So You Want to be a Foster Parent

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Have you considered fostering? What might be holding you back? Join us for a conversation with Laura, the Foster Parent Partner, to explore what it takes to be ready to foster, what the licensing and placement process looks like, and how to navigate relationships with the child's birth parents while providing a safe place for the child to land. Laura is the author of First Time Fostering and brings awareness and advocacy for foster families to social media spaces.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How can someone tell if fostering might be the right step for them?
• What are some common misconceptions about foster parenting that you often hear from people who are just starting to explore it?
• What mindset shifts do people often need to make before stepping into foster parenting, especially around trauma and reunification?
• Once someone decides to move forward, what does the licensing process look like?
• What tends to surprise people about that process?
• How should families prepare the people already in their lives—a partner, kids in the home, or extended family—for fostering?
• What kind of support system do new foster parents need?
• How can they start building that before they get their first placement?
• When you're waiting for your first placement, what are some basics you should have ready in their home?
• What is it actually like to get that first placement call and welcome a child into your home?
• In those first hours and days, what are some practical ways foster parents can help a child feel safe and supported?
• It’s important to remember that reunification is the goal of foster care. What does co-parenting mean for foster parents? Why is it a crucial element of fostering?
• In foster care, children often still have relationships with their families, especially when reunification is still the goal. How can foster parents begin building a respectful relationship with a child’s parent?
• How can foster parents help facilitate connection or healing with the child’s parents?
• How do foster parents navigate the reality and emotions of a child leaving their home, for another placement, or for reunification?
• How should they support their resident children for that loss?
• What are some of the other hard realities of foster parenting that people should be prepared for?
• What would you want a newly licensed foster parent to know before they say yes to their first placement?
• What keeps you anchored in this work and committed to supporting others?

Resources:

• Becoming a Foster Parent
• What Foster Care Alumni Want You to Know
• 23 Crucial Questions to Ask at Foster Care Placement Meetings
• Welcoming an Older Child to Your Family

Support the show

Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

• Weekly podcasts
• Weekly articles/blog posts
• Resource pages on all aspects of family building