Becoming Foster Parents (Again)
I’m excited to be bouncing back to the topic of foster and adoptive parenting today. This post has been a long time coming!
For those who were not aware, both of our sons were adopted from foster care. Parenting these boys has been the craziest and most amazing adventure in our lives (and our adventures have been many, if I do say so myself).
Here’s a post about why we decided to foster.
And here’s everything you wanted to know – but were afraid to ask – about that whole experience.
Our Past Experience as Foster Parents
A short summary of our foster-adoption story is as follows:
We got our foster license in the spring of 2015. Our first foster child was our now-teenager, C, who came home right after his 9th birthday that summer. We purposely chose to have our home open to older boys first, because that’s where the need is the highest.
A year or so later, we decided to open our home for infants. We fostered an 18-month old boy and a newborn baby girl, who both went home to relatives.
In the summer of 2017, on C’s birthday while we were out for his birthday dinner, we got a call for a newborn baby boy… who stayed. We adopted Baby J exactly 1 year later.
Then, having not left the country in over a year due to foster-parenting regulations, we paused our license, got the boys’ passports, and resumed traveling with a vengeance.
Our Future as Foster Parents
Last year, despite the crapfest that was 2020, we felt like our life had stabilized enough to re-open our foster license. We decided to stick with ages 0-2 since we have an extra crib, have a great local daycare, and are sort of entrenched in Little Kid Mode anyway with J.
So we called our licensing worker, took the required classes, turned in all the required documents proving that we’re financially solvent and competent adults, did the interviews and doctors’ visits, had our home inspected… and now we’re just waiting to hear back from the state that we’ve been approved.
When we tell people we’re re-opening our foster license, the question we get asked the most is: “Do you want to adopt again?” It’s a great question, and a loaded one.
The short answer is yes, if or when the right kid comes along. We’re honestly not thinking quite that far ahead yet, as most cases with small children in foster care take over a year to go to adoption, if they ever go that way at all.
The follow-up question tends to be: “How soon will you have a new kid in your house?”
We hope to be approved by the state in 2-3 weeks. After that, there’s really no way of knowing how often we’ll get calls from DCS needing a home for a child.
In closing: Thanks so much to everyone who has been enthusiastic and supportive about our foster and adoption journey, to those who have laughed with us during the funny moments and those who have been our emotional support people through the rough ones. We feel very lucky to be doing this with such a strong community around us.
Got questions about foster care or adoption that I didn’t answer here? Feel free to ask them in the comments or email me via the “contact” page on this site.