The End is Near?

As of now, our list of things needed to finish upgrading our license is getting pretty short.  We have finished the necessary classroom hours for training and all that remains is to get fingerprinted (again), get a fire inspection of our home, and take a first aid and CPR class.

I smile when I think of taking the first aid and CPR class because for many years of our marriage, my wife was my instructor.  For more than twenty years, my wife was a Red Cross instructor for Swimming, Lifeguarding, and Water Safety Instruction, as well as for First Aid and CPR.  For a number of years after we were married, I was a certified lifeguard and so I was required to take an annual re-certification for First Aid and CPR.  It's been a few years and I know that they have changed a few things, but I am genuinely looking forward to taking it.  Our only 'problem' is that with our current schedules and our children's schedules for band and sports, we can't find a class that will work for us until min-November.

Stay tuned.

Classes... again.

Spent a good portion of the day yesterday in a training seminar to upgrade our foster care license.  Interesting stuff and great to meet new foster-parents-in-training.  Making connections is always good so that you have someone to call when you need help.  If you are unfamiliar with foster parenting, what I mean is, foster children are not like your own.  As a foster-parent, you are licensed by the state to care for these kids and if you need to go somewhere and are unable to take your kids with you (say, the hospital or to see a sick relative) you can't just drop them off at your sister's house or even at your mom's.  Responsible adults like your sister and your mom (assuming they are as responsible as you and you'd trust them) can be listed as alternative care givers under certain circumstances, but unless they get their home inspected by the social workers and have a fire inspection like you did for your house, they would have to watch your foster children in your house.

That isn't going to work all that often.

As a result, it is good to make friends with other foster parents whose homes have been inspected and certified.  Then, in a pinch, you can watch their kids or they can watch yours and, as long as the agency is properly informed (know the rules of your county or agency), you're good to go.

Another Meeting and a New Direction

    At the end of last week we met with two fine folks from Guidestone, one we had met before and the other, a supervisor, was new to us.  During our discussion we determined that the types of children and level of disability that we had specified in our original application to Belmont County were acceptable to Guidestone and they felt that they had children in their care that would fit that description.  This was important to both of us but especially to me because I didn’t want to feel pressured to take in children that were more difficult than we had planned.    With this understanding we felt that we should continue toward our re-certification with Guidestone.

    Despite our new understanding regarding the type of children that we could expect, there was one new wrinkle.  Local county agencies refer children to Guidestone when they have children that are technically “more difficult.”   Although this still fits our original description, we now will have to upgrade our foster home certification to be a “therapeutic foster home” instead of a “family foster home.”  What that means is another twenty hours of training.   

Yippee…