Best Foster Care Blogs of 2020

The list below includes some of the top foster parenting blogs to help guide you on your journey. Each blog includes a list of some of the most popular posts and a description of what makes each unique. You can also find links to their instagram and facebook profiles. Of note, these blogs are all written by incredible, dedicated foster parents and advocates and are in no particular order:

• Foster the Family
• Confessions of an Adoptive Parent
• The Forgotten Initiative
• Jason Johnson Blog
• Together We Rise
• My Lovely Crazy Life

Foster the Family

Blog: www.fosterthefamilyblog.com
Instagram: @fosterthefamilyblog
Facebook: Foster the Family Blog
Focus: foster care, gospel-centered parenting, mission-focused family

Top Posts:

• A Letter To My Daughters on the Day of Your Adoption
• When I Don’t Love My Foster/Adopted Child
• “What to Expect” When You’re Picking Up a Foster Baby From the Hospital
• Respite Care: Why a Foster Parent Would “Leave” a Foster Child & Why You Should Take a Child Who’s Been “Left”
• “What to Expect” The First Week of a New Foster Placement

Description: Foster the family is an incredible organization based in New Jersey that exists to support foster families. The blog is primarily authored by Jamie Finn, a biological, adoptive, and foster parent in NJ. She shares her wealth of experiences through foster care and adoption in a lighthearted and down-to-earth tone, but doesn’t shy away from the deeper, more challenging situations faced by many foster parents.

Aside from the blog, Foster the Family operates a nonprofit called Community Foster Response which provides necessities and support to South Jersey foster families. Jamie also hosts a wonderful podcast called the Real Mom Podcast. In the podcast, Jamie discusses many of the same topics and includes interviews with other foster and adoptive moms.

Confessions of an Adoptive Parent

Blog: confessionsofanadoptiveparent.com
Instagram: @confessionsofaparent
Facebook: Confessions of an Adoptive Parent
Focus: foster care, adoption, parenting strategies, special needs

Top Posts:

• Why You Should Never Bad Mouth Your Child’s First Family
• There’s A Reason Your Child Always Fights You For Control
• 11 Things Children Who Have Experienced Trauma Need The Most
• What Can I Do When My Child Needs Discipline?
• Should I Talk To My Child About Their Past Trauma?

Description: Confessions of an Adoptive Parent is written by Mike and Kristin Berry. Together, they are authors of 7 books and parents of 8 children, all of whom are adopted. On the blog, they write about their experiences with the many children they have fostered and cared for including complex topics like trauma and special needs.

Aside from their blog, they host the Honestly Adoption Podcast and speak at conferences all over the country.

The Forgotten Initiative

Blog: theforgotteninitiative.org/blog/
Instagram: @theforgotteninitiative
Facebook: The Forgotten Initiative
Focus: foster care, adoption, advocacy, empowerment

Top Posts:

• 11 Ways to Prepare for Your First Placement
• Become the “Dream Foster Parent” Your Worker Has Been Looking For
• Have You Said This to a Foster Parent?
• The Struggle of Single Foster Parenting
• 5 Ways to Create a Healthy Foster Family Culture

Description: TFI is a organization led by foster and adoptive parent Jami Kaeb, dedicated to empowering individuals to support the foster care community through awareness, encouragement, and advocacy. TFI works through training advocates to support foster parents, children, and case workers on a local level. The blog features a variety of TFI writers and guest authors who share their own experiences and challenges in foster care.

Jami also leads TFI’s The Forgotten Podcast, where she hosts all sorts of parents and leaders in the foster care community. To learn more about becoming a TFI advocate, check out the TFI site.

Jason Johnson Blog

Blog: jasonjohnsonblog.com/posts
Instagram: @jasmjohnson
Facebook: Jason Johnson Blog
Focus: foster care, adoption, church-based ministry, gospel-themed encouragement

Top Posts:

• The Beauty and Brokenness of Foster Care
• Ten Questions Couples Should Ask Before Becoming Foster Parents
• Five Powerful Truths in Scripture Every Foster Parent Must Know
• James 1:27 is Not a Command
• 3 Reasons Why the Church Must Care For Orphans

Description: Jason Johnson is an author and speaker who encourages families and equips churches in their foster care and adoption journeys. He and his wife are biological, adoptive, and foster parents to a large and loving family in Texas. His blog tackles many of the emotional challenges of foster care, frequently through a gospel lens.

Jason currently serves as the Director of Church Ministry Initiatives with Christian Alliance for Orphans. In his work he speaks and teaches at churches, conferences, forums and workshops on church-based ministry strategies and best practices as well as encouraging families that are in the trenches and those that are considering getting involved.

Together We Rise

Blog: www.togetherwerise.org/blog
Instagram: @togetherwerise
Facebook: Together We Rise
Focus: foster care, foster youth, advocacy, spotlight stories, news updates

Top Posts:

• Cost to Foster a Child – Is it Expensive?
• Rebecca’s Foster Care to Adoption Story
• 15 Things You Should Know Before Fostering
• Myths About Adoption & Foster Care
• 5 Things to Never Say to a Foster Youth

Description: Together We Rise is a national organization dedicated to empowering volunteers to support foster youth. In contrast to some of the other blogs, the TWR blog focuses on spotlight stories of foster and foster-to-adopt families. However, there are also many highlights of foster care news, legislation, and outreaches around the country.

TWR offers many programs, including Sweet Cases, Building Bikes, Build A Board, Birthday Boxes, Superhero Boxes and their Family Fellowship, which is the largest college scholarship available for youth aging out of the foster care program.

My Lovely Crazy Life

Blog: mylovelycrazylife.com
Instagram: @mylovelycrazylifeap
Facebook: My Lovely Crazy Life
Focus: foster care, adoption, special needs, life at home

Top Posts:

• Good Bye My Daughter
• Why You Should Reward Your Child for Bad Behavior
• Navigating Back to School: Through the Adoption and Foster Care Lens
• A Day in the Life of FASD (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder)
• Dear Friends & Family: What I Want You to Know About Adoption and Foster Care

Description: My Lovely Crazy Life is the personal blog of Amanda Preston. Amanda is an adoptive mom to 8, foster parent, and social worker. She has specific experience with special needs children and shares candidly on the subject.

Amanda also recently started a podcast, also called My Lovely Crazy Life, where she speaks to a variety of people touched by foster care. In addition to her personal blog, you can find her writing for Scary Mommy.

Get Reading!

There you have it, some of the best foster care blogs on the web! These foster parents, advocates, writers, moms, and dads are doing incredible work in their communities and in their homes. What other foster care blogs have you found helpful?

The post Best Foster Care Blogs of 2020 appeared first on Philadelphia Foster Care.

What is WIC?

WIC is short for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The program was set up in 1974 to support children up to age 5 in low income families. WIC provides financial support to purchase nutrition related products like formula, baby food, and supplements. While WIC is a nationwide program, individual states implement the program through local WIC offices. For this reason, some of the fine details may vary from state to state.

Who is WIC for?

WIC has traditionally been for a few primary groups of people, as long as they meet certain income guidelines:

• Pregnant women
• Breastfeeding women, for up to one year postpartum
• Women up to six months postpartum, who are not breastfeeding
• Infants and children under 5 years old, including foster children

Foster families are unique in that they aren’t subject to the income guidelines. If you are a foster parent, any foster children under 5 years old in your home are eligible for WIC support.

How Do I Get Started?

You can apply for Pennsylvania WIC as soon as a foster child is placed in your home. To apply, follow the steps below:

Make an appointment: Call your local WIC office to schedule an initial appointment.  You can find all WIC locations on the PA WIC website.  You can also start your application online and a WIC employee will contact you to schedule an appointment.

Bring documentation: Bring the required documents (see below) to your appointment and complete an application. The important items to remember include:

• Foster parent proof of identity, such as:
  • Driver’s license
  • Photo ID card
  • Passport
• Proof of PA residency, such as:
  • Driver’s license
  • Recent utility bill
  • Recent mail with name and address
• Your foster parent letter from your child’s caseworker explaining that the child is in your care
• Immunization records (if available)
• Medical access card (Medicaid information)

As a reminder, your child’s caseworker is responsible for providing you with both the foster parent letter and the medical access card (Medicaid insurance card) within a few days of placement. If you do not receive these items soon, contact the caseworker to track them down quickly! For more information, see our Guide to New Placements to remember all the important things to ask your caseworker when you receive a new placement.

On the WIC website, you will see proof of income listed as well. Proof of income is not generally required for foster parents.

Bring your children: At your initial appointment, be sure to bring all of your foster children age 5 and younger. Each child will undergo a brief physical as part of the initial application process.

How Does WIC Work?

Once approved, you will receive a eWIC card which holds your WIC balance. Make sure to remember your eWIC PIN which will be required any time you use your card.

You may have heard of WIC checks, which used to be the gold standard for WIC support. However, in 2019 WIC began converting everything over to digital cards and the checks are rapidly losing support.

WICShopper app: Download the WICShopper app for iPhone or Android to check your benefits, scan products in stores to check eligibility, or find stores that accept eWIC. If you are on WIC and don’t have the app, we strongly recommend getting it!

Monthly appointments: Follow-up at your local WIC clinic monthly, where the balance on your card will be replenished. Your clinic will also assign specific foods or infant formula to your card. These are the only items you can purchase with your card balance.

Checking your balance and benefits: Your local WIC office can check your balance and WIC-covered items. In addition, stores can check your balance and covered items at the register. Just ask them to run your card to see which food and infant formula are covered.

Shopping with Pennsylvania WIC

Where to shop: Not all stores accept eWIC. Use the WICShopper app to find participating stores. If you are using eWIC at a store for the first time and don’t have the app, it may be a good idea to call ahead to make sure the store accepts eWIC. Some stores previously accepted WIC checks, but have not yet transitioned to accept eWIC. These stores will likely slowly convert over (looking at you Target!), but the app can help you know which ones are up to date.

At the store: Make sure to only choose the exact brands and products assigned to your card. The WICShopper app allows you to scan items in the store to see if they are on your benefit list. You cannot use your balance for anything else.  At checkout, tell your cashier that you are using an eWIC card. They will be able to scan your WIC items to ensure they are covered by your WIC benefits. You will need your PIN to use your card at the register. Once you complete your purchase, the cost will be applied to your eWIC balance. For more information, see the the PA eWIC website.

Further WIC Resources for Pennsylvania Foster Families

For further resources on WIC for Pennsylvania foster families, see the PA WIC website. From a different state? You can find more information on your local state’s WIC website, or on the USDA WIC website.

The post WIC Support for Foster Children in Pennsylvania appeared first on Philadelphia Foster Care.

The Need for Fostering Infants and Babies

The need for foster parents who are willing to take in newborns and infants is region-dependent. In large metropolitan areas like Philadelphia, there is an increasing need for infant foster parents over the last 5-10 years, primarily due to the ongoing opioid crisis.

According to new research published in JAMA Pediatrics, the proportion of children entering foster care due to parent opioid use increased from 14% in 2000 to 36% in 2017. They also found that children entering because of opioid use tended to be under age 5. The number of babies under age 1 nearly doubled.

While the whole country has been affected by the opioid crisis, Philadelphia has been particularly affected. According to the Pew Research Center, opioid-related deaths in Philadelphia have doubled between 2014 and 2017.

Due to all of these factors, foster parents are more likely to foster an infant today than they were 10 years ago.

Can I Foster a Baby?

Like all of foster care, there are no guarantees. However, foster parents are able to specify the age of the children they would feel comfortable caring for on their foster child profile.

When we started at foster parents, we knew we would be most comfortable with younger kids. We had two of our own under age 3 and had the diaper and formula routine down. Within 48 hours of our certification, we had received a call for 11 day old baby B. While not all infant placements may happen that fast, there is definitely a need for foster parents to accept newborns in Philadelphia.

While Philadelphia needs foster parents for all ages, those interested primarily in infants should still apply as there are many infants in need of a home.

Adopting Newborns from Foster Care

For families hoping to adopt a baby out of foster care, there are a number of considerations. First, and most important, is that the goal of foster care is always reunification. That means that the first priority for any newborn will always be returning to their birth parents.

When a child enters foster care, the family court will typically start by setting goals for the birth parents. These include stability, housing, and sobriety for those dealing with substance abuse. The court needs to allow sufficient time for the parents to meet these goals before moving on to other options.

If it starts to become unlikely that a child’s parents will meet their goals, then the next step is family finding. Family finding involves a formal search for other family members who would be able and willing to adopt the child. This process can take another several months. Family members always take precedence over foster families when it comes to adoption.

All together, it can take anywhere from 9 to 18 months before a newborn may be eligible for adoption by the foster family. And this is only after the previous options have been ruled out. That being said, some circumstances may speed up the timeline, such as having an older sibling who’s parental rights were already terminated.

For more information on family court or adoption, see the Legal System Guide or the Permanency and Adoption Guide.

Caution for Those Trying to Start a Family

When we started out in foster care, we were in a good place to accept an infant. With two of our own already, we knew we wanted to expand our family by adoption eventually, but we didn’t feel an urgency to adopt immediately. We had the freedom to care for baby B when she came while still being able to root for her mom to be able to bring her back home. While it would be very hard to see her go, we know that the goal is always for her to return home.

If we were trying to adopt to start a family from scratch, I think things may have been a little more difficult. Adoption would have felt more time-sensitive. It would have been more difficult to root for mom to get to a place where she could bring baby B home. Any progress was made towards getting baby B home would have felt like a setback. We always want to be able to root for reunification.

For those who are eager to have a family, remember that much of foster care is not in your control. If you are the type to need to know how things will work out, you may want to consider private adoption. However, if you are flexible on your timing, foster care may still be a wonderful opportunity to adopt a child who needs a home.

Fostering Drug Addicted Babies

Because of the opioid crisis, a greater proportion of newborns entering foster care have been exposed to drugs during pregancy. These infants may require some special care initially after birth. We will cover caring for these children in a later post.

Wrapping it Up

There are many infants in need of a safe home in Philadelphia. The need has increased, particularly due to the opioid crisis. If you are interested in getting started in foster care, check out our Certification Guide now!

The post Fostering Infants and Babies appeared first on Philadelphia Foster Care.

We had only been certified as foster parents in Philadelphia for 2 days when we got our first foster care placement. It turns out that is not too uncommon – there is a great need for foster parents in Philly. It was around 8pm and our two girls were already in bed. A caseworker at a local hospital called and told us she had a newborn in need of a home.

On our foster care profile, we had specified that we would be most comfortable with infants or toddlers, having two toddlers of our own. Even though we had finally gotten back to sleeping through the night, we were still excited to care for a newborn again.

The Call

Baby B was just a few days old and they had determined that she couldn’t go home with her family at the moment. She would be our first foster care placement. The DHS caseworker gave us a brief overview of the situation. We tried to ask as many questions as we could think of. Are there any siblings? Did she have any medical issues in the hospital? Where is her family?

We were able to gather a few answers, but a lot of information was still uncertain, as is often the case. After we finished with the caseworker, we received another call from a placement nurse who answered a couple questions about her medical care at the hospital. No major issues had been identified so far.

They were getting ready to drop her off in the next hour or so.

Hello Baby B!

Two delightful DHS caseworkers arrived at our door around 9pm. They had Baby B in a carseat along with a Temple Baby Box filled with diapers, bottles, and formula.

They stuck around for 15 or 20 minutes and answered a few extra questions, but afterwards had to head to another home. Once they left, it took a little bit before it finally kicked in. We were foster parents.

Taking care of babies is kind of like riding a bike. It didn’t take long before we were back into the routine of frequent feedings, nighttime awakenings, and diapers.

Meeting the Kids

Our girls didn’t get to meet Baby B until the next morning. We had been prepping them that they might be getting a new baby sister or brother sometime soon.

There are few things that have been as memorable for me as seeing our girls meet Baby B for the first time. Addie, our oldest, pulled up a chair to her bassinet and just sat and watched her for almost an hour. If you have known any toddler ever, then you recognize the attention that requires!

And Riley immediately wanted to mimic every mama-like action Addie took. They both jumped right into giving her bottles and brushing her hair with their fingers. Some people wonder how foster children will affect their own, but the experience at least for our girls has only been positive so far.

Always Our First Foster

We are so grateful that Baby B has been able to be a part of our family all this time. We are always rooting for her own mama, that they might be able to be reunited at some point. But whatever happens for her down the line, she’ll always be our first. And we love her.

If you want to know more about the first week with a new placement, see our New Placement Guide. You can also check out our previous post on our Philadelphia foster care certification process.

The post Our First Foster Care Placement appeared first on Philadelphia Foster Care.

My wife and I first became foster parents in Philadelphia earlier this year. Our journey started over two years ago when staff from a local foster care agency, Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM), in Northeast Philadelphia, gave an introductory training and Q&A at our church. After that initial exposure, we were pretty sure we wanted to be a part of foster care in Philly. However, between hectic work and home schedules weren’t quite in the right place to get started.

We have two biological girls of our own under age 4 and earlier this year knew we were ready to accommodate a third. The entire process took us about 6 months, but most of that time was waiting until July when my work schedule was going to lighten up significantly. We were eager to get started, and wanted to get everything in order so we could start as soon as July came.

Getting Certified

We started out by looking for a foster care agency. Knowing little about the system in Philly, we simply looked for an agency close to where we lived. As it turns out, APM was actually the closest agency to where we lived, so we contacted them to schedule a training.

Our initial training was only 1 day. At our training, the staff went over what foster care would look like. They discussed the agency policies and how to best care for the children we would have in our home. We received a wide variety of packets and pamphlets with information and started to go about sorting through it all.

At our training, we also received a list of required documents and clearances we would need to be certified. Once we got home, we got right to work gathering insurance documents, asking friends for references, and applying for government clearances.

Getting it All Together

How hard could it be, right? Just check off all the checkboxes. Well, it actually took quite a bit of organization and trial and error. For example, when I first applied for by PA criminal background check, I applied as a volunteer. As I later learned, foster parents are not considered volunteers in PA. However, it wasn’t until our completed file was being reviewed that I learned we would need to reapply for clearances.

We also learned when applying for child abuse clearance that we would need clearance from the last state we had lived in as well. It took almost 2 months to get the second clearance. Fortunately we had started early!

Once everything was submitted and complete, we waited for APM’s monthly review meeting where they review the new parent applications. When we heard that everything looked good, we were finally scheduled for a home study where a resource parent support worker came to our house to make sure we met the list of home requirements – a list that is really quite reasonable.

Finally, with everything completed, APM submitted our file to DHS for final certification. It was only a week or two before our resource parent support worker notified us we were finally certified!

Both of us would consider ourselves organized, but we still found ourselves confused at times. There is just a lot of information to digest at once! Our experience is the main reason for our Philadelphia Foster Care Certification Guide which walks through every step of the process in detail.

To hear more, check out our post on our first foster care placement.

If you are interested in getting started with foster care in Philadelphia (or anywhere), check out our guide. You can also see all of our guides on the Foster Care Guide page.

The post Getting Started in Philadelphia Foster Care appeared first on Philadelphia Foster Care.