I would love to follow my passion with foster care/ adoption, is it financially an option in CA?

first off i would like to tell you that foster/adopting kids is a wonderful thing. you do receive money for foster children but it's not much. it basically covers the child expenses. i found that when my husband and i were foster parents that we ended up having to use our own money. which of course we did not mind.

In California you can become a foster parent if you are single. I would suggest you start slowly with one child. There are many school aged children in need of homes and their school schedule might fit better with yours right now. I think it is wonderful you are considering this. There are simply not enough good homes for these kids. If you talk to a social worker with children services (just google foster care and your area) you may be able to find a suitable short-term placement. These kids desperately need a stable landing pad before they return to their parents, and the financial costs to you may not be as great for short term. Sorry about the flack you took in the last question. Good Luck.

I share your passion and I completely understand where you are coming from. The reason you probably go such negative feedback is unfortunately some foster parents use children for the money. They don't really care about the children. They see it as another way to get money and don't really take good care of the children. I didn't see your first post. From you have said though I think what you are doing is a wonderful thing and God Bless. I don't know if they have this where you live or not. Look up Bethany Christian Services. They help find homes foster children. They also have a program I think it is called keeping children safe. If you don't have luck there you can always contact your local Social services. I understand as a single mom you do need this money to help take care of the child. I don't know how much it is though but, either of these places can let you know. Good luck and God Bless. Love, Michelle

They do give you money, it isn't very much. It's supposed to pay the child's expenses, but it's not enough for you to quit your job and be a full time single parent. Just pick up the phone and call your local foster care office and ask about when they have informational meetings. Where I live, they seemed to work really hard to weed single people out of our classes. They were as discouraging as possible. They don't want anyone to foster for the money, so they expect that you will keep your full time job. If you have a full time job it's sometimes difficult to arrange for taking the children to family visits, counseling sessions, and things like that. They told us that ideal foster parents would have one person working and one staying home full time with the children.

I cannot imagine the state not compensating foster parents when they care for foster children. (EDIT: in my state there is a maximum payment per child depending on their age range....and it is not much!!) Good luck!!

I am single too, and I looked into this. Arizona says you have to have a stable income, be healthy, and have a room in your house for each child, and his belonging. But I located a compromise. There are organizations out there that will let you be a mentor to a child in foster care, without taking on the responsibility of raising that child. Because you aren't financially there yet, I would google foster child mentor California, and see what comes up. Children need mentors because they are basically moved around so much in foster care, they need a stable person in their life. Of course, taking the child to the zoo, etc., as a mentor will cost money too!

If you take in mentally challenged kids, the state gives you money. I think they give you money if you foster any kid..but not much. If you adopt, you get nothing unless they are mentally challenged..or physically I guess. I think they do..my aunt got 600 a month EACH off three girls. But we are in KY.