So we are now officially two months into being 'official' foster parents i.e. licensed & on the list. I realized there are a LOT of questions people have. It makes sense, logically, the average person wouldn't know much about foster care and much of what they do know is probably wrong due to a social stigma surrounding foster care and often, unfortunately, the children in foster care.
With all our vast two months of official foster parenting knowledge and our additional 5 months of wading through the application process I will see what I can answer.
How do I become a foster parent?
A great way to get started is to talk to someone(s) who are already doing it and see what their take is on it. Keep in mind there is a VAST array of ways of 'doing' foster care and everyone seems to have a different niche and experience. Next you would want to attend an orientation for one of the agencies. The 1st big question is do you want to get licensed through the county or through a private agency? There are pros and cons to both, we chose private so that is what I will base my answer on.
PRO: typically smaller case loads for the workers leading to better support
PRO: you can choose a faith based organization
CON: all children go through DHS (county) 1st and the children that they don't have homes for are then subcontracted out to an agency thus the county gets '1st dibs'
CON: if you are in an area that does not have a high demand you may wait longer
PRO: you generally know more about the children coming into care
PRO & CON: you aren't usually called for off hour/weekend placements
CON: there are certain things only the county can do so you have double the number of people to communicate with
CON: sometimes you get 'stuck' in the middle needing caseworkers to communicate or you need to figure out whom you talk to for what
What are the qualifications for becoming a foster parent?
You have to be able to pass a background check which includes no felonies for a certain number of years. You have to care and be willing to work as part of a team of people who's goal is to keep the child safe and re-unite their family.
What types of children are in foster care?
I'm going to answer this question extensively because we are in a CRISIS right now and the more I know the more I am horrified at what we are doing to our future generation. There are so few people 'stepping up' to help out and with the economy and the rise in drug use (particularly in this area meth) there are more and more families displaced.
There are nearly 600,000 kids in the USA and 25% are waiting to be adopted. Of the children waiting adoption about 40% are under 5 years of age, 35% are 6-10 years of age, and 25% are teenagers. Nationally the ethnic make up of the children are 40% black, 30% white, 15% hispanic, and 15% are 'other'.
Of those 600,000 children approximately 20,000 of them are in Michigan, of those almost 200 of them are in St. Joseph county and we have a whopping 27 licensed foster homes....if you are doing the math then you realize that means there are approximately 7.5 kids per home which is illegal (not to mention insane LOL) children are currently being carted to all sorts of outside counties and put into group homes and care facilities.
Can I get financial help from the state care to care for a foster child?
Yes! Now if you live in MI it's not a lot unfortunately but you do get paid. Michigan covers all medical related costs via medicaid, daycare costs are re-imbursed if you need daycare but only up to a certain amount per week, you receive WIC to help with formula costs or supplemental food for older kids, and you receive a reimbursement rate per day. For infants this is $14.24/day or ~$100/week and it goes up a bit for the older kids, I think up to $100 more per month. You also get a clothing allowance when children come into care and then a couple times a year. All of this being said MI underpays, a lot if you want to make sure you don't pull out of your own pocket to cover costs, depending on your lifestyle, you are going to have to be very conscientious of costs. So far we have not spent as much as we have taken in but we haven't had to buy as much since we had almost everything from Lillian.
What is respite care?
Respite care is a great service you can offer to other foster families. Basically it is extended babysitting and can range from an overnight to a couple of weeks. You can watch other people's foster children and receive the pay they would have received. This allows families to get a break, take a family vacation, deal with an emergency, etc.
What kind of training do I need to become a foster parent?
Requirements vary by state but in Michigan after you have completed all of your applications and screenings you need 12 hours of PRIDE training. PRIDE training teaches you some of the skills you need to understand the system you will be joining and gives you an overview and tools you need for what you might encounter.
Can I foster only a specific age or need child?
YES!!! You may set your specifications to meet your families needs or preferences. For instance, it is recommended to maintain birth order ie if you have a 6 year old at home then restrict your license to 5you and under. Most agencies will want you to set your criteria for: age, sex, race, and then medical, emotional, and cognitive issues. So, for instance our preferences were 0-3 years of age, any race, with mild medical, emotional/social, cognitive impairments but we let them know that on the medical side of things we were well versed in things like asthma, allergies, and diabetes and did not consider those to be a big deal. They will also ask you about certain 'hot button' issues like sexual assault.
Can people on welfare become foster parents?
Yes! It is commonly believed that you need to be have plenty of money (or people think you are doing it for the money, seems to be one extreme or the other) and stay at home, this is not true. You can work full time outside of the home and you can be receiving government assistance yourself. You do however have to be able to show that you can support your household without the money that you are 'making' HA off the reimbursements. Our agency said they need to see that they would not be jeopardizing your entire house if you didn't receive your check for the month.
May I take a foster child in my home and then adopt him or her?
Maybe. Foster parents are not the same as adoptive parents. If you are going straight into adoption that means the rights of that parent have already been relinquished (they signed away the child) of they have been terminated (the court has removed their rights to parent this child) and that child is now 'open' for adoption. With fostering the child has been removed from the home for any myriad of reasons and the GOAL is to get them back into their home once the problems have been resolved; this is called re-unification and is very rarely not the goal. As a foster parent you need to be able to support that (or sometimes just grin, bite your tongue, and bare it).
If the child cannot be returned home then the courts will terminate rights, this normally takes a year or more and then this child is eligible for adoption. The way it is SUPPOSED to work is that when the children are removed if there is a relative that is willing and able to care for the child that they be placed in that home, this is called kinship care. If no suitable home is available then they go into foster care. The preference for adoption is kinship first, foster parents second, open adoption 3rd however there are cases where you have been the childs foster parents and should be first choice and then a family member 'shows up' and wants to adopt the child. Whether the judge rules for the foster parents or the extended family depends on the length of time in care and the age of the child....and truly the judge and the circumstances.
Is a child's background available?
Sometimes. If the DHS/CPS agency has been working with the family to try and provide services for the family to improve and to maintain the family then there may be extensive history on the child or a child may be moved from a home into yours and you would also get information in that case. However, in the majority of cases there is very little history available and you will be lucky to get more than the age, gender, race, and any outstanding red flags (health, cognitive, emotional issues).
What happens after a child is placed in a foster home?
There is generally a pre-trial or 24 hour hearing to determine if there is adequate evidence to support the removal of the child; at this hearing the child is made a temporary ward of the court.
Next is adjudication where charges and the case is reviewed by all parties. Parents can either admit to the documentation or ask for a trial.
There are supposed to be review hearings every 3 months to check on the status of the case.
Children are supposed to have a permanency plan in place at one year so either they are going back to their families or the court is moving forward with termination of parental rights; there are many many exceptions to this unfortunately.
