[quote=Blogstar]I wouldn’t want to take any money for foster care. That would ruin it. Then again it would be expensive. It seems like mostly single mothers who need money do it? Is that right BG? When I was in foster care it was a single black woman and she was doing a good job. Just helping a refugee or two , perhaps orphaned or a kid who needed a stable environment to finish high school that seems doable. But yeah, it’s scary…[/quote]
Well, I suppose a single parent could do it for extra income but the applicant needs to have at least one available bedroom for every two children of the same sex. HHSA DOES inspect foster-parent applicants’ homes and I don’t think they would place foster children in homes where they had to sleep on a futon on the living room floor or where 3-4 kids would have to sleep in a <= 10x12' bdrm. Most single parents can barely afford their rent or mortgage on a home big enough for the kid(s) they already have. I know a retired lady (widow) residing in Otay Mesa who has a license to foster children but she has a 5 bdrm home that is all her own on a big lot and her kids are grown. However, two out of her available four bedrooms with beds and dressers in them have been perpetually empty in recent years because she has been picky about the kids she will foster. She's had too many problems in the past with kids (mostly teenagers) disappearing for days at a time and being truant after she sends them off to school and also getting suspended from school. She was tired of dealing with all that because life can be short. I think she has actually had to send several kids back to DSS (now HHSA) for another placement in her foster-parent "career."
I forgot to add that foster kids are also eligible for free bus transportation from their school district if they need it.
