Our annual recertification for foster parenting has to be completed in August so Daniel and I are working hard to get all the requirements done. We are planning to temporarily close our home to new placements for a couple of months after the adoption of Snow White and Brother happens on August 20th. When we open up our home again in either November or December we will officially be an "intake only" home. That's a specialized foster home that only takes emergency placements for a short period of time. Usually a few days to a few weeks. No more than 3 months.To be a regular foster home we only need 20 training hours a year. To be a specialized home we have to have 32 hours. Currently we have 16 hours. By the end of August we'll be up to 27.5 hours. We also are working on getting physicals completed for our whole family. The doctor has to fill out a form that states we're all healthy. Then there's a huge questionaire regarding our experiences over the last year and what we've learned as foster parents. Finally, we have to submit documentation of our taxes and Daniel's pay stubs to prove that we are financially able to support ourselves. That way they know we aren't trying to use foster parenting as a way to make money for our family.
Speaking of money, we just signed the adoption subsidy agreement which is going to lower the amount of assistance they give us for Snow White and Brother by about 25%. I'm just glad that they'll continue to send that since we'll be taking Snow White to about 5 different appointments per week and Brother to three. That will probably continue for the next several years at least. The cost in gas alone for our 12 passenger van is significant since I normally have to bring all the kids with me. We were very excited to complete that paperwork and also the adoption petition to the court which should be submitted by the caseworker this week. I can't wait until I can officially announce Snow White and Brother's real names on my blog and stop putting black dots on their faces!
4 comments:
I am excited for you all and excited that the black dots will be gone soon!
Me too.
Jennie
I would love to know more about your experience with Foster care. I wanted to come to your class that you held for the church but we were not able to make it.
I have been in the system with Adams county for years but they continue to loose different paperwork for me. Now that I am married, Torrey and I both would like to go through the process.
Oh, we had some interesting paperwork problems in the beginning. I've learned that we just have to be pushy and on top of everything all the time. Too many overloaded CW's lose things or leave them on someone's desk who is out of town for the month.
Post a Comment