Home Study

As scheduled, my home study began yesterday at 10am. I needn't have worried! We spent maybe 20-30 minutes walking around the house talking, and it was very reasonable. After that, the worker allowed me to ask questions as long as I liked-- we ended up chatting more than 3 hours!

This is just the start of the study, of course, and there will be many more visits; I also have a stack of papers to fill out as well as some self-evaluatory writing assignments. But before leaving, the worker expressed that he foresaw no issues with my opening the home to foster kids.

Woohoo!

And now, without further ado, some photos of my finally-finished boys' bedroom. As you can see, I've plastered the walls with posters, and I've got plenty more to choose from to match a particular kid's taste.


Here's the bunkbed I built and finally finished staining and sanding. I've currently got Transformers sheets on the bottom and Dragon sheets on the top, and of course I've also got some sets of plain blue sheets on-hand for the older boys. At this point, all I really have left to do in there is acquire a couple chairs for deskwork.

Finally, just because I think it's hilarious, here's another shot. Safety first!!

T-minus 24 hours... and counting!

That's right, a mere 24 hours away-- 10am tomorrow, Friday-- my homestudy will begin. A team of foster care professionals will arrive at my home for the white glove inspection, launch extensive background checks, and in general begin grading my value as a human being on a scale of 1 to 10.

Or at least, that's how it has sorta felt, as I anticipated tomorrow. In truth, it'll be just one guy, and we'll sit down and have a good talk about why I want to open my home... and whether I'm really prepared to do so. He'll be studying me, and he will in fact take a look at the place and make recommendations about necessary changes.

I'm excited and scared, but as the hour approaches, the "excited" is beginning to outweigh the "scared." God led me to this point, and even if they ultimately reject me as a candidate, I know I've done what God wants. Besides, I realize that they're not looking for a pristine palace. They're looking for a home.

Just a few things left to do. The bunk beds are done, and I promise I'll post photos later! Otherwise, I need to hang some fire extinguishers, frame and hang the fire escape plans, finish decorating the kids' room, and move out all of the home repair tools that tend to collect in my coat closet. It will be a busy day... but I took it off as a vacation day!

Training & Staining

So after a great deal of confusion, I and two church friends of mine managed to slip into the last three available slots for PRIDE training-- less than 24 hours before it was to begin, and less than 24 hours after we found out about it! Woohoo! Therefore, as of March 6th, I am on the books as a potential foster parent. And I mean "on the books" literally-- one of the first things they did was fingerprint me in order to start digging up my past. :-)

As I've mentioned before, PRIDE training is one of the required steps towards being approved. On the books, it's about 30 hours of training, which in our case is scheduled for 6 hours each Saturday. Having done a bit of reading on foster care and adoption prior to the class, I find that not much of what I'm hearing is new to me. That said, repetition is learning, and through it I think I'm becoming a bit more reasonable and less idealistic in my expectations. For example, I will never have a child enter my home excited about being there. No matter how bad their home situation, no matter how badly they've been abused, they've just been ripped from their home and their family... and now been unceremoniously dropped at my door. I should never expect them to be happy about this, or to view me automatically as a friend. Instead, I will have to commit to showing them unconditional love and patience, and helping them work through a lot of conflicting feelings... feelings that may well lead to misbehavior, no matter how "good" the kids are. With God's help, I think I can do that. After all, this whole venture isn't about me; it's about being there for kids that have very few allies.

More on the training in a future post. I have a few other things to report before this gets much longer.

The next step after the training is undergoing a homestudy, which is basically a protracted study of me, my home, and my habits, my life, etc. From what I originally understood, this is usually launched in the months following completion of PRIDE. However... I just got a call last week scheduling my first interview, here in my home, before PRIDE is even done! Exciting! And slightly scary!

Part of the "scary" is that I now have a little bit closer deadline for finishing a few lingering projects around the house. They're coming along nicely, though, and I think I'll be able to complete the important stuff before my first interview. I'm happy to report, for example, that my custom-built bunk beds are now fully fabricated, and I spent this evening puttying up all the cracks, knots, and screw holes. Tomorrow I hope to sand it down and, barring unanticipated issues, stain it to match the desk in the same room. I'll be sure to post photos when it's done!