Foster care and business trips

[Rogue]

my work wants me to go over seas for 2 non consecutive weeks every 6 months or so.nthis is not a requirement for my job but something extra theyve offered me.  I told them I couldn't until my foster care application process was through but that I would talk it over with my SW.

do you think it's a good idea to go on business trips if we had a foster?

[gnomesweetgnome]

I think the only answer is "it depends". There's no way to know ahead of time 1) if you'll have a foster kid when you're traveling, 2) how that kid will handle separation from a primary caregiver after trauma, and I'm sure there are more factors than that. The way I see it is, business travel is a part of life, and a learning opportunity for everyone involved, including the foster kids. It may make things difficult for them, but they will learn and grow.

[twocents6708]

I wouldn't rule it out. It depends on if you have placements and how they handle the separation. I listen to a podcast called Foster Parenting Podcast. They talk about the foster mo traveling when they had their first long term placements and it was tough on all of them but they survived with foster dad's flexible schedule to stay with the kids and support from their network of family and friends.

[jwill]

Well, this is coming from someone who is currently on a business trip and has 3 foster children and one bio daughter at home but here are the things I would consider. Note that I almost never travel for work really but my husband is gone a bit more because he is in the army reserves.

1. Will your husband be able to handle things solo? Including if someone were to get sick etc

2. You could always just not accept children for some period of time that way you could be there during the initial adjustment.

3. What age children are you fostering? Older children could understand that you were leaving for a few days, talk on he phone etc.

4. Overall fostering makes it almost impossible to plan for anything but I try to just take things as they come and not alter plans too much for what could be

5. Respite could also be an option depending on the circumstances but not that often

I don't like being away from home so I would not do it but if it is something that you want to do I wouldn't let fostering stop me