Foster Parenting 101

Are you considering foster care adoption, but don’t know where to begin? How do you become a foster parent? Should you foster to adopt? What do you need to be a good foster parent? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Dr. John DeGarmo, a leading expert in foster care and parenting, and the author of The Foster Parenting Manual: A Practical Guide to Creating a Loving, Safe and Stable Home and A Different Home: A New Foster Child’s Story.

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How do you apply to become a foster parent. How to apply? Where to apply? What type of training is required?
Where is the greatest need for foster parents?
How do you apply to be a respite provider, and how does that differ from being a regular foster parent?
Should you be a foster parent if your main goal is to adopt?
How does the foster to adopt process work?
Tips for welcoming a new child into your home.
What is the ultimate goal of foster care? How can foster parents work with birth families to achieve that goal?
Tips for working with birth parents.
Tips for working with the system and with caseworkers. What are the most common frustrations for foster families working with social services?
How do you say good-bye to a foster child?
How do adopted children within the foster family handle new foster kids coming into the home and then being reunified with their birth families? Does it make the adopted kids feel less permanence in the home? Do they question why some get reunified and others don’t?
Is it possible to travel with a foster child? Within the state? Outside the state? Outside the country?