Had our walk-through last night. My mind is in a whirl!
Mar 13, 2015 11:28:28 GMT -5
Post by jwinct on Mar 13, 2015 11:28:28 GMT -5
Okay, so this is going to end up being long and rambling, so I apologize in advance!!
Last night our licensing SW came over to do DH's home study interview and to do the initial walk-through. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. We didn't really do anything special at all to prepare. She walked through all the rooms and took note of where the smoke detectors are, made sure the furnace and fuse box were unobstructed. And that's about it. I expected her to come up with a list of stuff we need to do.
It seemed way too easy, so I emailed her and asked her if there's anything that we need to do to the house before the final walk-through and this was her response:
The only thing that needs to be done is to remove anything that the child will not be able to use.
Depending on the age of the child you get, just ensure you have the outlet plugs, make sure wires are not accessible. Make sure to keep all medications and household cleaners up and away from little hands or locked up.
I emailed her back asking her to clarify what she means by removing anything the child won't be able to use. I assume she means from the bedroom because there are a couple of things we still need to move out of there, but not much. There's a daybed and a crib in there. We don't even have a dresser in there yet.
Anyway... back to last night's visit. She was super excited that we have a crib, a toddler bed and a daybed and once again expressed how much she wishes we would be a resource (foster) family, but we want to be a pre-adoptive family, not a resource family, which she knows. They actually aren't all that different, except that they would only place with a pre-adoptive family a child that they believe is not as likely to be reunified And she told us that she's going to be calling us anytime a kid comes up that she thinks would be a great fit with us, even if they don't meet all of the criteria on our adoption registration. For example, I didn't think we'd really need to prepare for a baby because all babies are technically High Legal Risk and our adoption registration form only indicates low to medium legal risk, but she said sometimes they know the family's history and even though the baby may be technically high legal risk, they might prefer to place the baby in a pre-adoptive home rather than with a resource family because the likelihood of the baby going back with its mother is low (but not impossible, of course). Then she asked us if we would consider taking emergency placements and DH was skeptical of that, but we ultimately decided yes. DH has opened up a little bit because our SW keeps reminding him that when they call us, we don't have to say yes. They'll give us all the information they know and it's up to us to make a decision. She even got him to agree on considering sibling groups (two max), but she understands it would really depend on the situation and the ages of the kids. We really only want one, but we may consider two, so we will accept any calls regarding two and just take in the information and see how we feel. ("Holy crap, four kids?!" is basically how we feel when we think about it. LOL) It's extremely flattering that she thinks so highly of us, but it's kind of scary, too! Ha!
So, my mind has been whirling this morning, trying to figure out what we should have in our house in the rare chance that we might get an emergency placement. I was thinking that we'd have plenty of time to get stuff once we find out about a placement, but that may not be the case. Thankfully we have a 24 hour CVS just a couple of miles from our house, and a 24 hour Walmart less than 10 miles away.
I am so curious to find out how quickly we'll get our first call after we're licensed. She makes it sound like we're not going to be waiting long at all, but how does she really know, you know? Our last class is April 6th and then it shouldn't be long after that until we're licensed. Squee!
Last night our licensing SW came over to do DH's home study interview and to do the initial walk-through. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. We didn't really do anything special at all to prepare. She walked through all the rooms and took note of where the smoke detectors are, made sure the furnace and fuse box were unobstructed. And that's about it. I expected her to come up with a list of stuff we need to do.
It seemed way too easy, so I emailed her and asked her if there's anything that we need to do to the house before the final walk-through and this was her response:
The only thing that needs to be done is to remove anything that the child will not be able to use.
Depending on the age of the child you get, just ensure you have the outlet plugs, make sure wires are not accessible. Make sure to keep all medications and household cleaners up and away from little hands or locked up.
I emailed her back asking her to clarify what she means by removing anything the child won't be able to use. I assume she means from the bedroom because there are a couple of things we still need to move out of there, but not much. There's a daybed and a crib in there. We don't even have a dresser in there yet.
Anyway... back to last night's visit. She was super excited that we have a crib, a toddler bed and a daybed and once again expressed how much she wishes we would be a resource (foster) family, but we want to be a pre-adoptive family, not a resource family, which she knows. They actually aren't all that different, except that they would only place with a pre-adoptive family a child that they believe is not as likely to be reunified And she told us that she's going to be calling us anytime a kid comes up that she thinks would be a great fit with us, even if they don't meet all of the criteria on our adoption registration. For example, I didn't think we'd really need to prepare for a baby because all babies are technically High Legal Risk and our adoption registration form only indicates low to medium legal risk, but she said sometimes they know the family's history and even though the baby may be technically high legal risk, they might prefer to place the baby in a pre-adoptive home rather than with a resource family because the likelihood of the baby going back with its mother is low (but not impossible, of course). Then she asked us if we would consider taking emergency placements and DH was skeptical of that, but we ultimately decided yes. DH has opened up a little bit because our SW keeps reminding him that when they call us, we don't have to say yes. They'll give us all the information they know and it's up to us to make a decision. She even got him to agree on considering sibling groups (two max), but she understands it would really depend on the situation and the ages of the kids. We really only want one, but we may consider two, so we will accept any calls regarding two and just take in the information and see how we feel. ("Holy crap, four kids?!" is basically how we feel when we think about it. LOL) It's extremely flattering that she thinks so highly of us, but it's kind of scary, too! Ha!
So, my mind has been whirling this morning, trying to figure out what we should have in our house in the rare chance that we might get an emergency placement. I was thinking that we'd have plenty of time to get stuff once we find out about a placement, but that may not be the case. Thankfully we have a 24 hour CVS just a couple of miles from our house, and a 24 hour Walmart less than 10 miles away.
I am so curious to find out how quickly we'll get our first call after we're licensed. She makes it sound like we're not going to be waiting long at all, but how does she really know, you know? Our last class is April 6th and then it shouldn't be long after that until we're licensed. Squee!
. I have no experience with foster but I think it is good to list the most open possible and then be able to say no if it's not right. I'm glad things are moving along.
