In just three days we really dive into the foster care process! We started the process when we went to the orientation & we LOVED the trainer & their hearts for these children here in Clark County. We filled out a bit of paperwork while at orientation & then waited for their call to say that we have been pre-approved to move forward. Once we received our pre-approval we went back to the social services office & were fingerprinted for background checks. Then we waited some more. Once our background checks came back & we were cleared we signed up for a 10-week training process. That was about a month ago and our class will finally begin this Tuesday! Over the next ten weeks we will fill out gobs and gobs of paperwork. We will have doctors visits & more fingerprinting. We will have a visit from a social worker at our home where she will check every single nook and cranny. And I am sure we will have a lot of adjustments to make. Everything from water temperature, where we keep our steak knives & cleaning supplies, how our doors lock to where we keep our Tylenol & cough medicine will be checked. Are our plugs covered? Our oven have a safety latch? They will literally check EVERYTHING.
Once the ten week course is over, we will have (hopefully only) one more home study visit from the social worker to make sure any changes that needed to be made have been done. Then we wait for all the paperwork to be finished & submitted. Then we wait for a placement.
There is nothing we can say for certain about who we are welcoming in to our home. We are open to a child, boy or girl, between the ages of 0-5. We are also open to a sibling group of two. So, we may have two brothers. Or two sisters. Or one of each. One may be a newborn and one may be a kindergartner. There are endless possibilities of who they may place us with. They may give us a lot of notice & pre-placement visits or we may accept a placement and have a child home with us within hours.
There is also no guarantee that any child or children in our home will become an O'Brien. Although our ultimate goal is adoption, there are always circumstances when a child is allowed to return home. Of course, we want these children to be home with their first families. But, if that's not the case, we hope to become their family. We know, especially for our immediate families, that they did not sign up to be foster families. They don't want their hearts broken if they have to say goodbye. Neither do we. We never want to say goodbye to a child we've allowed to fill up our hearts and home. But it's a risk we are willing to take. These children need love and we have so much to give.
The next thing I know you may be asking is why are you fundraising? Well, honestly, because we are still working on paying off our first adoption fees! And also, because yes, foster care is incredibly inexpensive in comparison to domestic or international adoption, it does not come without its cost. Since we are open to two children we will need TWO more cribs. By law, we will also need two dressers. We will be expected to have toiletries and clothes and shoes for each age & gender. We will need to make sure each bed has it's own set of sheets & blankets. We will need to have enough sippy cups & bottles & utensils & plates. We need car seats for all ages and not to mention, we will have to invest in certain safety measures for our home. Some safety supplies are relatively cheap. Think, plug covers. Others can get expensive. For example, tot locks. Either way, the costs will add up! And again, we will need enough of all these things for two more children. Even if we only get one child, we need to be prepared in every way for two!
Other than that, there is not much I can say about the process. I know we may not share a lot about it in the future due to the sensitivity of the topic. But, we want to keep you in the loop. With being so far away from our family & friends this seems like the best way to go! Soooo...here is to a very interesting ten weeks & praying for more babies by Christmas!!!
