How to Know If Being a Foster Parent is Really for You

Knowing for certain that becoming a foster parent is really for you is not something that comes easily. It takes a great deal of looking inside yourself and then outside yourself to the rest of your family unit. When you become a foster parent, anyone else in the household is affected. You have to know it will work with everyone in the family, including your pets.

A foster parent can be described as being a substitute parent, cheerleader, teacher, comforter, manager, companion, advocate, and provider. You must maintain great understanding and patience. Your tasks will be to provide adequate care and protection of any foster children that enter your home. You will have no way of knowing what that child has been through in his/her young life already, so it is up to you to make the child feel safe.

To decide whether or not to become a foster parent, you might feel you need to know about the children who will enter your home and about their families. The truth is you may know very little or nothing.

You need to know about the agency you will be dealing with. What are their expectations of you and what are their regulations? How much input will you be allowed to have?

You will have to decide what type and age of child you will allow in your home. Your family structure will make a difference in this decision. For instance, you might not want troubled teenage boys staying in your home if you have impressionable 11 year-old girls.

You have to decide if you want to live with the limitations that the foster parent agency puts on you and your family. You will not be able to just pick up and go on vacation out of state. You may have to get permission from the agency, the parents, and/or the Court. Or, you may have to arrange to have the child placed in another foster parent home while you are away. How will that child feel if he/she is not allowed to go with you and your family on that fun vacation?

Are you prepared to attend all the caseworker visits, supervised parental visits, the multiple therapy and counseling sessions, doctor visits, court sessions and school visits to the Principal's office?