Cali Darling

I’m currently almost at the end of my process with getting certified for foster care and eventually adoption. I just had my home inspection and home study done. The person doing my home inspection and home study said he has never had one go this fast. I guess it’s a little easier for me because my family is pretty small and my house is pretty new so not much to fix. After my first one, the only things I needed to get were a baby gate, emergency ladder, and a medicine box. I got all that and he came for the second and final one on Thursday and said I should be certified with their agency by the end of this month.

Getting certified with the agency is just the first step. After they write their home study and I get certified with them, they then send it off to the county for me to get certified with them and that’s where the process is kind of at a standstill. It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months for them to approve it and send it back. However, once all that is done, then I’m officially certified everywhere and can begin fostering and hopefully get a placement where the child is up for adoption.

I know it’s not likely that my first placement will be up for adoption and everyone asks me “how can you do that?” or “won’t it be hard to not get attached?” and my answer to those questions are: yes, it’s going to be hard but it’s also going to be very rewarding to know that I helped a child even if it was short term. In the field I work in (childcare for those who don’t know), I’ve been able to see children start at the daycare as 6 week olds and leave our daycare at age 3. It was amazing seeing these children grow and blossom and I did get attached but at the end of the day, they go home to their parents. In some ways, I feel like that has prepped me for what’s to come.

The person doing my home study also told me that I should do memory books for the children. They know I want an infant so documenting their journey while they are with me is important, even if it’s short term. If you think about it, most of us have baby photos and know where we came from but the children in foster care don’t always know that. If they are bounced from house to house in the first few years of their life, who is taking baby photos and saving it for them? So I think it’s a great idea that he wants me to do that. He said it didn’t need to be anything fancy and that I can just put it in a binder but being the crafty person I am, I’ll probably go all out and make a cute mini scrapbook for them.

As prepared as I am for the process to start, I still don’t know how it’s going to feel until I get my first placement. I hope that my first placement will be the adoption placement, but no one can predict that. I just know that while the child is in my care, whether it’s short term or is the child I’ll adopt, the child will be in a safe, loving home and be cared for immensely.