Second Of Eight

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this in a prior post, but about 4 years ago I had a pretty amazing visiting teaching companion that was only recently divorced. As she told about her experience she said a lot of her acquaintances would just stare at her. She knew they had questions but they just talked behind her back wondering about it rather than talk to her about what was really going on. “Just ask.” She said it would make things more comfortable. So I’ve found its better just to ask people when I wonder about something.

The Orem building where we take our classes

Foster Class #2 is Utah Licensing Rules / Medical & CPR / DCFS Guidelines. Pretty exciting title I know. This class felt like a lot of book work. We reviewed vocabulary, documents and legal procedures. We were also required to read the entire chapter 2 from our books and sign it off. It took Kurt and I about 4.5 hours outside of class to finally accomplish that task.

Rather than bore you with everything we reviewed I’m going to ask the questions for you and answer them with what I know.

Q1. What’s the process?  Ok so we met with a foster care recruiter who came to our home to answer questions and give us the low down. When she saw we were ready to move forward she gave us a schedule of pre-training classes (8 classes total) that run each month. A packet of paper work is given but can be turned in and filed before all classes have been taken. We both had to get a background check. After graduating from “school” two in home studies are done. One on the safety of the home and one is an interview of all adults 18 and older living in the home. When you’ve passed all this you wait for the phone call.

Q2. Can you decide what age you want? Yep. You let DCFS know what is comfortable for you. Kurt and I decided that we could probably take up to age 6, but are also flexible for sibling groups.

Q3. How many children can you get at a time? As many as you have the room for. DCFS requires a certain amount of space per foster child so if you have the space you can take the child. Kurt and I will just be looking at one or two for right now. We have one extra bedroom with enough space for up to two.  

Q4. How long do they live with you? The amount of time is different depending on the needs of the birth parent and child. The judge will usually give the parents 12-15 months to complete what they need to do (job, home, therapy) to gain custody of their child again.

Q5. Will you be able to adopt your foster children? Well after the 12-15 month period if the parents are not progressing or have not done what they are required to do, the judge can then relinquish their rights. As foster parents we would be given the opportunity to then adopt these children. DCFS would prefer the children stay in the home they have lived in to make it easier on the children.

Q6. Do you get paid or receive some kind of stipend? The nice thing about working with the government is funding they make possible to care for the children under their care. In our case $15 per day would be given per child. $41 per month of that money is required for purchasing new clothing for each foster child. Foster children are also covered under Medicaid until they return to their birth parents or turn 18.

Hopefully this answers most of your questions. I figure any question asked sincerely cannot be taken in offense.  

How will you know if what I choose is right, 

if you don’t understand the struggles I may fight?

How can you judge if what you hear is true, 

if you don’t seek me out and conversation’s few?

Why must you whisper and point fingers as I pass? 

You cannot know me unless, my friend, you ask. 

–Desirée Johnson