Application Process: Arkansas

I would have loved it if someone had handed me a list almost a year ago of what to expect when thinking about becoming foster parents. I knew a couple of girls from church and bible study that were already foster parents, but other than the occasional lunch to talk about what I should expect, I really had no idea.

Here is the basic outline of what we did and where we are in our journey:

1. First we attended an informational meeting at a local church through The Call. (February 2011)

2. We received a Standards of Approval for Foster and Adoptive Homes at the informational meeting which we began to go through to see if this was for sure what we wanted to do (It was!)

3. We personally moved, and then began the process having background checks/finger prints and getting several things notarized (April 2011)

4. We learned though The Call in our county (which is pretty new in our county) that there were PRIDE trainings set up for June (we were going to be on vacation...boo!) and September (We signed up to do the September training).

5. In-Home Consultation (August 2011) Received a questionnaire (SAFE 1) to fill out with a bunch of questions on how we were raised, what we believe etc.

6. Learned that The Call leader for our county was moving and a new girl was starting to train and get informed on the ministry.

7. Received an e-mail saying that the September training was cancelled and moved to November (had a mini-meltdown and contacted our caseworker asking if we could attend the state training...same training just spread out over 5 weeks, rather than crammed into two full weekends).

8. Attended the CPR/First Aid certification class one Tuesday night..for about 4 hours. (August 2011)

9. Got the okay to do the PRIDE training through Mid-south. Met every Saturday in September (except Labor Day weekend) from 9-4 and did two sessions each Saturday. We also had homework after each session which I was not aware of, but it has been very informative, though slightly time-consuming. (we will be done this weekend!! YAY!!!) (September 2011) I think the hardest part was having to ask someone to watch my son every single Saturday, but he's four, he didn't mind too much.

10. There are 13 families in our training class. Our trainer is the one who will be doing the home study for each family. We have our first home study in two weeks. (October 2011) She has informed us that basically she takes our answers from our homework, and our questionnaire from our in-home consultation, and begins to ask us questions. We will be interviewed together as a family and then she will interview us separately. (Luckily she's not going to really interview our son because he is young, but if your child was older, she would do that as well). We will then receive another questionnaire (SAFE 2). Before she leaves, she will do a walk through of our house to make sure the things listed in the Foster Parent Handbook. The whole thing should take about 3 hours. After she reviews our SAFE 2, she will then come back out for additional interviewing.

11. Once the Home Study is complete, our Family Service Worker will come back out to our home to do another walk through, and then we should hopefully be an open foster home!!!! (Soon, I hope!)

So that is where we are at right now! Hope it helps a little!!