Step by Step

Making progress is good. And to me, being able to put real dates on the calendar is good progress in this journey. I spoke with my licensing agent this week and got some more details on being fingerprinted and my upcoming training. I now have exact dates of when this will be happening!

I will go to be fingerprinted on Monday. There are many dates and locations available for fingerprinting, but Monday’s times allow me to miss the least amount of work. So, Monday it is! I will just take my paperwork given to me by the agency and drop by and get printed. There will be no fee to me, as my agency pays for this process.

Now, training is a little further away than expected. During my in-home orientation she told me training would begin in January. This is true, but only of the week-night classes. As I have decided to do the Saturday classes, I have to wait until February. Both the week-night and Saturday sessions will end during the same week, they just start at different times. My first training class will be on Saturday, February 9th and will continue each Saturday through March 9^th.  

After March 9^th, assuming my background check and Home Study have been completed (which it should be), I will officially be licensed and open for placements. So, for those who keep asking, “When will you get a kid?” My best answer is sometime after March 9^th! So, yes, I could have a child placed with me as early as March. But giving an exact time is impossible as there are a variety of factors that play into placing a child.

The other big thing on my mind lately is that of child care. I have found resources to use, such as the YMCA after-school program, but I would really like to be able to offer my child a more one-on-one setting - at least part of the time. Please pray that someone will volunteer or that I will seek & find the right person for this job. In foster care you can't just hire anyone or drop off your child randomly at some one's house who is willing to care for them. Any individual that will care for the child must pass a background check first. They must be approved by the agency to care for the child. So, as you can imagine, that complicates things slightly.

Please pray that I find someone who:

1. Has experience with kids, and can understand the 'special needs' that may accompany a foster child.
2. Available from 3-6pm, M-F (or at least a few days) and maybe an hour in the morning (it all depends on the school schedules).
3. Willing to submit to and pass a background check.
4. Just an overall good match for me, my home, child, and pets.

 Thanks for all your prayers! Be on the look-out for another blog post soon. I have one I started to write, but never finished. Hopefully I can finally catch up on that one!