[Susan9608]

I had a patient yesterday who was removed from his mother's care, due to neglect. Mom is now in jail, and grandma is only allowed supervised visist. He's going to go into foster care.

I said to my husband last night, "Maybe we could foster him," kind of half joking, half serious. I expected to be shot down immediately, but he said, "If you want to, go ahead."

So I'm going to contact his CPS worker later today and see what I need to do to become a foster parent.

Have any of you all ever ended up fostering a patient? how did it work out?

[GoldenLove]

I haven't personally but being in peds for so long...I have wanted to take manyyyyyy of them home with me. I am a single mom but think if I had help I would have considered it at times. Let me know how it goes. Do you have children of your own at home??

[pegbord]

I did this several years ago --- when working for the county and a client's child needed placement. I was an established foster parent already and agreed to take this child. I got word from administration that this was a conflict of interest and not allowed ---- so check your policies to be sure the placement in your home would be allowable with the organization you work for.

[TazziRN]

I know someone who fostered a newborn who was abandoned in the nursery and ended up adopting the baby. The child is now about 10 years old.

I have a friend who, nearly 3 years ago was helping out in the newborn nursery. In our hospital the babies room in unless there is a medical problem. She realized after several hours that the baby had not been in with mom and asked about it. She was told the mom did not want the baby and was giving it up.

After many many hours of phone calls she and her husband had social services' blessing to arrange a private adoption with the mom. Baby will be 3 in July and is a beautiful, happy little girl.

Yes, I have mom's permission to tell this story!!

[Susan9608]

I talked with our unit social worker today; she didn't say anything about it being against any policies we have. I'll double check, though. Since we're not a long-term facility and since the child will probably be released tomorrow, I can't see any conflict of interest, but I guess that's what social workers are for, to figure those things out.

I don't have any kids of my own. We've been trying to get pregnant for almost 2 years now, but we have a fertility problem. My husband has always been so anti-adoption, so I was astonished when he said okay to the fostering. Maybe he figures that will be faster and cheaper than fertility treatment, who knows?

I'm excited. Even if it doesnt' work out with this little boy, maybe some other kiddie will come along that I fall in love with and then I'll have everything in place to hopefully take him/her right home.

[KellNY]

Training usually takes weeks or months to become certified, and you'll need at least one homestudy plus a background check. All this varies by state, but I've never heard of a state where these things weren't mandatory to some extent.

So most likely you won't be able to care for this littel guy, but it is a very important thing to do, and I hope you keep up with it.

I attended all the trainings, and they pulled out on me at the last minute because I'm a single mama and I work nights. If I worked days, it'd have been cool. One day...

Here's a foster parent message board, they can answer many of your questions.
http://fosterparents.com/phpBB2/

PS-Not all children in foster care are available for adoption. Actually, the majority aren't. The main goal of foster parenting is to provide a safe and loving environment for the child while the parent gets back on their feet and is able to be permanently reunited with their child.

[pegbord]

I know licensing can take a long time, but sometimes when urgent situation arises, dept of child services can move fairly quickly ----- there is hope! Good luck to you, I hope it works out!

[I_am_Julia]

My grandmother was a foster parent for over 30 years. I would say it worked out well for her.

Originally Posted by Susan9608

I had a patient yesterday who was removed from his mother's care, due to neglect. Mom is now in jail, and grandma is only allowed supervised visist. He's going to go into foster care.

I said to my husband last night, "Maybe we could foster him," kind of half joking, half serious. I expected to be shot down immediately, but he said, "If you want to, go ahead."

So I'm going to contact his CPS worker later today and see what I need to do to become a foster parent.

Have any of you all ever ended up fostering a patient? how did it work out?

[Susan9608]

Thanks everyone! OUr social worker said that while she doesn't know too much about it, she does know that when there is no placement and no justification for keeping a child in the hospital, they can work really fast to certify a good family rather than send a child to a group home. We'll see, I suppose. I'm ahead of the game because I won't have to take any of the first aid training.

I know we'll have to do background checks and a home study, but if we don't get this one, I'm sure there will be another one. The fact that my husband is finally okay and on board with this gives me great hope. I feel like I've waited for ever for kids!

[Cherish]

You can check out this website. It has training information and is the National Foster Parent Association site. http://www.nfpainc.org/aboutFP/stateReqs.cfm?page=2