Any Illinois foster parents? I have a question!

[RhianaW14]

Dh and I are looking into fostering. My 3 older children are all UTD on their vaccines. We've chosen to selectively vaccinate our newest addition, who is nearly 6 mos old. Right now the only vax's she has had is 2 rounds of: Dtap, HIB and pneumococcal. I believe these are the only vax's I will be giving to her, unless I decide at a later time to do any others, but my Ped. is in agreeance with me that most of the others are unneeded.

I know that each family member must undergo a physical. What do they do in IL for children who aren't vaccinated or who are selectively vaccinated? Will I need to give her all the other vaccines in order to foster parent?

Any info you can give, I'd appreciate. Thanks!

[lauren]

I'm sure others will be along to post, but I'm pretty certain that what everyone has said in the past is that when fostering, the state is in charge of what vaccinations the child placed with you receives. The state has custody and so makes all the decisions though the child lives with you. I hope that helps until others have time to post.

[queenjane]

In most places, you dont have to vaccinate your own kids in order to foster, although the foster children usually have to be vaccinated.

In some places you will not even be asked about the vax status of your own kids. For me, the physical form that i had to have filled out for my son had a huge section for vaxes, and the doc wrote "no vaccinations by parental choice"...not an issue.

[RhianaW14]

I wasn't asking about the foster child. My question was- MY baby is only selectively vaccinated. Does she need to have all her vaccines in order to foster.

I got some paperwork that said that all children had to be UTD on their vaccines, but then in another section it said that the actual foster child has to be UTD on their vax's unless they have religious exemption, so I am assuming its the same w/ my child??

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by RhianaW14

I wasn't asking about the foster child. My question was- MY baby is only selectively vaccinated. Does she need to have all her vaccines in order to foster.

I got some paperwork that said that all children had to be UTD on their vaccines, but then in another section it said that the actual foster child has to be UTD on their vax's unless they have religious exemption, so I am assuming its the same w/ my child??

IL only has religious or med exemption (like here in NJ... ironically, we're moving to IL). Here, selective vax is not something parents offer up because they're pretty much using the religious vax exemption--which is an all or nothing thing here. How do the schools handle this where you are? That would be a huge indicator if you can't find actual fps that know.

[RhianaW14]

I plan on h/s'ig my dd, but i asked my Dr. how he would do the vax's if she was to go to a "regular" school. He said he keeps track of what vax's they get in his office records, but on the school forms, he makes it look like they didn't receive any vaccines and slaps the religious exemption form on the paper I love my Dr. LOL My other 3 kids though, like I said, are UTD on vaccines. My 2nd youngest is almost 6, so I wasn't "against" all vaccines like I am now back then. So they are all in "regular" school and continue to get their vaccines since its too late to do the religious exemption on them. This is a new Ped. than I've used prior.

[MoonStarFalling]

You can do what you want with your own kids, it's just the foster children that they want vaxed. This is the whole reason why I'm hesitant to foster in IL. I just don't think I can take a child to get shots.

[Polliwog]

Originally Posted by MoonStarFalling

You can do what you want with your own kids, it's just the foster children that they want vaxed. This is the whole reason why I'm hesitant to foster in IL. I just don't think I can take a child to get shots.

I wouldn't that be a barrier if that's what you really want to do. It's not really a big deal. You could also foster just kids over two. They don't get that many vaxes.

[RhianaW14]

yeah, i kwym. I wanna barf when my son goes for his shots, but since he will be in 1st grade next year, I have to keep up w/ them since its too late to do the religious exemption for him. He's already in school, they have his shot record already.

I am starting "fresh" with my baby and any babies that follow. I luckily have an AWESOME Dr. who is fine with all, no, or selective vaccines. He's wonderful. Em has only had the HIB, PC and Dtap vaccines and that is all that i will get her.

I'm debating on the flu shot for my 5 yr old for next year because he gets wicked sick- wheezing and almost gets pneumonia each time.

I am OK w/ the foster kids going to get the shots. Its my job to provide care and shelter. its not my decision on whether or not they get shots. That is their parents. If we end up in a foster-adopt situation then I can be selective or just stop them.

[queenjane]

Originally Posted by Polliwog

I wouldn't that be a barrier if that's what you really want to do. It's not really a big deal. You could also foster just kids over two. They don't get that many vaxes.

It was pretty awful with my first foster (now adopted) son. He was presumed to be essentially a "preadopt" placement and there wasnt another mom in the picture that was making decisions for him. He was brand new (three weeks when he came), and i am pretty anti-vax (for my own kids, i dont care what other people do with theirs ) and it was AWFUL to take him into the doc and get shots. Just awful...my whole body seemed to rebel against it. But since he was a foster i felt i had to, and the doc assured me that "he will be fine", well he wasnt fine, he had reactions and i never took him back. Lucky for me i was able to fly under the radar, which i probably wouldnt try to do again, it was stressful!

However, with my next foster child, who was a big solid one yr old and not a teeny newborn, and who was going to likely be a very temp. placement, and who also had already had several vaxes anyway...it wasnt nearly as awful. I didnt like taking her but she did fine. The same with my current foster son. (Though i must admit i'm delaying taking him back in a for a bit, just until i can see if TPR is going to take place or not.)

It is interesting though how you can sorta set aside your own feelings about certain issues, in order to provide care for your foster child. I was sad to see that my foster sons had been circ'd (esp the baby...his mom left him at the hospital and never looked back)...but i got over it quickly. And bottlefeeding wasnt nearly as huge an issue as i thought it might be.

[MoonStarFalling]

Originally Posted by Polliwog

I wouldn't that be a barrier if that's what you really want to do. It's not really a big deal. You could also foster just kids over two. They don't get that many vaxes.

Hmm well maybe it's just a bigger deal to me. I am nervous having my children living in the same house as a freshly vaccinated child. I am really worried about a foster child having a horrible reaction on my watch like SIDS or shaken baby syndrome. I wouldn't want to go to jail and loose my own children being accused of that. Mostly I would hate for a child I was foster adopting to have a subtle long term reaction causing a disease or disability and then be dealing with that forever when I know full well that I let it happen.

I don't think those are the concerns of the OP though. RhianaW14, I'm not sure why you say it's too late to do the exemption. You can do it at any time even if he has already had shots before. Just turn the form in and stop giving shots.

[Polliwog]

I see. Well, then fostering (or most adoptions through the state) probably isn't for you.

[RhianaW14]

Originally Posted by MoonStarFalling

Hmm well maybe it's just a bigger deal to me. I am nervous having my children living in the same house as a freshly vaccinated child. I am really worried about a foster child having a horrible reaction on my watch like SIDS or shaken baby syndrome. I wouldn't want to go to jail and loose my own children being accused of that. Mostly I would hate for a child I was foster adopting to have a subtle long term reaction causing a disease or disability and then be dealing with that forever when I know full well that I let it happen.

I don't think those are the concerns of the OP though. RhianaW14, I'm not sure why you say it's too late to do the exemption. You can do it at any time even if he has already had shots before. Just turn the form in and stop giving shots.

With religious exemption, the Dr. said that they (the school, the state) sees it as you do not want anything put into your body at all. So, being that my son will be 6 and the other 2 are 10 and 8, they have had shots for years. The religious exemption wouldn't fly since they've already had shots. For religious you are "vowing" so to speak, to withold from injecting anything into the body.