Open

1 Child + 1 Open Home = 0 Waiting

We just finished our final walk through for our foster care licensing. By this time tomorrow, as soon as our social worker enters our information into the system, our home will be officially "Open". In some ways it feels like waiting to go into labor, but we have no idea what we might be having. From here on, anytime our phone rings, it will probably make our hearts race. We pray daily for whatever may come for our family and for the children who need safe homes.

Here are some thoughts, for my own memory on the licensing process....

~The whole thing is a little bit of "Trial by Fire". We figure stuff out as we go. That isn't going to change going forward. Each day will be a learning experience.

~The paperwork!!!! Oh, the paperwork. There is ALOT of paperwork. However, I found that just doing it, was a lot less stressful than thinking about doing it. I set aside 2 days, when the girls were in school so that I could get the bulk of it done. When they handed me the next stack, I just did it. Waiting or putting it off just makes it worse. If you ever want to go down this road, go armed with a good copy machine and lots of ink in your printer.

~Social workers have way too much to do, not enough time to do it in, and they aren't getting paid much for any of it. Practicing patience and perseverance starts right in the beginning and will only serve us as we take in children. If you are in the midst of the licensing process, most likely your needs aren't urgent. I can't imagine how many times a day our worker has to stop what he is doing to tend to something that is urgent. Give them grace. I know if someday I am on the urgent side of things, I will be thankful when they drop everything else to help me.

~Medical checks, extra smoke alarms, locking up medicine and chemicals, multiple back ground checks, sharing all your financial information, vet records, fingerprinting....all these things are just minor inconveniences when compared to the life of a child.

~If you want to complicate the licensing process, move to a new state in the middle of it!!!

Thanks for your prayers for our family and other families out there doing God's work in foster care. If it's something you have ever thought about doing, I encourage you....just take the first step and see what happens. If you want to help foster children, but aren't ready to parent them, there are so many things you can do. Support someone you know who is a foster family, look into becoming a CASA advocate, find organizations in your area that work with and for foster children and volunteer. There really are things each one of us can do.