I have a goal to pay off my house before i become fully invested as a foster parent. I have many reasons for wanting to do this
#1 I would LOVE to be able to drop down to a one income family so i can stay home with not only my own children but also any foster children that we are blessed with. I feel most
children in the system have been abandoned, or not been given the attention they NEED. As a foster parent i want to show the children what family is and what childhood can be like. I worry that one of our biggest problems in society is that children grow up to fast or with out the proper guidance and then grow
to teach or not teach the same things to their children. I want to be a good example to the children that i have in my own and teach them that they can change the cyle,  and they can have a successful family. 
 #2 i don't ever want the children we foster to think we are only doing it for the money. I
read so often that children in the system think their foster parents were only in it for the money. I don't ever want the children to think that, or to think they are only worth a paycheck.

I have a tough goal to pay down my house, which is our largest expense, and to do it fast! I know most people are also interested in cutting back expenses, or to find ways to save
money so i figure i will share with you all the tips and tricks that we try, we find successful and we fail at :) Hopefully it will help me be a little more accountable!  Please feel free to share your goals and i can help you be accountable as well. We can push each other :) 

    First of two orientations is complete. My next orientation will be next month(as long as i can get off work). They did mention that If i was not able to go to the next meeting, if need be, they could go through all the info with me one-on-one, so that would be an option to. 

    The next orientation they will hit on a lot more of the specifics. One thing that they
did mention was for those who are starting out to try respite care first. Respite care is when you have the children in your home mostly for just 1 or 2 days, mostly weekends. This gives the other foster parents, or the real parents a break and a chance to recharge. Something i did not know was sometimes respite care is required. I don't know how often it is required but an example they gave was if the child has behavioral issues they will require the care givers to use respite care so many days each month. 

    I have a feeling i will learn a lot more during the 2nd orientation. Most the information they had gone over was information i had already read about when looking on my county's website. 

     So now that i have gone over the technical side of things... I will tell you that i am terrified! Before it seemed so far away now it feels so real. I have so many thought running through my head...
    What type of child will i have?
    Why will i have this child?
    How many children will there be?
    Will i have to communicate with the parents? Will the parents be cooperative?
    How long will they stay with us?
    Will they like us?
    Will we get attached to them?
    Can we handle them?
    Will we be a good foster family???
My mind continues to race with questions! I am not normally a worrier but when it comes to someone elses life and also my childs life i cant help but worry. I know everything happens for a reason, and i know i have started this process for a reason.... now i just have to wait for got to out the right person in the right place!

Once again I have been searching online for more information on foster care.... I am starting to think this blog may be helpful for ME anytime i may get discouraged in the future, i can just read a few of my posts and remember the strong passion i have for the children in the foster system..... Anyways, I
came across this form.  This is a form to document the items a child has when they first come to your home and then again when they move out of your home.... do you see this form is only 1 page? could you fill this 1 page form out for your biological child? I know i couldn't, 1 page wouldn't even be enough for all the babies she sleeps with at night.
This form right here is a big reminder to me on how children in our community are being raised..... Children who will grow to be adults in our community. This is why we need to step up and be a better "village" for those children in our community that may need our help. I am not quite sure how to build this village yet, but stay tuned i will figure it out!

I am so excited for my 1st of two orientations that is tomorrow night! I really have no idea what to expect but I am assuming I will receive an abundance of information that is meant to inform me of all the positives and negatives that will help me decide if I am up for the task. At this point I cant imagine hearing anything that would change my mind about becoming a foster parent but I am ready to get started and start learning everything that goes into this and that is required from me. I will keep you all posted!  

    I don’t know why I do this to myself... I just spent the last few hours reading different testimonials of foster children on this website http://www.fosterclub.com/  I haven’t had a chance to discover exactly what the website is all about just yet (I am to busy reading all the different stories of some amazing young adults) But I am even more inspired and excited than ever before! 
 
    You may ask why I would be interested in bringing strangers into my home?? Let me tell you a little about that :) 

    As a child we might have been better off in a foster home (I hope my mom is not reading this). There was lost of abuse, mostly mental but also some physical and a whole lot of neglect. I was the oldest of 4 and was sexually molested by at least 4 people. I don’t have very many memories of the incidences, I only have one memory from each predator so I am not sure if my memories are the only times it happened or if I blocked out all the other times. Frankly I am very ok with the small amount of memories that I do have. Most of the predators that molested me were actually relatives of my day care providers.
I feel that if a better job of screening was done by my parents this may have been prevented... or maybe not so many..... I don’t tell you this for sympathy, I tell you this because I feel I have some experiences that may help others relate to me, to be able to open up to me and who may be able to rely on me to help them. I don’t know all of the statistics (as of yet) but I do know that sexual abuse is high in children who are in the foster system.

    Not only do I have experience with being a victim of sexual abuse but I also have lots of history with drug and alcohol abuse, not with myself but with family members. My Dad always had a problem with drugs and alcohol; from as far back as I can remember. And you know the statistics of a girl that then dates guys just like her father... Yep that was me! So yes I found myself dating guys who had alcohol and drug problems. I never once got in a relationship knowing they had current issues, one time I knew he was in recovery and the 2nd I was completely blind sided by the fact that he was a drug user.... I was young when I 1st started dating them.... I still had a lot to learn but believe me when I say I learned very fast that this was not the path I wanted to follow. 
 
    I was also a child who grew up fast; at the age of 7 I started raising my 3 younger sisters and brother. My brother 6 months of age who was the youngest of my siblings I cooked, I cleaned and I made sure they were taken care of. My brother actually called me mom; I am who he knew as a caregiver to him. Again I am not telling you all this for pity I only tell you this so you can have a better understanding of why I have such a passion to help other children who may have been in similar situations. 

    I strongly believe that children can excel, if they feel loved and or have proper guidance. I want to be that guidance for those who need it. I feel I have so much to give and that I have an abundance amount of empathy without being sympathetic. I refuse to be an enabler but I will support good behavior and lead them in the right direction when ever they want it. I so look forward to beating the statistics and being a safe home and being a supportive family for children I would be so blessed to have in our home!

I was talking with a worker from human services today. We were talking about the amount of children who were in the system. Even with me working in law enforcement it doesn't seem to me that we have that many children in need in our area. I mentioned to her my concern of no children who will need a home when we finally make it through the process and are ready to open our home to a child. She reassured me that that would not be a problem and that there was a significant need for foster families and an overwhelming amount of children in the system. I live in a smaller county.... how can we have this many children who don't have a safe place to go, to sleep, to learn, to grow?!?

This makes me sick just thinking about it. I wish there was a way to rush the
process so i can jump in and start helping!!

Only a few more days till i can hopefully attend my 1st orientation. That's the 1 st step! Now keep your fingers crossed that i can get off work to attend :)