Questions...oh the questions

I picked up the packet from the foster agency yesterday. I didn't open it until last night. Good thing I picked it up instead of waiting for Linda to mail it. There are about 15 pages of questions concerning our parents, siblings and ourselves. We each have to fill out our own questions. There are also questions about our relationship and how we feel about discipline. I answered about half of the questions last night and I will probably finish them on Friday while I'm off. There is also a application that entails a lot of personal information (ie. bank accts, credit balances, bills, income, etc). I don't think DH wants to give that information but we really don't have a choice if we want to do it. I agree with DH - what does our income have to do with caring for a child. I understand they wouldn't want us living on the street but I think we should be able to give a range like over $50,000/yr or something like that. They also ask of we have life insurance and (I think) how much! DH is going to fill the application out because I told him he has better handwritting than I do. The only thing I think we will have a problem with is the medical form. We have to have our doctor fill it out and I don't know if we have to have an actual physical or if he will just fill it out from past information. I guess I should call our doctor's office and probably call Linda's office to see what the norm is.

I didn't get to pick up the table and chairs yesterday. In fact, she didn't even email me back until this morning. But she had a good excuse - she had received some very bad news. She wants me to meet her either Friday after 4pm downtown or at her house after 6pm. I think we will try to meet her Friday downtown so it's at a public place. DH doesn't feel good about me going by myself to a strangers house. I don't blame him, crazy people out there.

Something to write about?

Well, first thing this morning I had to take our fuzzy boy child to the eye vet for his 6 month check up. He had eye surgery back in February. His pressures are fine He just has a little cloudiness behind the lens but nothing to worry about right now. The picture is him with a cooled eye mask on prior to his surgery. His eyes were all red and irritated. I remember I thought it was funny that he let me put it on him and then went right to sleep.

On the way back from the vet I called Linda at the foster care agency. Linda finally received the last reference back. She told me she was planning on calling us today. The next step is a two hour meeting which we plan on doing next Monday. Linda will have a packet ready for me to pick up tomorrow. She said there are a bunch of questions to fill out and some of them are kind of invasive. I guess I'll find out how invasive tomorrow. We also have to have a child care plan and a fire escape plan. The child care plan doesn't have to be detailed so I don't have to find a day care quite yet.

I have to tell you, I can't stay off "Craig's List"! I think I check it at least once a day. Today I bought a little table with 2 chairs for $35. I trying to arrange to pick it up tomorrow. We're really looking for a crib that converts to a toddler bed. We don't want to buy one or the other because we don't know how old of a child we will have. If anyone has a comment about how old a child usually is when they can be switched from a crib to a toddler bed please leave a comment. Any information is welcome. Both DH & I are going to be new parents from scratch. Foster parents that is and neither one of us know what is age appropriate. I can't wait until we get our first placement and I have something to write about every day!

December 23, 2008

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. I can't keep thinking about the possibility of having a child in our home next Christmas. I know we can't reflect our religious beliefs onto a foster child but I hope they believe in the joy of Christmas. DH and I have never had the opportunity to have Santa come to our house for a little one.

On another note, I called Linda yesterday to see if she received all the references back. The only one she has not received back is from one of DH friends, who has an adopted daughter. I would have thought he would have been the first to send it back. Linda said she will let me know when it arrives. She also added that our friend "Cheri" wrote the story about the baby duck on the back of the paper along with some other nice stuff. I will post the story about the duck soon. After I let DH know about the call to Linda, DH called "Sam" to ask about the paperwork. Sam said he personally took it to the post office. Hopefully it didn't get lost and it's just late because of all the holiday mail. It just seems like everything is moving so slow. I guess I'm the type of person that wants everything right now. I didn't think I was impatient but I guess I am.

So much for getting rid of the double bed and getting bunk beds. Sis is making me a quilt for our spare room that "will look wonderful" on the bed. I didn't have the heart to tell her we were planning to change the room. She's been working on the quilt since January! I guess I could always get a wall hanging quilt rack if we don't keep the bed. Time will tell.

Bike Seat

I picked up the childs bike seat today. It's in good shape. I really hope we get a placement that can ride in it. I talked to my sister today and told her that I finally told Dad about our foster care plans. He didn't really say anything. Sis said that probably because he doesn't feel positive about it. I think we will talk about it more after DH and I are certified. Well, it's getting late and I have to get up with our furry boy child. He has diabetes and we test him before breakfast and his dinner. In the picture, he's actually waiting for his feeder to start, except it's about 5:30am and he doesn't get fed until 8:30!

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

December 14, 2008

Only 11 days left 'til Christmas! I have all my shopping done which wasn't much. DH and I only bought a few things for each other. We figured we better not go over board so we can have funds left to buy for a child later on. I would like to make or buy another bed so that we have two but maybe it's still to early. I called one of the references yesterday to see if they received the paperwork. Her husband answered the phone, she was sick in bed but he was going to ask her if she received it. Then late last night, DH's good friend called to tell us that he filled out the paperwork for the foster care reference and either mailed it or is going to. I think he thought DH was home but DH started his new shift of 6p to 6a - 7 days a week. We won't see each other on the days I work. At least it's only until the end of January or possibly February. He needs to take the overtime as he can get it. It would sure help to get bills paid off before we get a placement. I bought a child bike seat, to fit on my bike, off Craig's List yesterday. I will pick it up tomorrow. I love to ride my bike and it will be nice if I can take the (future) child with me. It's a nice one, according to the picture and I got it for $10. I don't think there's a day goes by that I don't get on Craig's List.

December 8, 2008

I haven't written in a few days because nothing has really happened. Linda is probably going to send out the paper work, to our references, today.
I have been thinking about making a toddler bed. We already have a double bed in our spare room so we would have a bed for a toddler if we have side rails on it but should we have another bed just in case we get two children. The only way we would accept two children is if they are siblings. Anyway, I was thinking about making a bed. The bed would have a headboard like a picket fence. I can use posts that are pre-made for staircases (or something like that). For the pickets, I think 1"x2"s would work good. That way I could sand the sides so there would be no rough edges. For the actually bed part, I could build the sides out of 1"x6"s and MDF to hold the mattress. I would paint the whole thing white and maybe put decals of birds, butterflies, or something like that. I still want it to look like a kids bed. I had actually thought about making the whole room theme - "Noah's Ark", but maybe we are getting a little ahead of ourselves.
There is a little baby at work that I'm "in love" with. It's a little drug baby that is suppose to be discharged within the next week if all goes well with weaning. They discontinued the Morphine yesterday and they are discontinuing the other drug today. I don't feel good about the home Charlie is going to. His grandma has only visited a few times and mom is not a good example of a mother. She comes in or calls but you can tell she is still "using". Mom actually lost custody of him so grandma is the guardian. But here's the kicker; mom lives with grandma! I don't like to think about the life Charlie will have.

December 3, 2008

Well, yesterday I took some of the paperwork to Linda so she can get the reference forms sent out to the people we have chosen to be our references. I hope the people we have chosen will get the forms back soon. After Linda gets the references back, she will send out some more paperwork for us to fill out. I also gave her the varies copies of forms we had to collect (IE drivers license, SS cards, marriage license, divorce certificate, birth certificates). The only forms I was missing were the rabies vac. for the dogs. Then the next step is meeting with her for two hours. I think she said it will be like an interview. Actually we have to meet for two-two hour meetings in the near future. I also asked her what would be the best way for DH to get the first aide training. She said they will have a class in February to cover CPR and body fluid pathogens. I don't have to go through the training because I go through it working at the hospital. I just got my CPR card renewed and the fluid pathogen training is online and ongoing at the hospital so Linda said they have a form that I could just get it signed by someone at work. I can't stop thinking about having a child in our home! I hope we have a good experience. I'm really hoping for a 2 or 3 year old. Oh, one of my co-workers is going through the journey also. We talked about it a little the other day. Tom brought up the point that the agency him and his wife are going through, doesn't place violent children or fire starters. DH and I already agreed we didn't want a violent child but I had never thought about a fire starter. I added firestarter to our list of unacceptable. Linda said that was fine and that the agency will not even call us with a placement.

This is the first entry for me on this site. "If'" you are interested in the previous entries, go to http://360.yahoo.com/mickeybuddydaisey . I moved from yahoo because I kept losing my postings. I wonder if I can transfer my yahoo blog entries to blogger? I would sure hate to loss them.
Nothing has happened in the last few days. DH filled out the form to request the divorce certificate from his first marriage. The Foster agency needs it. I have to fax it this evening after work. I may try to fax it from work but it's a long distance number so I would need approval. The only time I have reservation about becoming a foster parent is early in the morning when I don't want to get up for work. I'm wondering what it will be like it get up in the middle of the night for a crying child. Or how many times I will be late to work because the child wakes up while I'm getting ready. I guess I will just plan to get up a little earlier to allow for time.

November 23, 2008

I picked up the car seat today. It's nice looking and new. I haven't tried to put it in the SUV yet. I think I will wait until after we are certified. I also made copies of our birth certificates, our marriage license and our social security cards. I kind of screwed up at work the other day, I was looking at the car seat online and MFF was seating next to me and made a comment about getting a child and the possibility of adoption. Well, it was right before shift change so there were a lot of people in the room. One of my coworkers over heard and asked my if we were getting a baby? MFF quickly jumped in and told her that we were becomming foster parents before I could even say "maybe, don't know". Everyone else started asking question all at once. I didn't go into detail. DH & I were trying to keep it on the "down low" just in case it doesn't work out. I haven't even told any of my family except my sister. I'm sure there will be lots of questions at work tomorrow.

November 21, 2008

Somehow I lost my last entry. Wednesday (two days ago), Linda came over to the house and was here for about two hours. It didn't seem like that long. We talked about all kinds of things. DH & I learned a lot and asked a lot of questions. We told Linda that we only wanted one child to start with. We don't really care about the ethnic background or gender. The next step is to get references. I think we have picked our four. Now I just have to get the names and addresses to Linda. Then we have to collect a bunch of documents. I think we have everything except DH's divorce papers from "before my time". After Linda left, I had to drive over to pick up a toy box I bought on Craigs list. It's really cute. It has Noah on one end and his Ark on the other end. I got it for $12. A little girl was selling her toys to buy her hamster a new cage. Yesterday I found a new car seat on Craigs list selling for $120. Today I offered her $90, she took $95. I'm picking it up Sunday. I just hope I'm not getting too far ahead. DH asked me today "what if we don't go through with it, what are we going to do with the stuff". I told him we would just sell it or give it away! I don't forsee us not following through. We could have a child in our house by April. Oh, Linda told us that it probably won't be a real young child (infant). I'm guessing maybe 3 or 4 years. The car seat fits 5-100 pounds.

November 12, 2008

Linda returned my call that I placed yesterday. She will be coming out next Wednesday for the home inspection. I traded my day off next week - Thursday for Wednesday. I have a lot of cleaning to do to make a good impression. Our house isn't dirty but it's cluddered so I have to get rid of stuff and find places for other stuff. We also have two dogs and a cat along with a cat, down the road, that has adopted us. So, needless to say there is hair where there shouldn't be hair! I don't know for sure what comes next. I guess I will find out next Wednesday. Oh, I bought my first item. I went into Tuesday Mornings to look around and found a little, tan, stuffed dog for $1.99. I thought it would be good to give to the first child. I also bought a book of ideas to play with a baby/child. I think it will come in handy

November 10, 2008

'Linda' called me back today. Linda is our contact at the foster agency. She answered some of our questions like when we would be taking the classes, what the next step is and how we are reimbursed for expenses. It turns out that they only have classes every six months and they just finished classes. The next set of classes are not until February or March. We could take them early through the county but there is a charge and we would still have to take extra classes for this agency. The next step is a home inspection. She will come over when it's a good time for her and us. She said part of it is measuring the bedroom, checking the smoke alarms and things like that. Before she leaves, she will give us a check list of things that will have to be done before we get certified. She also agreed with me that we should watch for a crib, a toddler bed and possibly things like a high chair. The reimbursement is actually a per diem. The per diem is paid the 10th of every month. It's approximately $35 per child for normal, reasonably adjust children, $40/child if they are in diapers and $45/child for teenage sex offenders. Like I previously stated, we only want under school aged children and I'm actually thinking about telling her we only want one or two, no more. She wants to approve us for three children but I know that would be too much. I think I will call her tomorrow to see if she can come over next Wednesday.

November 07, 2008

Up to this point I have only written about growing stuff (see past blogs) but I think I will start writing about our journey to become foster parents and what it entails. So far I have contacted a private agency and have received a packet (more like a pamphlet) of information. One of the first things we have to do is have a home visit. I tried to call our contact (we'll call her Linda) both yesterday and today but yesterday she was out of the office for training and I'm guessing it's the same today. I have a couple questions for her, like how much is reimbursable. I know daycare isn't but what about food and other everyday stuff. I have heard that some states pay a flat amount but it's hard to find out how much. We are not doing this for the money but we don't want to spend the money we have saved for retirement either. I have told her that we would prefer an under school age child of no particular race. We would prefer a single child but will be approved for up to three. Linda said they usually come "more than one". They don't split siblings up. I have checked out quite a few websites for information. A lot of people suggest we have items on hand. Like a bed, clothes, sippy cups, bottles, toys, car seat, etc. I got on Craig's list yesterday to look at what was available. I found a car seat and some other stuff. I even went to goodwill and found a baby bathtub. I did not buy anything. I think it's too early. I have read that this could be anywhere from a 4-6 week to a 6 month process. I guess it depends on how fast we complete the 20 hours of training and how quick the back ground checks and inspections go.