Fostering to Adopt

[chongo]

Well, this didn't take long.

We got the call today at 5:20 and CPS and our agency representative dropped off an absolutely adorable 2 year old black girl with us this evening. She was asleep when they got here and woke up shortly after. We had the Disney channel on and she sat up and watched quietly until we let our two oldest come down to meet her and play. She immediately warmed up and started eating snacks, no issues with sharing and immediately started playing with our kids. Extremely proud of how my kids handled the situation. We talked a lot about how any kid who gets to come stay with us will likely be very scared and they did everything to make her feel comfortable, they handled the situation better than we could have imagined especially for only being 6 and 3. I am excited to see how are almost 2 year old daughter reacts in the morning.

She knows a good chunk of her ABC's and numbers and she is a young 2. She has warmed up to my wife and I very quickly, surprisingly quick actually. She is a very sweet little girl and has obviously had to take care of herself with some of the things we've already noticed. We're over the moon excited to have the opportunity to care for her for however long God as planned. We know there will be some tough days ahead but tonight wen't better than we could have imaged. For those who have included us in your prayers, thank you. God is awesome.

[talltexasshoote]

My wife and I have 2 children that we adopted through foster to adopt. It took 3 1/2 years and was an emotional roller coaster the whole way. Document everything (no matter how insignificant). Prepare to do most of the work yourself, your cps worker probably will be little to no help. The final outcome is amazing, but the road can be long. I will pm you my email and phone number. Please feel free to contact me at any time.

[ttechdallas]

Congratulations. We have two children, both of whom we fostered before adopting. It comes with its share of challenges and heartaches, but there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for my kids.

One of the hardest parts for us was visitation especially after you become more aware of the situation the child may have been in. But after sitting in on a couple of case reviews with the parents, you start to realize that sometimes they didn't even have a chance. It seemed like the more empathy we had for the family, the easier and less conflict there was.

Good luck and take care of that sweet baby girl. If my daughter was younger, I would round up everything we had that a 2 year old little girl could wear or play with and send it your way.

[Davoh]

Hey Chongo,

My wife and I are doing the same thing, but through Pathways. We're still in the process, on hold pending home-study, since we're about move. Another thing is that we've been asked to adopt a pair of twins from out of state(friends of the family situation), but we will likely do fostering as well.

A lot of good advice in this thread. I'm bookmarking it to come back frequently.

[Kdog]

God bless y'all for doing this, the world needs more people like y'all. My children were adopted through foster care/CPS as well. Our kids were 2 and 3 but really because of their situation they were more like 1 and 2. My only advice would be to take the time needed to bond with the child/children as a family. That might mean temporarily shutting people out who (friends and not immediate family) who might not understand what is going on. It might mean not going everywhere and doing everything that you normally do. I am sure that every situation is different through. Feel free to PM me. Good luck!

[brianlg31]

I would love to become a foster family. Keili and I are talking about it, just haven't pulled the trigger on starting the process. What does the home study consist of?

Brian

[chongo]

I would love to become a foster family. Keili and I are talking about it, just haven't pulled the trigger on starting the process. What does the home study consist of?

Brian

Brian - it's not too bad. There are certain requirements and even some goofy stuff CPS and possibly the agency you work with will require. One example is nerf guns - the nerf gun needs to be stored separately form the ammo and both need to be locked up. Dumb I know but not a big hassle. Guns and ammo must be under lock/ley and stored separately. Fire extinguishers are required, medicines need to be locked up at all times, baby proofed etc. Cannot have a trampoline, we had to take ours down and store it for now. The training isn't too bad a few nights and or weekends and your done. The make a big deal of the home study during the training but it really isn't too bad, they do ask some personal questions though.

Go for it!