Our Foster Care Journey Since Our Move

After two very short weeks in Oklahoma we decided to start applying for our foster care licence. We were foster parents for almost 2 years and opened our home to 5 wonderful kids who we miss each and every day. It was one of the hardest things to leave when we decided to move. After waiting 2 weeks we were finally contacted back. After a few weeks we finally meet the social worker and got our application completed.  The agency here in Oklahoma contracts out their home-studies. We were told that it takes some time to get the homes study started. Oklahoma requires the same training course that Idaho required. So lucky we only have to retake 3 of the classes.  Now in the last 4 weeks since our application we have no heard anything. If we had not done foster care in Idaho I really think my husband and I would have giving up by now. However, God has shown us the love and joy of caring for his orphans.

This is huge problems in Oklahoma with a lack of foster family's. In a state of  3 million people there only 1000 foster families in the whole state. There are 8,000 kids in the foster care. This is so heart breaking for me. These kids need family and love. The progress in Oklahoma takes way longer than we're use too. We have to remember to be patient. It's so hard tho.

Here's an news report form this week.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s Pinnacle Plan to improve DHS points out the need for 500 new foster families by the end of June 2013. The process isn’t easy though and everyone from the OSBI to the FBI is involved in making sure children are placed with the right family.

“It is a bit complicated, but the safety of children depend upon the processes that we go through to make sure they have safe places to go,” DHS spokesperson Sheree Powell said.

Powell said there are background checks, a home study and a lot of training.

Foster parent, Lisa Feist, says she spent 27 hours in training.

“For five Saturdays, we went and took foster care parent training classes,” Feist said.

However, she said the longest process was the home study, which ranges anywhere from four to six months, depending on DHS staffing.

“When you know your child is waiting for you, for you to care for, whatever that length of time is, waiting for that study to come back or waiting for the next step can be frustrating,” Feist said.

Everyone agrees that each step is crucial to ensure the safety of foster children.

“We want to make sure that children who have been traumatized and abused are placed in the safest and most appropriate place for them,” Powell said.

For Feist, the long process was worth it and she hopes more people will step forward.

“You just have to trust that that’s the way it was supposed to happen and that God’s hand is in it and he has a plan for that child,” Feist said.

While children are waiting to be placed with a family, they remain in a shelter or an existing foster home.

Foster parents are given a monthly reimbursement rate, depending on the age of each child.

State leaders hope to increase that amount over the next few years.

LINK: Find more on foster parenting here