Foster Parents

My mother is actually a foster parent about two hours from Sioux Falls. Her permanent placement is a teenager. Besides that, she only does temporary placement and that seems to be primarily younger kids. Right now though, she has a 4 year old and a 12 year old for a 20 day placement.

I worked for Child Protection before becoming a stay at home parent so I may be able to answer some of your questions from that perspective.
If you want to PM me you can, I'm not sure how much is ok to discuss on a public message board.
I will tell you that it is a very trying and extremely rewarding thing to do. Some of your infants will have medical issues, some will have been born with drugs in their system, some will be perfectly healthy but just have unstable parents. The older kids are a little more tricky because their normal is not your normal. Some will hate your routines, they'll hate schedules, and they'll hate being showered with love - that's not normal for them so they act out or push it away.

I'll share one experience that will never leave me and sealed the deal for me that I will foster when the time is right for us. I had been working with a family of three children with a very misguided mother. She loved her kids but she loved her alcohol and it prevented her from really getting it together, despite how much she wanted to for the sake of her children. I worked with them for a year and we were finally to the point where we could return these kids home. For that entire year these three children, the oldest being 12 and the youngest 8, had nothing but horrible things to say about their foster home. They hated their school, they hated the house, they hated the food, they hated the laundry soap they used, etc etc. When the mother was talking about the things she was going to buy and excitedly asked the 8 year old girl what kind of bedding she wanted because she would actually have a bed at the new house the little girl said "you can just buy whatever you want, I just want to be a family and have dinner at the table as a family, and do homework as a family, it doesn't matter what you buy". That little girl learned more than she'll ever know from that home she supposedly hated being a part of. It's for stories like that that you want to be a foster parent. I'll be totally honest that it isn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows but the difference you are making and the rewards (and you may have to really look for them some days) will FAR out weigh the tribulations.
You are a very special family for even considering fostering. I hope you have wonderful experiences with the very special children you will deal with!

My husband and I are foster parents. We have been for about a year. What a year it has been! We have no children of our own but we have had one kiddo with us for the whole year. We are beginning the process of adoption with him (YAH!) although that was not our intention going into foster parenting. We have had children ages 12 months to 9 years old, a total of 8 children through the year. Some have stayed for 5 days and this one for a year. It certainly changes your home... as others have said, not all sunshine and rainbows, but a wonderful experience. We have grown more as a couple, become more sensitive to others in our community (who knew there was so much in SF), more humble (when a 7 year old is throwing a temper tantrum like a 2 year old at Target and others are staring at you, assuming this is your child even though he has lived with you for 6 days...), and we certainly feel more blessed than I could have ever imagined. It is an amazing experience with many ups and downs but well worth it. Others will say, "I don't know how you do it. I would get too attached." Our response is, "It's not about us... it's about the children."
We have 2 children right now and the seven year old's prayer every meal time and bedtime is, "Blessings to my Lord, I love my new family..."