That's right - we are D.O.N.E. with our part of the foster licensing part! Home study - check. Fingerprints - check. Medical physicals - check. Dogs updated on all shots - check. Five letters of references - check. Nine weeks of training classes - check!
It seems like a lot, but really - it's been an easy process. Maybe that's because our licensing specialist was great?! She answered so many questions for us, and we feel as prepared as we can be for this new adventure. Our paperwork will be sent off to Springfield, and hopefully our license will be issued in May! Then we tie our phones to ourselves and wait for the first call. It could come right away, or we could wait for several months.
It's all in God's hands.... :)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Home Stretch
It's finally here - ONE more DCFS class left! Wow, I can't believe that it has almost been 9 weeks. We really have learned a lot through these classes and adjusted our expectations and perceptions. Are we fully prepared? Probably not! But that's what will make it interesting, right?!
We did finally get our finger prints done. The lady doing the finger prints obviously hates her job, but we were in and out in 45 minutes. :) We took the dogs to the vet today to get updated on all of their shots. It's so funny that they get a shot in the bum that freaks them out every time we go there, yet they are SO excited to go every time. They must have a short memory...or else we don't get them out much and anything will excite them!
This week we have the final piece of our home study. They will come take a tour of our house, make sure all the cleaning supplies are out of reach, water isn't too hot, no mysterious plants growing in the basement, etc. :) They will also measure and then tell us how many kids we can get licensed for. Most likely we will get licensed for 6, but we are pretty firm on just getting one at a time.
When we started the DCFS classes in January, I told myself that spring will be here when the classes are almost done to cheer myself up. :) And I was right - spring is here! I have a lot of respect for those people that work all day and then attend class at night - KUDOS to you, it's tough.
We did finally get our finger prints done. The lady doing the finger prints obviously hates her job, but we were in and out in 45 minutes. :) We took the dogs to the vet today to get updated on all of their shots. It's so funny that they get a shot in the bum that freaks them out every time we go there, yet they are SO excited to go every time. They must have a short memory...or else we don't get them out much and anything will excite them!
This week we have the final piece of our home study. They will come take a tour of our house, make sure all the cleaning supplies are out of reach, water isn't too hot, no mysterious plants growing in the basement, etc. :) They will also measure and then tell us how many kids we can get licensed for. Most likely we will get licensed for 6, but we are pretty firm on just getting one at a time.
When we started the DCFS classes in January, I told myself that spring will be here when the classes are almost done to cheer myself up. :) And I was right - spring is here! I have a lot of respect for those people that work all day and then attend class at night - KUDOS to you, it's tough.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
3 more weeks...
...and then we are done with our foster training classes! We've completed 6 classes...whew! The class this week was about disciplining foster kids. Basically - no spanking, no withholding food, no verbal abuse, etc. The material had good advice on how to address various issues with foster children and appropriate methods that will work. You may think "there's nothing wrong with spanking!" and "I was spanked and look how great I turned out!" I would probably agree, except for when it comes to a foster child. Spanking may be a way to discipline a child that has had a somewhat normal childhood and feels continually loved by his/her parents, however that all changes when you're dealing with a foster child that has been through a not-so-great situation in their home.
These classes are tough to sit through on a Monday evening after working all day...however, the material the past few weeks has been really good and thought provoking. I can say we have definitely learned a lot!
A few things we still need to get taken care of before our classes are over: fingerprinting (tomorrow, hopefully!), a vet visit for the dogs (get up to date with their shots), and part two of the home study (March 18th!). Sean and I both got our medical physicals in February, and we got the stamp of approval from our docs!
These classes are tough to sit through on a Monday evening after working all day...however, the material the past few weeks has been really good and thought provoking. I can say we have definitely learned a lot!
A few things we still need to get taken care of before our classes are over: fingerprinting (tomorrow, hopefully!), a vet visit for the dogs (get up to date with their shots), and part two of the home study (March 18th!). Sean and I both got our medical physicals in February, and we got the stamp of approval from our docs!
Monday, February 15, 2010
4 done....5 more to go!
Tonight we finished up our fourth class. So far we have learned about what fostering is, the fostering team, overview of human development, affects of trauma/abuse/neglect on children at a variety of ages, grieving, and loss. The classes are different than what I expected, but have been alright so far. We've heard about a lot of incredible and ridiculous situations that some kids are put through. It's really confirmed our decision to do this - we can't wait to provide a warm, loving home to a child that doesn't have one!
One thing that keeps sticking in my head is something we learned in the first or second class. Initially you think the child will be relieved and happy to leave their broken home and come into your nice, safe home. However, that is rarely the case, if ever. The child is usually resentful that they were taken from their home, and they still very much love their parents no matter how bad the situation was at home. This creates a huge adjustment to work through - we went into this thinking "wow, this will be really hard for us..." when really we should be thinking "wow, this will be really hard for the child that is placed in our home." Even though we will be requesting a younger child (newborn up to 2 years old), and they won't have as much development issues as older kids may have, it will still be hard for a baby/toddler to leave their birth parents and transition into a new home.
Sean went last week to get his medical physical and I go tomorrow. The list of to-do items is slowly getting shorter. The countdown is on....5 more weeks until we have our classes complete and paperwork ready to send to the state!
One thing that keeps sticking in my head is something we learned in the first or second class. Initially you think the child will be relieved and happy to leave their broken home and come into your nice, safe home. However, that is rarely the case, if ever. The child is usually resentful that they were taken from their home, and they still very much love their parents no matter how bad the situation was at home. This creates a huge adjustment to work through - we went into this thinking "wow, this will be really hard for us..." when really we should be thinking "wow, this will be really hard for the child that is placed in our home." Even though we will be requesting a younger child (newborn up to 2 years old), and they won't have as much development issues as older kids may have, it will still be hard for a baby/toddler to leave their birth parents and transition into a new home.
Sean went last week to get his medical physical and I go tomorrow. The list of to-do items is slowly getting shorter. The countdown is on....5 more weeks until we have our classes complete and paperwork ready to send to the state!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Finger-printing...Try again, please!
First, thank you for all of the nice comments! Sean and I are so blessed to have such a strong circle of friends to support us.
Today we went to the place where we were to get finger-printed for DCFS, only to find out that as of Feb. 1, they no longer do the finger-printing at that place. I guess maybe I should have called first - live and learn, right? We called our licensing specialist and got the scoop (and a nice apology) and we'll try again in a few weeks at the new location.
Today we went to the place where we were to get finger-printed for DCFS, only to find out that as of Feb. 1, they no longer do the finger-printing at that place. I guess maybe I should have called first - live and learn, right? We called our licensing specialist and got the scoop (and a nice apology) and we'll try again in a few weeks at the new location.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Niece & Nephew pictures
My brother-in-law wanted to surprise my sister with pictures of the kids for Christmas. I took the pictures for them, and I was pleased with how they turned out! The kids did really well - that big open room was chilly! Below are a few of my favorites.
What's new in the Schick household?
Ok, so I've been horrible about keeping up with this blog! But now, I have something very exciting to blog about! Sean and I have decided to become foster parents. Sean and I both felt very strongly about wanting to adopt somewhere down the road. Ideally, it would be after we have a child or two of our own. However that's taking a little longer than expected, so we're going forward with the adoption/foster route. We talked to a few foster parents, and we found that our county has a great need for foster parents. We prayed about it for a couple of months, and decided to start the process for becoming licensed foster parents.
To become licensed, we will take 9 classes. We meet once a week for three hours. We've got two classes done - only seven more to go! So far the class has covered basic information - how kids are placed into foster care, the challenges you can expect, etc. There are 17 people in our class - a lot more than I expected! We enjoy the people that are in our class, which is important since we'll all need to support each other as we do this.
We've also completed the first half of our home study. It was basically an interview about us - our childhoods, our families, our marriage, etc. A lot of people ask about the dogs - since they are Rottweilers, can we even have a foster child in our home? And the answer is - YES! Luckily for the dogs... :) We just need to have updated vet records for them.
Next up is getting finger-printed for DCFS - we're doing that tomorrow.
As we progress through our new journey, I'll be posting about it in this blog. My goal is to post at least weekly...we'll see if I can keep up!
To become licensed, we will take 9 classes. We meet once a week for three hours. We've got two classes done - only seven more to go! So far the class has covered basic information - how kids are placed into foster care, the challenges you can expect, etc. There are 17 people in our class - a lot more than I expected! We enjoy the people that are in our class, which is important since we'll all need to support each other as we do this.
We've also completed the first half of our home study. It was basically an interview about us - our childhoods, our families, our marriage, etc. A lot of people ask about the dogs - since they are Rottweilers, can we even have a foster child in our home? And the answer is - YES! Luckily for the dogs... :) We just need to have updated vet records for them.
Next up is getting finger-printed for DCFS - we're doing that tomorrow.
As we progress through our new journey, I'll be posting about it in this blog. My goal is to post at least weekly...we'll see if I can keep up!
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