Getting ready for foster children is quite the process! Here are 5 things we've done to get ourselves ready for our first placement(s).
Hey, y'all! Guess what? We're graduating from our Foster Parenting classes tomorrow! I am so excited! We should have our licensing completed and our first placement in about a month.
As I mentioned in my last post, we've been going through PRIDE Classes (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education). PRIDE is a program used to educate and prepare families for taking in a foster child or foster children. These courses are offered in about half of the US States and are one of the preliminary steps towards licensing.
Aside from these classes, we've had to do a few other things in preparation for our foster children.
1. Get CPR and First Aid Certified
2. Learn how to use an EPIpen
3. Perform a Radon test
4. Tell our family and friends.
5. Begin preparing the home.
As part of our licensing packet, we had to turn in several different references. Each our HR departments received references questionnaires so we had to let our bosses know about your upcoming adventure. We also had to have 2 neighbors give references as well as 3 friends. They were asked random questions ranging from our roles in the household to whether or not there were any concerns over drugs and alcohol in our household.
Some of our classmates mentioned that they got some backlash from their friends and family about becoming foster parents. I can tell you that we have received nothing but support. Our friends and family have been so supportive and have offered to help us in any way they can.
My parents gave us one of the cribs they had at their house for my nieces. They also gave us a bunch of clothing and baby necessities. Since we're signing up to take on ages 0-5 there's such a wide range of the things we may need. We honestly don't know what we need until we have someone at our doorstep.
My brothers and their significant others have also offered us whatever we may need from their stash of kid stuff. It feels so great knowing that we are going into all of this with our family and friends on our side.
We have also started prepping our home. We were told not to really do anything until after our next home visit, but wanted to get a little bit of a headstart on some of the things that we knew had to be done. We did the mandatory Radon test and bought a lock box for our prescription pills. We also installed a lock on one of the hall closets so we could store additional medication and potentially dangerous chemicals out of harm's way.
On Tuesday we have our next home visit where they will give us some more information. It'll be interesting because we'll have our 2 dogs and 2 cats in addition to the two dogs we are babysitting and my niece. It'll be a party! I'm sure it'll be fine... ;) How bad could it be?
