We did a ton to prepare before we had our first foster kid. We put child safety locks on all our cupboards. We rearranged our house. We built bunk beds. We bought a bunch of stuff. But there are a few things that I wish we had done before we had our first placement.
1) Set up kid profiles on our streaming services. Since we did not have this set up already, we were scrambling to get them set up as the kids were waiting to watch something fun.
2) Set up a kid phone. I have an old iPhone that I planned to make into a kid phone. I wanted a phone to play music while kids fell asleep or for them to watch a show on. I wanted to clear off the phone and completely reset it up with screen time and app restrictions. I didn’t get that set up for our first respite and I spent a lot of downtime trying to get it set up, but I didn’t finish setting it up until our respite placement was over.
3) Worked to figure out the kid’s alarm clock. I had already figured setting an alarm, but that’s pretty basic. The alarm clock we got has several other features that I didn’t figure out ahead of time.
4) Bought some kids games. We did buy some toys, but we didn’t have any games. And if you know us, you know we love games. So, one night after the kids went to bed, we ordered Uno, Jenga, Connect 4, a chess/checkers/backgammon set, a soccer ball, and a skip-it1. Our current foster kiddo has had so much fun with all of these, but especially playing Jenga with Joshua.
5) Created a family schedule. Since Joshua and I both work, he gets the kids ready for school, and I pick them up. If we had a schedule set up ahead of time, it would have made sure that both Joshua and I were on the same page even though I leave for work before he does, and he gets home from work after me.
Bonus: I wanted to keep this as a series of 5, so this is a bonus. ^_^
Created a Sunday morning bag. Our first Sunday morning, we took the kids to church, and it wasn’t long before I realized that they were bored and needed something to do. I had a notebook and two pens, so I gave each kid a piece of paper. But soon after, I bought a coloring book, crayons, notebooks, and fidget toys.
Over the next several weeks, I am going to do a series of 5s. I have drafted several parts of the series, but none except this one is complete yet. So we’ll see if I actually come up for 5 things for each list. If you have ideas of other 5 things, you’d like to know, comment below. These are the drafted ideas so far.
5 Misconceptions We’ve Encountered
5 Assumptions That We Made (or 5 Things that Have Surprised Us)
5 Things I think We Did Well in Preparing for Foster Kids
5 Things That I Wish We Had NOT Done Before We Had Our First Foster Kids
I have very fond memories of playing with my skip-it as a kid. I was so excited about the skip-it that when I woke up the next morning after ordering it, I ordered another one. I mean if we have two kids, they will both need one to play with. And if we don’t have two kids, then I have one to play with.
This is SO helpful to read! Stephen and I started the foster care process before we left for Chad. We are (now) praying about whether we should complete the process, or adopt kids waiting in the foster care system. Either way, this list is helpful!