Have you ever "fostered" a child?

Question

Can you recieve monitary assistance for doing so?

My wife and I are considering taking in a "foster child".

Answer 1

My ex-wife and I fostered for many years. I continued fostering teen boys for 6 years after she and I broke up. Each state is different. Here in Pennsylvania, we are required to train for 250 hours, before we started.......then, ongoing trainings. Yes, there is money paid.........its room-and-board money. You dont make a profit, nobody gets rich from foster-care. Feel free to message me, and ask questions privately.

Answer 2

People don't foster in order to make a living or even a bit of extra pocket change. You get enough money to pay for their food, new clothes, school supplies, etc. It's basically room and board. You have to do a lot of training. Depending on where you live, the amount you're required to do is different. I don't know what it is where I live, but certainly within the hundreds of hours. It's certainly very rewarding, but can also be heart-wrenchingly painful (if a child is with you for a few years or even just months you and they can become very attached - this is not a permanent home and they will one day likely be removed). You need to be prepared for these situations.

I have major respect for anyone who can do it. I've thought about fostering but I know how attached I can become and I don't know if I can love a child for a few years and then just give her up. There was a big public case here recently where a family had fostered two sisters for 10 and 12 years (since birth for the younger one and since about 1 year for the older) and they were taken away and moved to another family. This was NOT because of a bad home but because fostering is not supposed to be a permanent situation. The children grew up with these peope as their parents and now were removed. There was huge community outrage, but I don't think they were ever returned.