Fostering questions

[Mable]

I have lots of fostering questions. My boyfriend and I are intersted in fostering. I am only 20 and I believe you have to be 21 to foster in FL. But can I start the process even if I'm not 21 yet. I'll be 21 in April. I've read there is training and background checks and lots of other time consuming things, do you have to be 21 to start doing these things?

A little background my boyfriend and I bought a house back in October, we have plenty of space and a spare bed room. I work from home, he is a teacher. We are not married but are in a stable relationship and have been together for over 4 years. We both work with children. He has a lot of experience working with abused/neglected children. I've worked 3 years as a nanny and have wonderful refernces, I now run an in-home daycare.

I know that they say you have to be atleast 21, but do they really let people as young as 21 foster?

As a foster parent can you only take in one child at a time?

Can you have an age limit on the children you foster? I don't know if I'd be comfortable with a teenager, considering my own age.

Any information/advice you have for me would be very appreciated! Also, I could use website recommendations too! TIA

[SimplyRochelle]

You are going to be the one to determine what age groups you are familiar with. In my state you must be married or divorced and they don't let cohabitating couples foster at all so that may be something you need to check into. My husband and I first started looking into it when we were dating and had to wait until we'd been married 2 years to even get our paperwork. I am only 22 and he is 23 and DCFS was very eager to have us as foster parents, despite my own concerns about my age. We were told that 10 years difference was best so they recommended that we didn't foster children over the age of 12.

Good luck!

[Sierra]

I got foster licensed at 22. My dw was 25. We were fostering teens at that time.

I don't know about the legalities of licensing, and when you can start the process etc., as our ages were never an issue with the state. I do know that it is important to be really, really mature and to have *excellent* boundaries if you plan to foster teens...whatever your age.

Some states have you get licensed for a specific age range, say 0-6 or 0-9, etc. Other states don't have age ranges as a part of licenses. But either way, once you are licensed, whenever you get a call about a child, you can ask questions and say yes or no to the placement. It's up to you who you care for.

Don't worry. You'll learn a lot in the licensing process and will get all these types of questions answered. I'd personally wait until April to get started if I were you, and use this time now to begin getting your house license-ready (exact regulations vary by state...call your local fostering office and don't even mention your age, just tell them you are preparing to seek a license later in the year and that you'd appreciate them mailing you a list of requirements for your house) and researching and acquiring some of the things you'll need, such as car seats.

[dogretro]

Each state (and county, for that matter) are different. Here, you do not need to be married to foster. Everyone in the house who is over the age of 18 must do background checks, physicals, and clearances.

You do get to pick the ages, sex, number of kids, and even race. You will find that different foster families have different guidelines on who they will and will not take for various reasons. Some families prefer only girls, some only babies, etc. You will find out all of the specifics once you start taking the classes. Good luck!

[MissinNYC]

I know where I live you must be either married or single to foster, you cannot be living together with someone.

Your number of kids depends on your home, really. If you have only one extra room they would probably license you for two kids, but you need to have 2 beds set up and everything.