just wanted to let people, who think fostering teenagers is not as rewarding, know that there are success stories out there

 

[BigZai]

Hey,
I saw your post which I know it is old but I was curious if you had any advice for me (not really me but kinda me). Anyway My mother has always wanted to get into foster care, life kept getting in the way (divorce single mom of 4 working 2 jobs) and she was never able to do it. Now my 3 siblings have moved out and I am 18 still living with her and my 11 month old. She has a good paying steady job and our lives are very stable. So she want to get into being a foster parent with my help as a babysitter.

I was wondering if you had any advice.
-can a foster parent be a single parent or can my mom not do this because shes not married
- how do you know what size beds to get for the bedrooms
- are there any specific requirment to the home (other then heat, running water, fire alarms, etc.)

 

[redarrow]

Hey,
I saw your post which I know it is old but I was curious if you had any advice for me (not really me but kinda me). Anyway My mother has always wanted to get into foster care, life kept getting in the way (divorce single mom of 4 working 2 jobs) and she was never able to do it. Now my 3 siblings have moved out and I am 18 still living with her and my 11 month old. She has a good paying steady job and our lives are very stable. So she want to get into being a foster parent with my help as a babysitter.

I was wondering if you had any advice.
-can a foster parent be a single parent or can my mom not do this because shes not married
- how do you know what size beds to get for the bedrooms
- are there any specific requirment to the home (other then heat, running water, fire alarms, etc.)

Your mum can 100% do it. You can be single, married, in a relationship (gay or straight) and your age doesnt really come into it either. We have a 61 year old single MALE carer in our agency!
We just went for a bog standard single bed and we also invested in a cotbed so it could have been a cot if we had a baby or made it into the bed if it was a toddler!
No major requirements really. Well kept, clean, tidy, no smoking in the house, safety checks etc are carried out.

Message me if you need any help as I dont always come on here xx

 

[Daniellas]

My husband and I are considering adoption as well. I'll message you later if needed =)

 

[helloeveryone]

Hi i would love to start to foster in a year or two, but not sure if i would be able to due to having 6 children of my own already. we have a 5 bedroom house. but if i was to foster i would put the 3 boys in one room 2 girls in another room my oldest girl in another ,me and my partner in another, so that would leave a spare room to foster in.

Do you know if i would be able to? I love children and would love to be able to help take care of one or some untill they were ready to go home. Also i would like to foster a special needs child..as i know they are harder to place.

Any help would be lovely also i am in the UK but not sure where you come from.xx

 

[WholeHeart]

My parents did foster care for 20 years, and very often we had children that were the same age as my sister or me. We thought it was great that we always had somebody to play with! I still talk to several of those girls and a couple of the boys. Of course, when a situation came up that there was a conflict of interest, I almost always had to "be the bigger person," but I don't think it hurt me any in the long run (though it made me mad a couple of times when I was 10 or 11 and didn't quite understand yet). After all, I was also a hostess, right? We also had quite a few that were vastly different in age (teenagers when we were in preschool, toddlers when we were preteens, preschoolers when we were teenagers, etc.), but my parents were able to let the social workers know what age children they were most comfortable with taking in at any given point (though that didn't mean they couldn't be asked to take in a different age). Sometimes I shared a bedroom with a foster sibling about the same age. I was three or four years old when they started, I think, and I know I roomed with a girl a year older than me when I was five (actually, I talked to her tonight; we're still friends). So I suppose the rules are different in different places, because I've never heard of not being allowed to foster kids the same age as your own. If that was the case where we were, my childhood would have been a lot less fun!

 

[marie22]

this is something i've been interested in for a while now.

 

[luci and bump]

WQs

 

[luci and bump]

Sorry, didn't realise I'd left my laptop in reach of my LO! Thought she was a bit too quiet!

This is something my partner and I have been discussing. He's very keen, and his step-dad (the only dad he's ever known) was in foster care. I'm not so sure. My first boyfriends parents were foster parents, and even then I found it hard to say goodbye to the children. I don't know if I could do it time and time again. OH says "you just don't develop an emotional attachment to them" But I think if you don't, you're not giving the children what they deserve!
How would we go about finding out more information? Do you have to own your own home?