Foster care placement call, what would you do? Difficult decision without all the information

Not every Yes or No is easy or straight forward. What would you do in this situation?

For me, with the experience I’ve had, in a general sense, I would probably say yes because I know my county offers transport and I have great trust in my in home daycare provider after they have cared for a few of my kids. I also have a close friend who is a medical foster care provider, and I know I could ask her questions. (This also assumes everything else in my life was stable and reliable and everyone in the home is on board)

How do you determine your boundaries and what you are able to manage? Let me know in the comments! ⬇️

#fosterparent #fostercare #fosterparenting

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[shannonbrooks]

No. Not enough information and what you do know is already not a good fit. Saying 'no' leaves you open to say 'yes' to other children. It's the placement specialist's and social worker's job to find a place for the kids (and they really put the pressure on!), but that doesn't mean it's the foster parent's job to say 'yes' to every placement request.

[kutanra]

An injured 4 month old from a DV environment brings up red flags of shaken baby syndrome which is a huge undertaking medically, developmentally and behaviourally

[irinakl]

As a social worker, I'm amazed they didn't have any information on the kids! This is really unprofessional and unethical even. I'm not from USA, so the standarts may be different here, but to place a child like this, with no info? Sooo much could go wrong, and the poor kids would be mooved from home to home to home, instead of just spending one more hour on collecting info about them and placing them in the correct home from the start

[steph.shobbrook]

This video is wonderfully done. It really highlighted to me that although fostering is something I’ve always dreamed of doing, and something I would love to do one day, I need to do some more work on myself first as there is no way I would be able to say no to this cause I’d “want to help” but can also recognise that saying yes to everything isn’t necessarily helpful or best for anyone.

[MM-yhmi]

Tough call. I probably would have said no, having personally been stuck with a child care that wouldn’t accept the child placed with me and having to drive across town to go to a daycare option that worked.

[KayoEll]

I'd say yes because I'm completely incapable of saying no.

Okay... actually, I'd say yes because I'm a pediatrician, so the possibility of medical needs doesn't scare me. I might, however, agree for the weekend to get them a place to stay and buy some time to figure everything out. I think sometimes we wait too long for the "perfect" placement when we could be utilizing a "good enough" placement to give a little bit of time to get all of the logistics in place.

I certainly don't want all children going to a temporary placement but with this set of circumstances, I think everyone might feel good knowing that Baby is going home with a pediatrician -- the hospital team, the case worker, but most importantly, the 10 y.o. brother who is likely worried sick about his Baby. A holiday weekend can sometimes just act like a pause button for everyone to catch their breath.

[KatTheo]

Former foster youth here and I'm realizing how much of what's wrong with foster care is this lack of information (and possibly misinformation) in calls like this. It's easy for someone to say yes - perhaps because they want to help or they don't realize the questions to ask. It's understandable that there's little known about kids just entering care, but this happens with kids who have been in foster care as well (wrong information about my case kept being repeated to foster parents for years since caseworkers just glanced over my file and saw that wrong information and repeated it). I wonder if there could be some better matching with needs - maybe using computer systems rather than workers calling up foster parents and trying to guilt them into taking placements?

[sandydog]

No. Children who are removed from their home have already experienced enough trauma and istability; I would not say yes to being their placemet if I'm already not sure about it based on what little info I do have. I'd hate for them to just be moved again.

[PurpleNoir]

That’s such a difficult situation, I really hope foster kids have better case workers than this one (I know it’s hypothetical)

[multilang]

Do you happen to know why social workers often dont know this information? A lot of these comments say its laziness but I’m wondering if there’s any kind of communication issues in this field? I assumed the assigned social worker would be the one who finds out this information first hand

[IOSALive]

Laura - Foster Parent Partner, I subscribed because your videos are super cool!

[SydHalley]

This makes it real. I’m sure you always want to help kids in need, but you also have to make sure it will work out. If it didn’t, the kids would potentially go through another rehoming, & that can’t be good for them.

I think I’d ask more questions, like is there another foster family that might make a better fit. Or for confirmation of support services before committing.

In the end, if there was no other alternative, I’d probably take them as a short-term solution until a better long-term placement is found. Is that allowed?

[Silly-Goose.]

I personally would under a written agreement that transportation for the school would be taken care of after 1-3 weeks. Information for the baby doesn’t seem worrisome. Personally, I would in this hypothetical.

[Aboutaprincess]

I would have to say no. There is too much information that is missing and everything you know about the situation is not a good fit for your situation. id rather the kids not get placed before the long weekend, but be placed in a home that works for them, then get placed sooner, and have to be moved again later on.

[Janne_Mai]

I would say yes for the short term, if they can't find anyone else yet, even though it's so hard for kids to be moved again and again, it might be better than being at the shelter/hospital. But it wouldn't be sustainable in the long run and I'd definitely put a time limit on it to pressure the agency to find another family after the long weekend

[jamie]

Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a child is let someone else take care for them. It can be hard for foster parents, who are usually the "someone else, " to recognize that applies to them too, but it's better for them and the child both if they let someone else take that call.

[hacheliam]

Wow, i'm just so glad i stumbled onto your channel ! I'l only 20 and absolutely not at capacity to take care of any young (i saw you using the term "young" instead of "kid" so i'm guessing it's more appropriate) but i really hope one day i can !
When i was a kid i wanted to adopt and was pretty dead set on that idea and it still sticks with me to this day, with more reasoning though.
I dont live in the US so i dont know how relatable your content would be for my country and it's system but you're the first content i found about how to be a better foster parent, so i'm gonna take the information and try to learn more about that for the day that idea can become a reality.

Thanks a lot ^^

[valeriaswanne]

We got a letter offering us a 3 week old baby girl, as "family is prioritized for placement" and have zero clue which relative had a secret baby! I want to take her in, but it's not my decision. The person whose decision it is lives in a nursing home now and thinks it's a scam.

[MH_Prof]

The social worker should have more info when approaching potential fp. Unfair to expect anyone to take children blindly.

[PredictableEnigma]

I am not a foster parent. Are you or the worker allowed to make additional phone calls to try to get some of these questions answered before committing? I get that time is of the essence to prevent the kids from staying overnight in a non-home enviornment, but getting to at least ask the hospital what the situation is there would make a huge difference.