To enter the world of fostering a child you must...

• Sit through hours of classes about medications, behavior management, shaken baby, SIDS, first aid, and medical consent laws
  
• Get CPR certified for both adults and children


• Submit verification of homeowners insurance and car insurance


• Submit a floor plan of your house with dimensions of every room, where your foster child will sleep, and what the fire escape routes are from everywhere in the home


• Submit pet vaccination records


• Submit proof of income


• Submit a financial statement/budget


• Provide proof that you have a doctor and a dentist that will accept your foster child on medicaid


• List every school your foster child will attend from elementary thru highschool and the principals names and phone numbers


• All family members must submit a copy of a drivers license, birth certificate, and social security card


• All family members must have a TB test performed


• Have your driving record reviewed


• Get a criminal background check


• Get an FBI check


• Submit photos of your home (front and back from every angle, the yard from different angles and your fences)


• Submit photos of your pets


• Submit photos of the foster childs room


• Submit photos of all family members


• Have a fire inspection and a health inspection done on your home


• Have a home study performed where your home is evaluated inside and out and all family members are evaluated and interviewed both as a whole and individually (a several hour process)

And that was all for the second time around. Yes, the list was longer the first time. And this is just to get started. After being licensed you must continue your education taking 30 hours of instruction per person per year and continually submitting new documentation for anything previously submitted that has an expiration date (ie-insurance policies, drivers licenses, etc).

On June 6, 2007 we contacted our agency to let them know we were ready to reenter the world of foster parenting and it was then that the process began to check off items from the list above. It's been just over 2 months since then and we complete our checklist on August 14 with a home study at 3:00 pm. Our coordinator told us she will shoot to have us licensed by Aug 28th. In conclusion...the process isn't as bad as it looks and I AM SO EXCITED!

I ask that you join with me in prayer that God would repeat an unrepeatable miracle. This photo below is the first picture ever taken of Justine. She had just been brought to us and was 10 days old. Not one person I've met in "foster world" has had such an experience that they were able to adopt their first and only placement and never have to endure the emotional roller coaster of weekly family visits and the "what if's" of losing the child. God is big enough to deliver such a miracle to our family again. He knows who "baby bubba" is as Justine calls him and we pray for him daily. Please remember to join me in prayer as well.