When a child enters your home, you are faced with a unique situation. Finding appropriate care for your child when you need to be away. There are certain things are limited or prohibited by your license, and may need to be negotiated if you need to have the rules modified for your family. It is possible to get an exception for these.

Some of the restrictions on the foster care licensing paperwork that we filled out for Hannah’s adoption are:

• You may not combine care of foster child with in-home daycare • One parent home full time • Only... more

Thursday I picked up a child to come to my home for respite for the weekend. I wasn’t given full information about this child or she never would have entered my home. She disrupted our entire home until 2:00 AM and enough so that my husband returned her to her parents at 3:30 AM.

I am used to defiant children. That’s not a big deal to me. She also set to trying to get me angry. As she threatened to break a bottle of wine on my floor and I didn’t flinch, then threatened to break my window with the bottle of wine, I still didn’t flinch. I have been through... more

One of the things you may hear discussed is “kinship care.” What does that mean? Well, it seems to be self-explanatory. Kinship care means that the child is in the care of a relative.

The relationship with the child can vary. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins can all be caregivers for a relative minor child if they interested, appropriate and capable caregivers. This is determined by a background check from social services, along with other determining criteria.

Kinship care is not at all unusual. About one third of all children in foster care... more

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of country music. I love country artists Rodney Atkins. His songs are about real people and real life and things I can relate to. His song “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Knows You’re There) resonated with me because when it came out I was going through a horrible time with Sammy and the song talks about how you should keep on going through the bad times and come out the other side of them. One of the lines in the song is one that so many of us can relate to

“….things go from bad... more

A child entering your home has had a traumatic background in some way, that’s why they’re in foster care.

Different types of security systems can help both you and your child to feel safe in your home.

A child who has been abused in the bedroom, may have difficulty sleeping in a new environment for fear that someone will enter their room during the night. For under $10, you can give your child a sense of safety by providing a door alarm. We have used these for years, and there are several different types you can use.

The most inexpensive... more

Our church had its annual youth fundraiser this week. The youth sells pizzas (homemade) then a bunch of us volunteer and we crank out over 1300 pizzas in one day. It is an assembly line process, and one we have used for years.

This was Hannah’s first time helping with this, and she did a great job. She was easily the youngest child there, but worked hard along with other kids and adults as well. This is a fun time, along with hard work. We laugh, work and help our church’s youth.

Things like this are great ways to help our kids. Hannah had an extreme... more

There is an interesting article in the Florida Orlando Sentinel that I hadn’t thought of before, but it makes sense. I don’t know why this hadn’t crossed my train of thought.

A poor economy leads to an increase in child abuse. Many families are struggling, even those that are considered “middle class.” I know our family has had to tighten our budget and it’s been a downright horrid winter here.

Fuel prices are up, which means it costs me more to put... more

This story from Houston has me wondering about the logic behind social services some days.

A change in the fire inspection process for foster homes has some foster home deciding to close, or take in fewer children, both of which are detrimental to foster care.

The couple profiled in the story takes in medically fragile children, who are probably among the hardest to place, and now this couple has had to reduce the number of children they can take, all to avoid astronomical... more

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Part 2

Part 3

Our final set of questions will focus on the child’s behavioral and school issues, how the child feels about adoption and other miscellaneous questions.

Behavior

• What is personality and disposition... more

Part 1

Part 2

When it comes to physical and emotional health, you will have many questions about your child. Some questions can be answered. For others there may not be information available. Birth parents should fill out a family medical history, but not all parents do, and the information is only as reliable as the person filling it out.

The... more