A Snippet.

A snippet of a post from August 5, 2005 answering a question about fostercare.

*****************************************************************************

I would love to know how you and your husband got involved in adopting foster kids.

Anna, when we first started the foster care process we had to take foster/adopt classes. The classes were the same for everyone. We did not go into this to just adopt because you can get a wider range of kids if you start out fostering. Of course adoptive foster parents have more of a chance of actually getting children placed with them that are either already at the stage of TPR (Termination of Parental Rights) or very close to it. With being foster parents first we generally have to wait for TPR and even deal with the children going back to their Biological parents. We went in knowing this and deciding that if God would grant us any of these children we would take them. My mom gets a little perturbed when we tell her that another child in our home will be going up for adoption. She has told me many times that I cant adopt them all... not sure why though! :) The three girls we will be adopting came to us in the middle of trying to get TPRd. They'd been in states care for a year and a half and mom had left the state. I have one little guy right now who was taken at 6 months of age. The next 6 months of his life were spent in two-three different foster homes. Then at one year of age he came to me and has been with me ever since. He will be 2.5 in October and will have been in care for 2 years (with me for 1.5 years). Supposedly if a child has been in care for 18 months out of 22 months he is to be placed for permanancy (basically TPR or send him back) this is almost never the case as the state bends over backwards to give children back to thier bios. Understandable Im sure but if a mom cant do what the state has asked her to do after two years... well.. that should be the end of it. She obviously does not really care about getting her child back. Its a hard road but we love the children and really feel as if we are doing what God has called us to do. As far as birth order.. the classes suggest you take no children older than your oldest biological child. A lot of people only take children younger than their youngest. We did not have this problem as we had no children of our own but now we have to be a little more careful taking placements. So far the only birth order problem we have found is when we got our other two year old a few weeks ago our two year old A had many problems adjusting! He just flat did not like E and made sure he knew it by hitting, snatching, biting, pushing and yelling at him.I hope this answers your question. If I can be of any more help please let me know! That goes for anyone who has any questions about foster care. We need good Christian homes to raise up these children and at least give them a foundation.