Has anyone been an emergency foster parent?

Question

I live in Oregon and my husband and I want to become emergency foster parents for babies and toddlers. First I am wondering if anyone has done this and has advice for us. Second, do I have to have all the equipment (crib, diapers, etc.) needed to care for a baby before I can start fostering? Or does the state provide that, or do the kids bring their things with them.

Answer 1

I am an attorney and we were emergency foster parents five years ago, before I had my triplets. It is very hard work, very sad, but very rewarding. You deal with a lot of kids with special needs and problems. You have to be ready when they call, at any time of day or night, you supply all that is needed to care for the child. good luck

Answer 2

you must have the room set and ready even if you are not an emergency foster parents. kids are not taken on a schedule they are taken at a moments notice 2 3 am etc and they call people on the list give you the specifics.  Why the child was taken, age, etc and say can you take them you say no they move to the next person.  You don't need to have diapers you can get those yourself the next day. foster care is done  on a remibursement you have to pay then get it back on the scale they pay usually about 20.00 a day in my county less in other places.  you  have to wait a month or more to get paid so you have to be abel to pay for it when you start.  That is something the homestudy worker looks at when they come out

Answer 3

My daughter's teacher is one, you need to have everything on hand, at least the bed a few diapers maybe, and a carseat if possible.  At three in the morning a few months ago they got a call that a baby and her sister would be there shortly.  They came with nothing except the clothes on their backs, and the baby didn't even have a carseat.  So I would say maybe go to some garage sales or second hand stores and grab a few things in different sizes.  This way you should have something on hand to hold you over night.  I wish you well in this endeavor and respect all who take on this challenge.

Answer 4

My best friend is one here in canada

When I had my 4th baby we stayed with her for a bit (my spouse was away on tour- army life blech) so I got to see it firsthand

Tina (not real name) is equipped to care for 6 children, she prefers them to be school aged. She has 5 bedrooms all set up and ready 2 are for boys, 2 are for girls.. one is green for either. She has a variety of toys & clothes all ready to go at any time. She must always keep her cupboards full to the extreme as she never knows from one day to the next how many kids she'll have.

One night while I was there around 11:30 pm she received a phone call from a social worker, they were going in to apprehend 4 children and would be over in approx 30 minutes.

Those poor babies showed up, dressed in dirty gross clothes, it was pretty obvious they hadnt seen a bath in awhile. Our first concern given the time was to get them settled into bed. Then it came out they were hungry... we got them talking a little. Two of the boys had shared a muffin in the am, the other 2 hadnt eaten at all that day. We got them fed & into bed, luckily finally having full bellies they slept.

The next day was h**l. 3 of the kids were well behaved given the circumstances, one wasn't... she was 8 yrs old, yet had typical behaviour for a 3 yr old. She dumped a full pack of flour on the flour, pushed my son into a wading pool, picked on everyone, acted out in every way possible.

When the social worker came that day, we got to hear the kids background. Mom was a single mother they had found passed out drunk while the kids were throwing beer bottles at passing cars from their third story apt window.

It was a heart breaking story, I'm sorry for the long post, but I think it's important for anyone considering this to know exactly what they're getting into

PS when those 4 kids arrived, they came with nothing. no clothes, not a beloved stuffed animal...nothing at all

Answer 5

you have to supply all the needed furniture and eguipment. Although some communities have some things available for loan. Very unlikely the children will come with much more than the clothes on their back and maybe a favorite toy or stuffed animal or blanket. I would have some stuff handy because with emergency care the child may come in the middle of the night. So I would invest in a crib, bottles, diapers, assortment of misc. clothes. At least till you can get to the store the next day. Some people may not agree, but thrift stores are a wonderful place to get most of this stuff as alot of its brand new (particularily clothes for kids)

Answer 6

We're done emergency foster care twice. the first time, we got two darling little girls, ages 2 and 4. We were told that they were going to terminate parental rights and if we wanted them, they were ours. They lasted 5 days. The judge who got the case three business days later wanted to go to lunch and wouldn't hear the case. He just sent them back to the mom, who the last time they came into care, burnt the 4 year old's foot so bad she had purple toes!  My husband was home when they arrived and I stopped on the way home to get car seats.

The second time, we got a three year old boy and a four year old girl. We had them for a while, but the parents were Spanish speaking so the little boy didn't speak much English. They were taken away because the little girl had "injuries consistant with extreeme hair pulling." She also had waist-length hair and would decide, in the middle of a brushing, that she was done sitting still and take off running when I had a fist full of her hair trying to get it detangled.

The first two came with the clothes on their backs. the second two had some clothes; the parents brought some warmer clothes to one of the visits, which was good, because I got mostly summer clothes for them when I went out shopping with the voucher the county gave us.

Advice: Just love the kids, even if they act unlovable at times. They're hurting. They're away from Mom and Dad, and probably don't understand why. Don't pass judgement on the parents or the county workers because of the placement. Oh, and love the kids.

Answer 7

I don't have an answer, but there would be nothing wrong with having a "Shower", to stock you up. My friend is a teacher and when she got her first real job, another friend had a "teacher shower" for her and everyone got her teacher supplies or gift certificates.

I doubt they come with much more than a diaper bag. Most things are a 1 time expence, so ask around to see if anyone has one of those thing you might need. Anything else will be paid for by the state in the form of payment per day to be spent for the care of the child.

Good luck, hope you find some answers.