Where do I even begin? I hear this question quite a lot. I want to foster but where do I start? So… let’s start there, with where to begin. When we first decided to foster we only really had one choice in our journey with fostering. When we were still in the Air Force and stationed in Georgia back in 2008 there was only one choice and it was through the Department of Family and Protective services. Fast forward to 2021 and the choice here in Texas is only through a private agency. There are tons of agencies to go through. People ask: how did you decide what agency to go with? The short answer is that we prayed through the choices. We asked God to lead us to the right agency. Through our research we prayed about each agency that we researched and what they brought to the table. It also helped that at the time I worked for CPS which meant that I dealt with many agencies and I had my preferences through work relationships. Here are some things to look for when researching an agency:
- Make sure they align with your values. We wanted an agency that closely followed our religious beliefs. Having an agency that supports your values is key. You work very closely with these agencies throughout the process and you want to make sure that you are like minded.
- What is the agency’s mission statement? Are they focused on supporting families and the children in their home? Support is very important. Believe me you will need it. Fostering is hard but worth it! Having support from your agency is key. Are they readily available to you and do they respond in a timely manner?
- What trainings do they offer? Trainings are very important to the care of the children in your home. The children that enter your home have endured trauma and you need the right training to be prepared for these children. How many hours do they require you to have? Too many hours can be overwhelming and too little is not helpful. Our agency requires 20 hours a year for a basic kid. (You may want to know what that means and I will explain that in a later blog) Most of our hours that we are required to have we get at our annual foster parent meeting once a year.
- What are the demographics of the children being placed? Do they place older kids only, or place just infants, children with medical needs, children that are moderate and above? These are important questions to ask. You need an agency that will place children with you that you are equipped to care for.
- How many children are placed through that agency a month? If they only place a handful of children a month you may be waiting quite a long time. This also may depend on your parameters that you have set with your agency in regards to age, race, behavior, and such of the child.
- Another good question would be how long has the agency been around? What is the experience of the staff? I know with our agency many of the caseworkers had been with the state and they knew how things worked. This is also a good thing because they still may have contacts within the department that can help when information about a child is needed.
- What is the agency’s reputation? Ask around and see what others think. You can join several foster groups through social media and asking the group could be beneficial as well.
- How do they handle families with biological or adopted children in the home. Our agency every year includes our adopted children in the PJ Christmas gift. Not only does our foster child get PJ’s but everyone of our children get PJ’s as well. Our children are also invited to the parties or extra activities that the agency hosts throughout the year.
- What is the agency’s view on reunification? Do they believe that biological family is important to the child? Do they help support the reunification? To be honest, family is very important to foster children. No matter how “bad” you think their biological parents are, these children love their parents and we as foster parents should support this as well as your agency that you are using.
- Lastly, does the agency focus on you. Meaning, they know you by name and not just a number in the system. Have they tried to get to know you and your family? Our caseworkers have become just another member of our family. When they leave it is hard for us because we have come to love them.
Side note: I mentioned basic kids and moderate level kids and you may be wondering what this means. A basic kid is a child that has normal behaviors, no medical issues, and are behaving age appropriate. A child that is moderate level or higher is a child who may have some medical issues that require more time at the doctors or more time at home administering medications or therapies. They may also have some aggressive behaviors and some psychological disorders. Make sure that you ask your agencies for their definitions of basic level kids and moderate-higher level kids.
If you are looking to only adopt you can apply some of these same questions when looking for an adoption agency but I will focus a post totally to finding the right agency for adopting.
Agencies:
- Buckener: https://www.buckner.org/amarillo/
- Bair Foundation: https://www.bair.org
- Arrow: https://arrow.org
- A World For Children: https://www.awfc.org/amarillo/
These are only a few that are in my area. You can google and find many more agencies.
Moore Than We Can Contain 