Looking into foster care?

Question

I will be 21 in november and would love to take in a foster child. I am very mature for my age and grew up in a big family. My fiance and I have a 3 bedroom home with a huge basement which could very be a play room. We already have a son and think we could take care of another child that needs a stable healthy home. Could anyone tell me information about foster care in Illinois? Thanks.

Answer 1

I am a licensed foster parent in Illinois.

The system has lots of problems.

The vast majority of kids in foster care have even more problems.

It is very disillusioning.

I would be concerned about the safety of your own child -- whom I'm guessing is a preschooler.

You can contact me for a more specific exchange of information.

Answer 2

Good for you. there are so many kids that need to be loved and nurtured. Just try to always be patient, as every child that comes into your home many not always be easy to handle because of things they have went thru. I wish there were more people like you.

Answer 3

Don't do it, being a foster family will open up the very good possibility of you losing your own child if anything ever goes wrong with the foster child.  I love how everyone automatically assumes all foster kids have problems from abuse.  More often than not, children become placed in foster care because of the death of one or both parents, domestic violence between the parents, or maybe their real parents didn't make enough money to buy the kids brand new shoes, or the kids simply lied about being abused because these days, that's what we are teaching kids in our schools to do when they get angry, report your own parents.  CPS is an all too powerful agency that's run amok.  The incentive for them is not to reunite families, but to increase headcount so their budget is bigger the following year.  The entire system needs serious reform.  The average CPS worker makes about as much money as a waitress, and they don't have much of an education.  They become biased and hold vendetta's, and most do not care about the kids at all.  Don't be a party to a criminal agency like that.

Answer 4

Sure thing!  Go to:

http://www.state.il.us/dcfs/foster/index...

and you can find out information on foster care there as well as how to get started on the journey.

We became foster parents a couple of years ago & provide emergency & respite care (short-term).  Once our kids are older & start leaving the nest, I could definitely see becoming longer-term foster parents (we have four kids, so we have a pretty full plate).

You can become foster parents on a long-term or short-term basis.  You can foster kids belonging to a certain age range.  Just let your social worker know what you're comfortable with (and be prepared to say no when a social worker calls with the 17 year old if you say you only want 5 & under).

We generally take in teens for anywhere from overnight to a week.  We love it!  We got a call on Friday to take in a three year old & it's been fun...and a lot of work.  It's an awesome way to both enrich your life and others' lives!  We view it as a ministry to the kids and the birth families.

Most states have a shortage of foster families, so I heartily encourage you to move forward with this!  Your age wouldn't be a problem in our state, so I assume that's pretty standard across the US.

Answer 5

Depending on the age of your current child (I am guessing hes young) I would hold off on taking in foster children.  Kids in the foster care system often times will need alot of attention and also may have behavior issues or be abusive to your own son.  I would suggest waiting until your son is old enough to verbally tell you if anything happens to him, just in case.  Children in fostercare often times will bring abuse with them that they dealt with in past living arrangements that can go completely undetected by you.  I would wait until hes old enough to understand what abuse is and to be able to tell you if something happens to him.

Answer 6

Here's a couple of links for you to check out, the process of becoming a foster parent is similar in most places, with some differences.

http://www.state.il.us/dcfs/foster/index... - 40k

http://www.adoption.about.com/cs/fosteri...

It sounds like you have a great environment for another child, obviously you need to think everything through, but ultimately you and your fiancee will be able to make the best decision for you and your family.  Good luck with whatever you decide, I'm getting my first foster child in about six weeks, and I can't wait!  Take care.

Answer 7

here you go

http://www.state.il.us/dcfs/foster/index...