[Amy Sharify]

Hi everyone! My name is Amy and I hope you will give me some advice.

I am a single mother of a lovely 12 year old girl adopted at the age of 4 from a post Soviet bloc country. After her adoption I became concerned about my ability to give her all of the things I wanted to, braces, college, a great school system and decided to go back to school. I returned to school and obtained my doctorate in pharmacy. Now as a pharmacist I have a great income that allows me as a single mother to provide for her as much if not more than an average working mother and father would be able to. I am at the point where I want to try and adopt again but this time through the foster care system.

Upon attending a local informational meeting regarding adoption through my current county and state I heard that this local area has the rule that if you are fostering (which all prospective adoptive children would be fostered the first six months or more when in your home until the adoption is finalized) that they cannot be babysat by family or friends, but that they would have to be licensed providers. This was a concern to me because as a pharmacist my work schedule is a challenge. Currently I work a three week rotating schedule. It goes like this:

Week 1:
Sun: Off, Mon: 7-5:30, Tues: 10-8, Wed: 10-8 Thurs: 7-5:30 Fri: Off Sat: Off

Week 2:
Sun: Off, Mon: Off, Tues Off, Wed: 7-5:30, Thurs Off, Fri: 10-8, Sat: 8-4

Week 3:
Sun: 8-4, Mon: 10-8, Tues: 7-5:30, Wed: Off, Thurs: 10-8, Fri: 7-5:30 Sat: Off

Then the whole schedule repeats again. There are three pharmacists (all women and moms) and it is not possible to change the schedule so that I would be working only morning or no weekends...it is set up like this to be fair to all.

Nonetheless, I am worried about how I can make this work if children who are in my home as fosters waiting for adoption to go through can be supervised properly.

I believe that the school before and after care would be adequately licensed and would be okay to watch them before school when I am on my way to work and after school on the days that I work until 5:30, but the days that I work until 8 pm and the Sat and Sun I work once every three weeks is what I am worried about. Can anyone who has had a similarly crazyish schedule tell me how they handled it? Thank you in advance for any and all advice.

 

[angeebaby]

Can you see if in fact that information is true? I was told the same, and found out from the agency, 6 months later, that as long as the care was less than 24 hrs, it wasn't a problem and didn't require child services approval. I will post again shortly, but there is new federal guidelines on removing these burdens that keep foster kids from leading normal lives that other kids get to experience. I will get you that info.

40 y.o. soon to be foster mama! and my wonderful girlfriend is TTC!

 

[Amy Sharify]

Yes I can email the social worker who was conducting the meeting, but she seemed to be really knowledgeable about the specifics. I can ask her what others have done that have schedules that don't abide by the typical 9 to 5 situation do. Thanks for any info you can send.

 

[angeebaby]

Hi again Amy, I was looking through your schedule, and I think you can do a combo of daycare and babysitting.

Daycare will be paid for through your state, and most of them run 6am to 6-6:30pm. So you are looking at a sitter for just a couple hours on two evenings and on Sunday. They won't reimburse your babysitting costs, but it will have to be a sitter over the age of 18.

I would ask CPS strictly if you need a couple hours of babysitting, if that is permitted. There is no way they have a policy against that. They might require fingerprinting, but if they have anything like that, it would be a quick and cheap process.

I still need to get you that new federal law info.

I just went to pay a deposit for daycare (they have one spot available and I want to make sure I get to have it since I too work fulltime), and I learned some interesting info you might find of use as well.

Turns out the federal school lunch programs apply to daycare, and they will even supply formula, baby cereal and baby food throughout the day. You just bring the empty baby bottles. They even wash them!

I know some daycare centers also provide diapers, but I was overwhelmed with info, so I forgot to ask.

Expecting my first placement sometime today. Excited

40 y.o. soon to be foster mama! and my wonderful girlfriend is TTC!

 

[PremoGirl]

Hello! I agree with you, that you should be able to use a combination of licensed daycare and babysitting. My husband and I were foster parents for about 8 years, and I had many different work schedules during that time. Here in Wisconsin, I could have friends / family watch them for a several hours at a time when I had a schedule that was not predictable. And of course, other foster families could watch them for longer periods of time. Perhaps networking with other foster families who may be interested in babysitting would be helpful. Definitely be specific about the hours in daycare and the hours with a sitter and then get clarification from your worker. I wish you the best.