Two question, one about ttc and the other about foster care...?

Question

1. I see several women on here who figure out when the best day to concive is, how do you go about doing that? we have our first son after two years of me not being on bc. now that we have him we only want to wait 2-3 years at the most between them and i'm not sure how this all works.

#2. How do you go about becoming a foster parent. what is expected of you? what if you can't handle a child they put into your care?

websites would be nice but also personal experiences!

thank you all so much!!!

Answer 1

1.  Get the book taking charge of your fertility.  It will tell you everything you need to know.  

2.  You need to contact you local social services and they can either license you themself or refer you to a private agency.  The process probably vaires by state but in IL they have you take some classes (9 of them 3 hours each).  THey do your home study.  FOr the home study you feel out paperwork  on various aspects of your life and parenting beliefs.  They also visit with you 3 or 4 times and check out your home.  They will do a FBI background check on the entire family.  THen you get you license after a few months of waiting.  

You are expected to take care of the child.  In IL they give you a board payment to cover the child's needs.  It varies by child but is usually $400-1500 a month. They will call you and tell you a little abou tthe child they have available and in some cases you may be able to meet the child(ren) before agreeing to foster them.  YOu can also do respite and care for children short term for other foster parents if you wish.  If you can't handle the child placed with you it is preferred you give them a 2 week notice to find another home but in an emergency situation they can remove them immediaetly.  

We had 2 foster daughters aged 4 and 6.  We met them prior to their moving in and agreed to take them.  They were able to return to their natural family.

We have also done respite care here and there for a weekend or even a couple weeks.  A few weeks ago we had a 1, 3, and 4 year odl stay with us for a week (I also have a 9 month old son!).

Answer 2

1.  Start tracking your cycles using your basel body temp (see http://parenting.ivillage.com for a free charting program that is user-friendly) and other cycle symptoms.  Basically, you are fertile when your cervical mucous is thick and sticky and a few days before your temperature spikes.  I've been tracking a couple of months.  Its very informative.

2.  I have no clue about how to become a foster parent; I am the product of multiple foster homes so I have a different perspective...Just make sure you go into it with the best intentions; I did not have any good experiences in foster care ~ I was almost better off where I was taken from, sadly.  When you can't handle it, they take the child away, which is can be really rough for the kid.  Maybe they offer training or something.  I'm not sure.  But, you are noble for wanting to help!!  :-)

Answer 3

You can tell your fertile times by charting your BBT, basal body temperature, Checking your CM, cervical mucus and by using OPK, ovulation prediction kits. You chart your BBT by taking your temperature FIRST thing in the morning and recording it. I am unsure how to use this any further as this is not a method that I am good at. You can use fertilityfriend.com to help you, all you do is enter the information and it does the calculating for you. As for CM it will look like raw egg whites when you are most fertile. You will have your period then you will be dry for a couple of days then your CM will be sticky then it will change to a creamy lotion like consistency then when you notice the egg white consistency you are most fertile. There are two types of OPKs. I like the digital ones the best. They are a little more expensive, but there is no judgement call when you have to read them. You get a smiley face when you are about to ovulate and an open circle if you are not. The two line test have two lines, one is a control line and one is a test line. The test line has to be as dark or darker than the control line for it to be a positive reading. When you get your positive reading the test is picking up a surge in you LH hormone that you get 24-36 hours prior to ovulation. I hope this helps. If you have any more questions I would be glad to help if I can you can email me.