When I was a kid, my mom hired a sweet elderly lady in our neighborhood to care for me and my sister during the daytime. Over the years, this wonderful woman kept dozens of children at her small home. She was talented at her position. I was never bored. In the mornings, I enjoyed reading a variety of books. During the afternoons, my caretaker played several educational board games with the children she kept. I learned new words, gaming strategies, and teamwork while sitting around her dining room table playing these fun games with other kids. On this blog, you will discover how to incorporate educational board games into your daycare’s schedule.
If you have completed the months-long home study and licensing process to be a foster parent, the next step in your foster parent journey is to actually have children placed in your home. If you are eager to have a foster care placement and start helping take care of children in need, there are a few things you can do to ensure children are placed in your care.
Be Respectful of the Agency or Office You Work With
Generally, foster parents either work with a state agency or with another placement organization. You are going to have contacts that you work with. Be sure to treat everyone who you encounter at the placement agency with respect. Do not be demanding and disrespectful; behaving in ways that make you hard to work with will decrease the chance that an agency will want to place a child with you, regardless of your certification status. You are building a long-term working relationship with the placement agencies that look after children in your state; build a reputation as a respectful foster parent.
Connect with Other Foster Parents
It is important to connect with other foster parents. Connecting with other foster parents will provide you with a supportive community and a community that you can share information with. You can attend agency activities for foster parents and/or join an online support group for foster parents in your area.
By building relationships with other foster parents, you may increase your chance of getting a placement. When another foster parent you know is offered a placement that they can't accept, they may pass your information on to the social worker as a prospective foster parent who would be a good match for that child.
Talk to the Supervisor
There should be someone who supervises the child placement agency that you are connected with. Call the supervisor and let them know the type of children and the number of children that you have the ability to take in and foster. The supervisor for the child placement agency should have awareness of all the cases in their office and may know which children your home would be a good placement for. Individual caseworkers generally just know about their own cases, whereas a supervisor has a bigger perspective and can help with the placement process.
Now that you have completed your training, children will eventually be placed in your care. Work to build a positive relationship with the agency that oversees child placement in your area, and let the supervisor know what age and type of children your home is ready for. Also, start to connect with other foster parents. They can be a great resource and can help connect you with children in need as well.
To learn more about the foster care licensing process, you can contact a company in your area like Kids Count Too for help.
Share22 October 2019
