Just applied to foster

[BreithCuidiu]

This morning, after years of longing to be a Foster Mum, I applied to become a carer. It sounds like a longish process (around 20 weeks), but that just gives me more time to get my home and life in order.

They have said that newborns-toddlers will be placed with us which is great! I don't want to stuff up the birth order of our family too much. I have a capsule, but need a cot etc, but assume I will probably have to grab clothes and nappies etc when it is "time".

How long has the process taken for others? I've heard of some people being rushed through, and ending up with a baby in a few days. And I've heard of others who have been going through the process for 18 months.

I'm also wondering about the experiences of people who have been through crisis/emergency care or respite/short term care.

Thanks! :smiliedance:

[PinkBinkie]

I don't have any experience with foster care but just wanted to say that it is wonderful that you're going to be a carer. Good on you :flowerz:

[Baldie's Mum]

:) Oh how i wish i could foster care! :D I hope one day after our fertility treatments finnished that we can do it!

[kirstenriley]

congratulations!! It is something i would like to do when mine are a bit older..would love to hear updates on how its all going.

[WorkingClassMum]

Congratulations - what a wonderful person!

It'll be the most rewarding and heart rendering decision you'llve ever made.

It takes a really special person to do what you are doing - Good Luck!

[Mum2Bug]

Congratulations!!!

Are you going through a local private or government agency?

[nsmonkey]

Congratulations. :)

DH and I are both wanting to become foster carers in the future. I have all of the paper work here and everything. In our area there is a shortage of carers. :(

I have heard that yeah it could take up to a year for everything to be processed.

[SomewhereOverTheRainbow]

Good on you! :yes: There are so many children out there in need of a loving home and some stability, it's wonderful to hear that there are people like yourself out there! :goodvibes::goodvibes:

[lostgirl]

Hi BreithCuidiu,

If you would like the hard and fast truth about fostering feel free to pm me. I am someone who use to assess, write assessments, renewals and support foster carers.

I am from QLD so not sure where you are from and it may be different where you are.

All the best with your decision, and remember the key to fostering is self protection.

[kiki07]

Hi BreithCuidiu,

If you would like the hard and fast truth about fostering feel free to pm me. I am someone who use to assess, write assessments, renewals and support foster carers.



Have you been a foster carer?

[jag5000]

it's one of the hardest.. but most rewarding things you will ever do!

how do your kids feel about it? My DD was about 6 when I started and she went through quite a period of jealously.. but was fine in the end.

[creativewarrior]

im interested in doing foster care too. when i was very little i was cared for by a foster carer and would like to return the favour to other disadvantaged kids.

very interested to hear peoples experiences and what you have to do to qualify etc

[battlecrumpet]

Don't have any advice...as it's something I haven't done yet, but am considering.
Good on ya Breith, and good luck :)

[The Pied Piper]

Hey there BreithCuidiu,

I did the NSW training two years ago. Took about ten months in all but I think they have speed it up since then.

DoCS will pay for anything you need. Pfft - no they wont and don't believe it if they spin you that one. Good that you have some things already.

For me personally I enjoy what I do which is short term care - short term care can mean having a child with you up to two years in this system.

Long term, I guess it's like an open adoption that the parents aren't usually happy about but still get regular access where possible.

Respite sucks, really does. It is giving other carers a break now and again or for regular weekends. Honestly it is a complete pain and you never get to know the child before they are gone again.

In total I have fostered for nearly 12 years and been very busy and never requested respite, for me if I say I will have them then have them I will.[smile]

Crisis is okay if you don't mind being woken up at midnight - not really a big deal.

I would advise whenever possible to try have foster children that are younger than your youngest. Sometimes it works when they arn't but you can never be sure.

Some children can be a real danger to your own but only you can know how your children deal with things or how capable they are of defending themselves.

Be ready for heartbreak, there is no avoiding it and often you choose the same feelings of loss for your kids. Also know that you will get very angry at times as this department does not function well and the children suffer because of it. No often no one will help.

But if I can handle it so can most adults. You will be asking your children to sacrifice time with you and attention. I started fostering when my now 17 year old was 5. She was supposed to be the youngest in our family but to date has had 108 smaller siblings.

She's fine, probably better than fine because of it.

I wish you luck and know that you will have some moments of absolute pure joy and some incredible feelings of accomplishment as you care for the countries most vulnerable children.

[peanutbutter&jelly]

:yelclap: Congrats! And 20 weeks is so much shorter than it seems - half a pregnancy :D

[BreithCuidiu]

It's now March 2010... I waited and waited... and waited, then waited some more for DOCS to pull their fingers out of their *****. After months I gave up. I was so disappointed. We're perfectly good carers. Great parents (we think so), with excellent kids. A big house. Time and love to share. And we live adjacent to two major hospitals which I know regularly call on DOCS for carers. DOCS are a waste of government funds and a waste of my heartache.

Instead I called a private agency which is new to Foster Care, but well known for other types of care. They immediately answered my email, phoned the next day. They sent out all of the info and we were booked into an info session that week.

It's not been a fortnight and we have our first home visit next Monday :flowerz: We're also booked into our training for all of May. After that we will have our referees contacted and we should be caring for a child by June/July.

It has suddenly dawned on me that we need baby and kids stuff and I have loads of things to sort out before then :)

For those wanting to foster, I strongly urge you to contact another agency. They obviously don't care too much about fostering or the children who require care. So very sad.

[MimiGrace]

good on you!!! :yelclap:

i've started looking into foster care (and had several family friend/social workers encourage me), but unfortunately you have to be 25 in SA to be elligible.
but yup, i'll start the application process in around 3.5 years so i'll be elligible once i'm old enough.


its a wonderful thing you are doing BC:hugs:

[sam's mum]

it took us a while to get through the approval process.

If you start off with respite care (an easy way to get started) then you don't need much because their regular carers will provide their clothes and everything.

we just have a portacot that we use as a cot.

I have also kept a lot of the kids clothes ready for when we started foster care, so we are pretty set on that front.

I don't know if we are ready for more than respite yet, but I am sure that we will be as time goes on.

[col26]

Breith - your experience with docs sounds very much like our experience. Do you mind if i ask what private agency you are using now?

[Happy2be3]

I would say be careful.. very very careful. My sister was a carer with her ex of 10 years.. a child they were looking after had been moved SO many times and didnt want to be moved into my sisters & ex's care so the child made up a story about my sisters ex.. he has since had to enjure years of hearings, enquiries, probing of his private life.. its been hell for them. These kids can and do make up lies sometimes and unfortunately SOMETIMES its the carers who's lives get ruined:banghead: Sad but true.

P.s Im not saying people shouldnt do foster caring, just be aware of the negatives

[BreithCuidiu]

We had our first in-home info session yesterday afternoon and it was great! Now it's time to sign and fill in a billion forms, see our GP and write life stories (I'm trying to keep it simple).

We've decided to offer Emergency Care for newborn-24 months. This is right for us at the moment. We may offer short term care in future but at this stage we need to have independent family time to focus on the four children that we have, and on ourselves.

I'm very excited and cannot wait to start training :yelclap:

[myrainbowfamily86]

hi breithCuidiu, i am a foster carer in far north QLD and i would be happy to answer any questions you can throw at me! My husband and i started the ball rolling by ringing Child Safety who booked us into training asap. It took from June 08 to Nov 08 to finish all training, paper work (piles of it), psych assessments etc. We provide emergency, respite and short term care for 0-5years old. For some strange reason we have had 80% girls and most are indigenous. The day we signed our final piece of paperwork, the placement agreement where you state what type of child/behaviours etc you can care for, i had a call 30mins later while i was still driving home asking us to provide an emergency placement for 6week old twins. I said yes but at the last minute they were placed with a family member instead. IN the following two weeks were called in regard to 30 different children. the need is huge.

[BreithCuidiu]

Paperwork is now filled in and sent. Wow! I've never seen such thorough processes. It's great. We had to undergo Working with Children checks, write our life stories (we decided to use timelines as it was easier), fill in the applications, fill ij health checks, have our older two children go through Criminal Record checks as they are over 14, fill in agreements to have our medical records checked and get a JP to certify originals and photocopies of our licenses/work identification/medicare card/credit cards/birth certs/marriage cert.

Our training is booked for all weekends in May. We've had the caseworkers visit our home. We'll now have 4x2.5 hour interviews with our family in our home. After this we'll have a our home checked by a safety inspector. Then our caseworker writes a 15 page report on our suitability which goes before a panel who decide on our approval or denial.

Apparently this will all take until about July. Stay tuned...

Jenna1: I do have a question: What should we do prior to the safety inspection?

[myrainbowfamily86]

Gosh im glad i have already done all that i remember how daunting it all seemed!
4x2.5hour sessions in home is a lot! we didn't have to do that, just all the paper work and then one psych evaluation etc. I was only 21 and my husband only 24 when we were being assessed and i was pretty sure that our age would be a problem and we wouldn't be approved - but we passed with flying colours, pheww!

In regard to the home safety check (we had to have another one as we recently moved house)
*They will want to know that your poisons and chemicals are either locked up or out of reach, hot water is below 60degrees
*you have a safety switch, fire alarms, fenced pool/spa/ponds etc, dogs are safe, *they will note any trampolines and swing sets etc (seems a bit pedantic that one! :) )
*they may want to see the room children will sleep in,
its not really anything major, just stuff that is kind of common sense for children in the house. Mine were not very formal or a big deal, you dont need to white glove clean your house or anything, it just safety stuff.

Good on you for wanted to foster, we need more good carers out there as there are some pretty dodgy ones and i figure the more good ones that sign up means the dodgy ones may just get pushed out!