Can Foster Parents Work Full-Time?
The answer is yes. Working full-time while foster parenting is allowed, but it will take more than just leaving your foster child with a babysitter, daycare center, or preschool. They must all be approved through your agency, who should have a list of caregivers who have passed background checks and are prepared to look after your child while you work. If you are still weighing whether fostering fits your life, our guide to the Texas requirements for foster parents is a good place to start.
Planning to Work Full-Time as a Foster Parent
Can You Work Full-Time While Foster Parenting? - Kids First, Inc. Dallas and Fort Worth, TX
There are many factors to consider when it comes to balancing a career and parenting, just as there are for parents with biological kids. You need to have a plan, for your social worker's approval, on how you will manage the appointments and meetings that you need to attend, both with and on behalf of your foster child. You will also need a plan for how you will rearrange your schedule if the child becomes sick at school or daycare. What will you do on school holidays?
Besides all the meetings, doctor's visits, classes, and social worker visits, you may also have to include your foster child's visits with his or her biological parents, as well as court dates, in your schedule. Much of this is covered in your required foster parent training, which prepares you for the day-to-day of fostering long before your first placement arrives.
Outside the need to rearrange your schedule, you should know that the less time you spend with your foster child, the more time it will take you both to bond with one another. Some foster parents prefer to volunteer for short-term care, such as a weekend or a few days, until the child can be placed in a longer-term home.
Does Fostering Count as a Job? (And Does It Pay?)
Fostering is not employment, and the monthly support you receive is a reimbursement to help cover the child's needs, not a salary, which is exactly why most foster parents keep their regular jobs. If you are curious how that reimbursement works, see how much Texas foster parents are paid. And if you are doing this on your own, you are in good company, plenty of single foster parents balance work and fostering with the right support around them.
However You Do It, Please DO IT
Your love and supervision are greatly needed in the foster care system, whether you choose to stay home, foster full-time, work full-time, or do relief care. To find out what will best suit your life, talk to us at Kids First. We would love to help you find the best way to support and care for these children. We serve families across Fort Worth, Dallas, and Denton.