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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 licensed or certified providers for any out-of-home day care
• Children 10 years or older shall receive supervision appropriate to their age and maturity level
Some of these are very important and need clarifying, the biggest being day care. If your child’s adoption has not been finalized yet, you need to be more selective in who you choose for day care, or ask for an exception.
While a child is in foster care, you are required to use day care providers who are licensed by your state and subject to state safety and health inspections. This can be very limiting because it means you cannot use the smaller, in-home day care providers that may be a better fit for your child.
When Sammy joined our home we got an exception on this. He was in school during the day and spent an hour after school at my aunt’s house. Because she was not licensed as a day care, we had to have approval for this. It was a better placement for him because my cousin was only two years older than Sammy and they enjoyed being together.
Your worker may want to meet the care provider, which is what we did. You could possibly be required to present references from other parents that your care provider has cared for, or various other things for the worker to be confident in your child’s care provider. Be up front about the situation, you do not want to lose your license and your child for this type of violation.
Another issue is your child’s comfort level. When Hannah entered our home, we knew that her feeling safe was a big issue, so we did not use high school students to babysit. We used a young woman who had watched all my previous kids, and I knew would keep Hannah safe and make her feel comfortable. Hannah met her a couple of times before she ever came to watch Hannah for the first time.
The person who cares for your child could be an emotional trigger. Things like age, gender, looks, or voice of the care giver can set off a post traumatic stress moment in your child if they have been abused by a similar person. There is not always a way to know this ahead of time, unless you know about the abuser, so having a care provider meet your child ahead of time can be vital to making things work.
Be sure to have these conversations with your worker, both to be clear on any regulations, and to see if the worker has resources or recommendations on where you can find appropriate care.
Just had a brief question. I was planning to do an at home day care and also to adopt. Is that something that is generally not allowed? I am a single woman and was thinking that would be a great way to be at home for my kid(s) and still survive financially. Any information you could give me?
You need to check with the worker. It was listed as a “don’t” on our licensing form.
The other thing I would caution you about is that most kids in foster care have been sexually abused. Until you have more information about the child, it might not be a good idea. The child may not feel safe, depending on who the abuser was or the child may be sexually reactive and target another child.