Fostering First Placement Experience!
We (My husband and I) are currently going through the Foster to Adopt Process. Prior to starting the journey, I had only known of a few people who had gone down this same road. Their stories are all different from ours. Read on and I will tell you why!
Fostering First Placement Experience
The Foster to Adopt process is no joke! It requires a lot of steps and a lot of patience.
However, in my own opinion, it is totally worth it!
Currently, my husband and I have been foster parents for almost two years.
With that in mind, we started this adventure in hopes to adopt.
Friends of ours that have gone through the same foster to adopt program adopted their first placements and that was all three couples we knew.
Going into it. We assumed that possibility could happen but of course, it’s not certain.
Our first placement was a call in the middle of the night at 1:37 AM. It was a 2-week old baby girl.
She was absolutely precious! We were really excited to start our journey but was unsure about all of it as well. It’s a whole new experience for my entire family.
Foster to Adopt Reality
First, we had to pick “Baby Girl” up from the agency within the hour. I will be calling her “Baby Girl” and using stock photos to protect her privacy. At that time there were no caseworkers available to drop her off.
That meant we had to get our children out of bed (on a school night) to drive to an agency, that is not on the best side of town.
When we got to the agency they did not give us the correct pronunciation of her name (we didn’t figure that out until the next day).
In addition, they did not have any formula, diapers, or wipes. However, the agency did provide a couple of outfits which was nice.
Since we were unsure of the age of the child we would be taking in, we didn’t have any baby essentials. We had to stop by Walmart to pick up the formula, diapers, and wipes. It cost around $60.00.
We didn’t get home until after 3 AM and our children had to be up for school in a few hours.
If it sounds like I’m complaining I am not trying to. I just want to set the picture so you can see what experience may be like in your journey.
After that, about 12 hours later, we received a call that “Baby Girl” needed to be brought to the agency within the hour because her Grandmother was going to take her.
We brought her to the agency and a caseworker came out and said okay, thank you. She took her to the back to a room. That was it. It was so weird! We didn’t get to wait to talk with Grandma, we didn’t get to really tell her bye, it was a little unsettling.
It took about a month and we received our next placement. However, I followed up about “Baby Girl” and she was placed back into care but with her sister.
Grandma couldn’t take care of both of them so she placed them together into foster care. At the time, we could only take one placement (due to space) so they didn’t even call us.
Luckily, they were able to find a foster home that both girls could be placed in.
I still think about her from time to time and wish her and her sister all the best!
But, that was the reality of our first placement. Next, I’ll share the experience of our second placement here!
