We sent our inquiry on friday night, knowing that we wouldn’t get a reply until maybe Monday or sometime the following week. Our last weekend to make sure that we were ready for this. Yes we have doubts, we are scared, we are venturing an unknown that we have never done before.

I am freaking out to the point of thinking that USMC bootcamp was less scarier than this! My poor hubby is silently freaking out. Then we say WHY did we do it on a Friday. We should have just done it on a Monday so we could have called directly and get it over with.. No…

Well finally on Monday or Tuesday ( do not remind the actual day ) while running an errand I get the phone call! I am so nervous that I had to pull over in order to stop shaking. So here I am talking to Ms. M.

She tells me that since their orientation for the month had already past and we can do the scheduled orientation due to hubbies work they set up an office visit for us. It was so easy to do and not as scary as I thought.

I asked her a few questions:

1. Do we need to take any forms with us (NO, just our DL)
2. Will we be able to fill out the application then ( NO, first there is a background check, once that checks out then you do a fingerprint background with all federal agencies. That is when you START filling out the application.)
3. We live in a 900 sq ft apartment which is a 1 bedroom, do we still qualify? ( Yes, we just need to do the home inspection to make sure but you will be restricted on the age group you can foster.)
4. What are the age groups that we will be able to foster? ( We first need to do the orientation before we can discuss the age group.)
5. My husband travels for work sometimes and we like camping, visiting family up North Ca ( we live in South CA), will that be a problem. (it shouldn’t but we have more information on that in the orientation class.)

I couldn’t think of any other questions at the time so we set up a tentative date and I told her I will quickly confirm with my hubby. So I wasn’t able to call her back until 2 days back and we set the actual date and time. 2 1/2 weeks later our orientation class is set up.

Ms. M was really nice and said we could call with more questions if we need to.

I stopped myself so many times because I wanted to ask so many questions but I knew that she could only give me limited about since this is a process that is not only delicate but some information is needed to have or done when your in front of the rep.

Until this point I was point of contact because hubby works so he usually gets the information from me and we talk about it.

My post are short and talk about only 1 phase at a time. The reason we decided to so it this way is because if and when we have a lot of information those will be the longer post. Plus we scan for blogs that are similar and are good but most of the information is general at one point and some are detailed. We haven’t seen a blog that post the process of each step and feelings that you may have.

We are so nervous now and the waiting begins again..

This is our journey and there are many like it but this one is ours. If you have questions or suggestions please let us know! Especially suggestions!

Just remember one thing

DO NOT PANIC

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While we sit and wait there are so many emotions that go through our heads.

Mr. k takes his stress, nervousness, fears and bottles them in. While I get chatty and keep asking questions that I know we both don’t have answers too. So what do I do. Go back to the website and read everything they have.

I am so happy I did because I found out links to parenting tips and I also read the process that their agency has.

So now I am printing that process and putting it on my command board so we can check off each phase that we go through.

Here is the list that they have Brief over view Foster-adopt process

So now we are looking at the overview and know that the process is going to be very intense. We have looked into it but nothing prepares you for this list:

Getting Started:  Orientation & Application
Attend our Orientation Meeting about the Fost-Adopt Program
Initial Home Inspection scheduled
Complete the Application, Statement of Understanding, Release of Information, Criminal Record Statement, & Medical Form w/Lab Results
Return completed forms with copies of submitted fingerprint Live Scan Forms and County Clearance Documents

Step 1:  Becoming a Certified Resource & Adoptive Parent
Complete  PRE Approval training to prepare for the adoption of a child(ren).
Complete the Home Study process with an assigned social worker from HCH. (The Home Study is an in-depth report that is completed through documentation & a series of interviews:  a couple/single adult interview, individual interviews with all family members, & a Home Safety Inspection).
Your Home Study is reviewed & approved by Hannah’s Children’s Homes. 
Your Home Study is distributed to Counties for matching

Step 2:  Matching Children to be Adopted & Fost-Adopt Families
There are many ways in which the matching process occurs:
Approved Fost-Adopt Family provides Foster Care
    Family gets to know the children in their home over time
    The family expresses their interest in adopting a child placed with them
Approved Fost-Adopt Family participates in our Matching Program
    HCH attends county matching meetings, receives daily e-mail notices & monthly mailings
    HCH and Family search a state website called California Kids Connection
Approved parents are invited to appropriate matching events
   The matching process can take time & varies with the family, child(ren) & county involved.
   In-depth phone conference calls are held with all involved social workers & their supervisors
   Face-to-face presentations of the child’s information are arranged with the Fost-Adopt Family
   A series of Pre-placement visits to meet and transition a child into your home.
   Preparing everyone for the child(ren) to be moved into the fost-adopt home.

Step 3:  When Children are placed in Your Home
Hannah’s Children’s Homes works closely with your family & county social services
The first 6 months the child is in your home as a Foster Care Placement & HCH will visit weekly. 
After at least 6 months a child is legally free for adoption, Adoptive Placement papers signed.
Foster Care payments end & AAP payments begin.
Hannah’s Coordinates the Finalization Documents with the County, Court, & Attorney
The adoption is finalized in court! 

Right now we are in the Orientation and Application Process

This is our journey, there are many stories that are similiar but this one is ours. If you have any questions please ask, if you have gone through the process please give up tips!

Just remember one thing

DO NOT PANIC

After a few weeks we recieved an email with our CARRT representative.

What does this mean?

Well basically they send you more information about fostering/adopting tailored to the requirements for your county. They also send you a list of approved agencies that work with the county to help you start the process.

They answer all the questions you may have and on occasion they do send you back to.. adopt us kids website.

They also sent us PDF files of different agencies around our area that are approved by the county. The list basically has all the information of the agency to include websites, numbers, contact emails, and what type of placements, resources they have.

Most of the list we saw were Christian based, also some had requirements for example they wanted only married couples or same faith based couples as the agency.

This is where for us was frustrating, insulting and scary… See we aren’t Christian and we aren’t going to say what faith we are. Just know that we follow God and do practice a religion that is considered monotheistic.

So those agencies were not for us. The ones that only wanted married couples were also crossed off our list. We are legally married by court and faith. The way we live our lives we chose to not exclude anyone based on their marital status, sexuality status or faith. So we agreed that any organization that discriminates anyone based on status that makes no sense to us we will not go to. This narrows our list down from 8 full pages to basically 2 almost 3 pages.

There was 3 agencies that truly were open too all Faith’s, sexuality status and didn’t care if you were married or not. So from there we visited each websites and reviewed their information.

Finally we ended picking 1 agency.

Hannah’s Childrens Homes was the one for us. They have 3 offices for our county so we picked the closest one (still about 40 miles away).

Hannah’s website is small but they have everything you need to know to start off. I love their name because is is biblical but focus on what fostering/adoption is about. The caring and believing that children are blessings from God.

They even have a quote on there website to further explain why they picked Hannah:

“Like Hannah noted in the bible’s book of Samuel our company feels children are a blessing from God. Hannah’s strives to find amazing families that have the room in their heart and home to make a child feel special and loved.”

If that doesn’t warm up your heart and show you that they only care for the childrens welfare and not about social or religious rules.. So this was our first pick!

They have their inquiry form, links to resources for fostering/adopting parents. Explanation of the program, parenting tips and many other useful links that one will need.

So now the scary part… We wanted to make sure this was the one agency and to make sure that this is a journey that we could take on.

It took a few weeks and we both talked about it together, with family and friends and separately with family and friends. In the end we came to the conclusion that yes we wanted to do this.

Once the inquiry was submitted the stress, nervousness and fear kicked in..

This is our experience and it might be Similar to others but in the end it is our own journey.

Just remember one thing:

DO NOT PANIC

Once hubby and I decided we wanted to go through fostering the real work began…

Where do we go and find the information. Of course you use Google but then you have all these agencies that pop up. Some are private, others are with certain cities or counties and then you have your spam.

Filtering them out was a process and frustrating! But we finally found one. adopt us kids is a website where they not only have articles of what it means to foster but they send you information targeted on the state and county where you reside in.

There website is so informative that we spent hours on their site getting more information. We live in CA so I love the fact that they have different states with their requirements. Click here and see the requirements that are needed to foster/adopt per the state of CA.

If you reside in another state click here to pick the state you live in to see your states requirements.

See how simple this part is! Well once you have it, finding it at least for us was a bit difficult.

Well the adopt us kids is a website with general information about fostering/adoption. Once you are certified you can also register to view childrens profile that need a foster home.

Once you submit your information to adopt us kids they send you an email stating they sent your information to your state. Within days or weeks we received the email from a representative at Ca kids connection. If you choose go straight to the Ca kids connection website and you can start the process or ask more questions.

The Ca kids connection website gives you more detailed information on certifications, fees, resources to help the children (counseling), financial help etc.. This is for California only so if you are thinking of starting this process you can go straight to them with your questions and start the process.

So for general information about Foster/adoption we recommend adopt us kids. From there you can search for your state and you can submit your information and they will refer you to your state approved fostering/adopting agency to help you find an actual agency to go through.

Or

If you are in California just click here and this will take you to the Ca kids connection website which you can start the process to get certified.

We hope this helps, there are a lot of agencies and websites that you can find with information regarding foster/adoption. What helped us was these two websites to help us find out the requirements and find an agency to start the process.

Thank you for reading this post, we hope it helps you on your journey. If you have questions please ask.

This is our journey and it is similar to many others. One thing we recommend is:

DO NOT PANIC

Hi we are the K family!

Our motto is Do Not Panic! Why because we are on the journey that scares us! Yes we are going through the process in order for us to foster/adopt a child. It is such a huge step for us that it is scary.

This blog is for both of us to write down how we feel but also to let others know that it is okay to panic, to feel fear and to be unsure. We all go through this, it is normal.

Our journey started 9 years ago, we talked about adoption but we tried to have our own. Finally we decided that the normal route wasnt happening so we decided in adoption.

My hubby let’s call him Mr. Childatheart, he grew up knowing a lot of kids that were fosters. He became friends with a few and always felt like he needed to help and didnt know how. So one day he made a promise to himself. That when he could he would foster/adopt children because they need love and nurturing too.

I on the other hand never thought of fostering just adopting. I as almost every woman wants to have her own child. Being married to Mr. Childatheart I have read and researched and now believe that yes, there are more ways then 1 to become parents.

To us we would love to adopt but our primary reason for fostering is that we have an opportunity to help a child.

This blog will be about research, articles, books movies etc.. that we have read, seen, to help us with the process and better understand our roles as foster parents.

Thank you for taking your time to come to our blog, please subscribe and we hope our journey will help you better understand the fostering system.

If you questions please ask, we might not have the answers but we will do our best to answer them or give you links on where you can go to ask.

Remember

DO NOT PANIC!