Setting Up A Room For Foster Care

6.28.2013


Since, we have been waiting for 9 months on the adoption side of things, 2 months ago Hart and I decided to become Foster Parents. We are pretty sure this is going to be the craziest thing we've done yet! We do pray that God will allow us the opportunity to adopt, but know that it may not happen with certain children in our home since the initial goal is to be reunited with their birth mom. We are finally ALMOST approved on the Foster Care side of DSS and should be approved in 2 - 3 more weeks.

One thing that has been hardest and exciting for me, is figuring out what all we need set up regarding the room, because we could get any age child from 0 - 2 years, boy or girl. Since, we already have an almost 3 year old son, I am more than prepared on the boy side of things and the baby/toddler side of things, which helps a ton. 

We made the decision to only foster children younger than our oldest son, so that we would be somewhat prepared and have an idea how to parent, since we've already "been there" on a lot of issues. We have a pretty good idea of normal child development and healthy child development.

I feel like we finally have the basics covered and I wanted to share for anyone else out there that is wondering what all we've done to get ready!

Our "beloved babies" room Set up: 
We are approved for 2 children, 0 - 2 years. We currently have a crib, and a single bed, and a pack-n-play, if needed. Our crib converts to a toddler bed, as well, so we potentially have room for 2 toddlers, or 2 babies, or should we get 3 children, for some reason, 2 babies and 1 toddler or 1 baby and two toddlers. Although, I think 1 - 2 is plenty to add on right now!

Having extra sheets/blankets, a bed rail for beds, and waterproof mattress pads (still need these), are helpful!
 We have one sort of small dresser and a closet, as well as storage under the crib.
 And a glider.
I tried to make this room as gender neutral and child friendly as possible. I recovered our glider by sewing some slip cushions in some fun fabric I found at Ikea. I want this space to be a happy and comforting room, so there are lots of toys and stuffed animals that Cai, our son, has outgrown in here. A few more baby-ish, books.

Toys and Books
Inside the dresser:
I have washed up some bibs, burp cloths, I have a few girls diaper covers for under dresses, and paci's of a few varieties. Socks of random sizes, a few infant hats and mits, and booties. Mostly boy, but they will do for any gender until we can buy what's necessary after placement! I just don't want to HAVE to run to a store on short notice!

Then, I have two larger drawers that are dedicated to pajamas. (This seems to be the one thing to have on hand, because you could get random middle of the night calls.) One for girls, one for boys and I have a few of each sizes just to be ready. I found a seller on Craigslist that was getting rid of a bunch of girl sleepers of various sizes, and I bought 17 for $10 that were gently used! This will get us started, for sure! Of course, I will need more after we have a placement.

In our closet, I have our changing table
 I know, this may be random for some people, but I've always liked tucking my changing table in the closet! I like just being able to turn on the closet light for the middle of the night diaper changes and having more space in the room for other things. In the closet, I hung nicer outfits of various sizes and genders from newborn to 2T, again, just enough to get started, 1 - 2 outfits per size, per gender. Most I've thrifted or were hand-me-downs. I also have a bin of bottles that we tried with my son. Babies sometimes won't take one brand, so I think I have about 3 or so brands in there to try, if necessary. I wouldn't worry too much about have too many varieties of bottles, although it can be helpful. You know a baby will eat when hungry, so eventually they will figure it out!

As far as diapers, it's been suggested to me by another foster mama, to buy packs of random sized diapers when on sale to have on hand. I do have a pack of size 1's and some leftover size 5's from my son and he currently wears size 6's. We cloth diapered Cai, so I have 24 Bum Genius all-in-one diapers on hand, which makes me less nervous about random calls and running out to the store for diapers! I also like the idea of not wasting $ on diapers, if we don't get a child wearing a certain size, etc.

Otherwise, a double stroller (which someone gifted us), extra car seats (we have 2 toddler car seats, but one that doesn't fit as large of a child) and one infant car seat, we have 2 booster seats for the table, and extra forks and sippy cups, snack cups. We added a cd player/radio, and a fan to the room for a noise buffer.

It seems quite overwhelming when you think about all that you need for infants and toddlers, but trusting that God will provide is the main thing that I know to be true! We are a young family without a ton of excess $$, but God has called us to this and we know that when His word tells us he will provide, he will! I remind myself that God loves these children more than we ever will and I know He will provide abundantly beyond what they need or imagine, just like he does for us!

Even though, it does seem like we are prepared, we still have some items that we need! You can view our baby registry here to see what's left (and buy us something off of it!) haha!

Now we just need the KIDS!!!

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