I found your post on pinterest; my husband and are just starting the process to becomed licensed to foster and we both work fulltime. I would love to talk to you about how you juggle a full time job with fostering and any tips/suggestions!

I am strongly considering getting someone to help with general house cleaning 1x per week!

I hope these help. You never really know what you are going to be dealing with until you are in the midst of it. Having a strong support team of friends and family around is vital. Be prepared for many appointments the first couple of weeks- many things like Dr. visits may be long overdue, so there will be a lot of catching up in that area, as well as possible referrals for services, etc. Those first weeks can be so difficult! If you can have one “go-to” person to help you when you first get your placement, someone to field the requests of family/friends, that may be a good idea. And if you have anyone that would be willing to come help between supper and bedtime, that might be helpful- those hours fly by like a blur!
May God bless you as you seek to serve Him and these children! Oh, last thing, if you happen upon a good deal on a photo album or such, you might have that on hand so you can begin to build a family/home album for them from those they are away from currently. Then add in photos of their time with you.

It is difficult to know how to be prepared for different ages.

1) Join the adoption.com foster care forum. It’s a great place to hash out your issues, read others experiences, and ask advice.
2) Get your schedule trimmed down to a minimum now! You will have an amazing amount of things to do with your foster kids (home visits, doctor appointments, therapy, specialists) so you need to make room for them now.
3) Get your household routines established and working well. Maybe set up a laundry system where you wash (or the kids wash) some kids’ clothes on one day, some an another, maybe towels and bedding on another day, etc. Get a meal schedule in place and start making double meals to put some in the freezer. Get a list of people who can bring you meals when you first get a kid because you need to focus on the child only for those first few days.
4) Get a team around you. If people need to be background checked by the state in order to babysit or to pick kids up from school, then ask them to get that done now. It’s so nice to have a list of people you can call when things fall apart.
5) When dealing with the state, always be child-focused. Use words like “best interest of the child” and stress bio sibling relationships where you can. Don’t be afraid to ask your SW and CASA (GAL) to come at the same time if they both need to see the child. Or even to have two case workers for different cases come at the same time. It doesn’t always work out but it’s awesome when it does 🙂
6) Do everything you can to make this a family experience. Help your bio kids to process everything that’s happening and walk them through the foster child’s case (using appropriate language). Help your bio kids to have compassion and patience for the bio kids but don’t ever compromise on the good of your bio kids in an effort to help a foster kid. If bullying or abuse is happening against your bio kids, then that foster child needs to be moved from your home. Your kids need to see that they’re still important to you. Make sure that everyone in the family knows that secrets are not ok in your house.
7) Don’t feel bad saying NO to the state about anything! Never take a child that you don’t feel “right” about. Placement workers will always gloss over difficult behaviors or perhaps not mention them all together. Watch out for words like “no one else will take him/her.”
8) Pray and love then love and pray some more!

Sorry for the essay. I randomly ran across this blog from Pinterest. I don’t mean to say by this list that we have it all together. Instead, these are the things that I wish someone had told me when we started. This journey never happens like we think it’s going to be.