Fostering children

Re: Fostering children

Only to children I already know. But I know that the process to become one is lengthy and you could drown in the paperwork. In Texas, you are required to take classes to get registered and than follow up classes to keep up to date. Every state is different. But I think that if you can do it, it would be very rewarding!

Re: Fostering children

I personally never fostered, however I have thought about it many times. My grandparents fostered over 10 kids in their foster parent career...they adopted one of them(my uncle Bobby) and one of them still keeps in close contact. I have a neighbor couple in their 50's who have fostered to adopt twice since we moved here....the first being a 2 year old little girl and her one year old brother(who is my sons age). The official adoption took place when my son was in kindergarten. The second set was two baby girls...about 10 months apart, the oldest being about 18 months when they got her...her sister was just an infant....the oldest goes to school with my youngest and they were adopted last year.
From what I have seen it can be tough, but from what I have heard the rewards are well worth it. There are so many kids out there with no one to love them. With fostering(at least in this state) you can set limits on age, gender, etc... there are a lot of hoops to make sure the kids are safe, but there are a lot of support(classes, etc) that should be available to ALL parents.
When my friend April (that adopted 2 babies from Russia)used to tell me that God didn't want her to ever have kids, I told her I thought she was wrong...that he just meant for her to become a parent in a different way. When they finally started the adoption process they were told it would be between 1 year and 5 years....she submitted paperwork in August and had both babies home by Christmas that same year...I think God was just waiting for her to figure out what he wanted.
For what it's worth I think you would make a great foster parent.

Re: Fostering children

The twins are a foster to adopt situation, they are not ours until May 12th. We had a LOT of training classes before hand and they visit often. Lots of paperwork too, but it's worth it.

Re: Fostering children

I think you and Steve would be great at it.