A Reader Asks: How Can I Help While I Wait for a Placement?

Vol. 13, No. 1• November 2008

A Reader Asks . . .
How Can I Help While I Wait for a Placement?

If you have a question about foster care or adoption in North Carolina, please e-mail [email protected]. We’ll do our best to respond to your question either in a direct reply or in a future issue of this newsletter.

Question: My husband and I are new to fostering. We’ve finished MAPP training, completed our homestudy, and we’re licensed, but we haven’t received a placement yet. What can we do that will help us and the children in foster care while we are awaiting placement?

When you first became interested in fostering, I am sure you heard how desperate North Carolina is for licensed foster homes. While this remains true, your agency’s first priority is to find the best foster home for the child, not to find a child for your home. As a result, families sometimes have to wait a while before their home is good match for a child in care. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do in the meantime that will help you make a difference in the lives of children in foster care. Here are a few suggestions:

Strengthen Your Relationship with Your Agency
Staying in touch with your agency and worker can be important steps in maintaining a successful foster home. If you want to get a taste of fostering, offer to provide respite care. Respite care can be provided over a weekend, for a week, or sometimes over longer periods.

Talk to your worker about projects involving the children in care. Most agencies have recruiters. The recruiters have ongoing activities that they may need assistance with. They are recruiting for new foster and adoptive parents and for local partners to provide goods and services to the children. Contact your agency’s recruiter to find out about upcoming events and get involved.

As you strengthen your relationship with your agency, your agency will become even more confident that they can depend on you.

Educate Yourself
One of the most important aspects of being a foster parent is education. You started the process by completing your MAPP classes. While you are waiting for a placement, take time to learn about a subject that interests you.

Most agencies, public or private, offer ongoing training. Contact the agencies in your area to obtain a current schedule and take advantage of them. In most cases you don’t have to be licensed by the agency to attend their classes. Once you are on a mailing list or listserv you will continue to get updates about upcoming events.

Remember, each foster parent must have at least 20 hours of in-service training prior to licensure renewal.

Get Involved in Other Community Activities
There are many community agencies that need good volunteers. Some require as little as one e-mail a week. Others require a few hours a month. Listed below are a few programs that need volunteers on a regular basis. This is not a comprehensive list. There may be more programs in your area.

Big Brothers/ Big Sisters. If you can commit to spending 4 hours a month with a child ages 6-18, this program might be for you. Online: www.bbbs.org.

Orphan Foundation of America. This organization has a VMentor program that pairs volunteers with an older teen through regular e-mail contact. Contact Jane O’Leary, Director of vMentor ([email protected]).

One Church One Child. Along with your church, you can volunteer to provide support to your local DSS. E-mail [email protected].

These are all programs that affect the lives of children in foster care. By working with them, you are continuing your personal journey of making a difference in the lives of children in foster care.

Join a Foster Parent Support Group
The NC Foster and Adoptive Parents Association is a network of foster and adoptive parents with groups across the state that have meetings on at least a quarterly basis. These groups provide ongoing support and information for anyone who looks after children in foster care. If there is no group in your area, consider starting one. Once you have a placement, you will be glad you did! Can contact the Association (e-mail: [email protected]) to find a group in your area. Your social worker is also an excellent resource for these groups.

Review Your Plans
Finally, if it has been a long time (more than 6 months) since you completed the requirements for licensure and you have still not been approached by your agency for a placement, spend some time reviewing the plans you made when you first started the process and ask yourself these questions:

What am I looking for in a placement?

Are we limited in the number of children we can accept?

Are we limiting the age range of children?

Are we open to children with special needs?

Social workers need families that can accept and work with all of the children that come into care. The more ready, willing, and able you are, the more likely it is that you will have a placement sooner rather than later!

Response by Kristin Stout of the NC Kids Adoption & Foster Care Network.

Copyright � 2008 Jordan Institute for Families