Once you start your journey into Foster Care, some people become very anxious. When will I get “the call” for my first placement? Who will it be? Am I prepared enough? Am I ready for this journey? How do I set up my foster care bedroom?!

Many people try to channel these anxious thoughts, along with all of the other crazy emotions that come with being an expectant parent, into doing something. They feel the need to prepare, to nest, and to get your foster care bedroom set up ahead of time. It is ok to be prepared!

In this photo, you can see what our guest room/office looked like before we began fostering. This is what it looked like when we got called for our first placement, weeks ahead of when we were officially certified, with Four Hours notice of our first placement. If you are feeling antsy, we encourage you to make a list of things you need, plan ahead, have a game plan, and get ready to be flexible! We thought our first placement would be a school-age kiddo, but DHS called us with a 11-month old for our first kiddo.

Prior to our first placement, we thought we were prepared for a kiddo being placed in our home. Now, after 12 placements, and a 13th coming at the end of the month, ranging in age from 11-months to 16-years (no, we do not have 13 kids, that is how many we have cared for in our home), we feel like we are actually prepared. Many people have asked us to write a post with tips for preparing a room for a placement. Given the popularity of our Foster Care Wishlist post, and the request for a room specific post, we decided to make it happen. Here are some steps to go through so that you are more prepared than we were! Also its a great way to keep your hands busy while you wait for the call.

We didn’t tell many people what we were doing so it was a shock to most when we announced to the world that we were parents all of the sudden. We had our reasons for not telling people what we were doing, mostly we were scared, nervous, and not sure if we would ever actually follow through with being a foster parent. We were giving ourselves an easy out, if we needed it, but that had consequences. No one had it on their radar to save hand me down kid things for us, so we started from scratch.

Be flexible

You may have an idea of what ages and genders you are willing to say yes to, but understand that the “perfect situation” is probably not going to happen. It might happen on your first placement, if the agency is trying to please you, but it probably will not happen every single time they call you. That being said, being foster parents has taught us that we are capable of so much more than we thought we were, and the “perfect” placement is often something you didn’t know you could handle.

You may be great with little girls between the ages of X and Z, and think that those are the placements that your are interested in, but that does not take into account the infant or teenage sibling that needs to stay with them. When you make plans, the universe is known to laugh. When you buy furniture, think about things like:

Would a young child be safe on this bed (i.e is it low enough to the ground, or does it have rails)?

Can it break down easy for storage? When you take in a kiddo, you never know if it will be a few days, a few months, a few years, or forever. It is not a great idea to buy and get rid of furniture every time a placement comes and leaves. If you can get furniture that can be taken apart and stored easily and compactly, you will be setting yourself up for success.

Will a variety of kiddos appreciate it? The 5-year old you are hoping for might love the race car bed you got, but will the 12-year old girl feel at home in it? Maybe… but better to choose something a bit more versatile.



How can I make room for a second, third or fourth child with little notice. As a foster parent, you never know what life will ask or require of you.



Less is more

A pack-n-play will do in a pinch and takes seconds to put together. You will need one anyway if you have a small child. If you don’t have room for a dedicated nursery at all times, use the travel crib for the first night or two while you figure things out. Having an air mattress on hand can also be a good tool to have. While neither of these are typically considered long term sleeping situation, it has been our experience that DHS allows it for temporary sleeping arrangements. This can be very helpful in getting a room set-up quickly, and can be stored when not in use without taking up much space. These tools will allow you to be a little more flexible when you get a call asking if you have room for a kiddo in need, even if it is just for a couple nights.

Be organized

Organization is key to making life a little easier as a foster parent. While waiting for your first placement, or if you are in between placements and feel like you need to be productive, getting prepared and organized is a great task. You will need binders and folders, to keep the copious amounts of paperwork that comes with being a foster parent. You will need something for medical paperwork, something for placement letters and certification documents, reimbursement and mileage claims, and of course, artwork and school work that your kiddos make for you or bring home.

Label all of your extra clothes and bedding. In anticipation of your first placement, DO NOT run out and buy clothes, or diapers that you think you will need for your first kiddo, because you have no way of knowing what you will actually need. Your money and efforts will be more effective if you just wait. That being said, if you have clothes from previous kiddos, placement or bios, just laying around or hanging in a closet, the best thing you can do is organize. Store it in an easy to find location in good quality storage bins. Clean them before you store them, and label the bins so that you don’t have to open every bin to find the 3T clothes. Typically, if a child leaves your home, you send them with the clothes you bought them, along with special toys and books that were purchased or given to them specifically. If the kiddo outgrows the clothes or toys, you can either donate them or keep them. If you keep them, organize them, so that they can get a lot of love from another kiddo.

Gender Neutral

There is a ton of cute children’s decor available at target or IKEA, don’t limit yourselves to a very pink or very blue room. Target’s “Pillow Fort” brand is our go to for bedding.

Function

Pick a furniture color and stick with it. White is our main color, when the furniture matches it makes the room feel like it was set up with intention. Otherwise it is easy to have a kid room with so many odd-ball pieces that it feels like the room was actually just thrown together. You will want to make it look like you planned for each child and wanted to make them feel like they belong. Try and show them that this house can be a home, no matter how long or short the stay.

Community

Ask for help! Ask your friends and family if they have an old crib they are not using, hand me down clothing in good condition, or just for a hand in getting a room ready for a potential placement. Start an Amazon Wishlist. We have joined our local Buy Nothing group on Facebook and have a real sense of community that we were missing before. Before we buy anything, we ask people in our own neighborhood for old or underused, items taking up space in their homes and garages. We have scored:

formula

cribs

dressers

bassinets,

swings/bouncers

clothing

chicken supplies (for our chickens, not our kids.)

You need it, someone else probably has it!

The Basics

Our home is open to children who are 0-18, any gender, and we are LGBTQ allies. A few things we like to have on hand at all times:

Pack-N-Play: Store it in the closet while not in use. Short Bunk Bed: you don’t have to worry about ceiling fans and can have toddlers on the lower bunk. Twin Mattress: This is a great quality mattress that can be delivered in just a few days. Neutral Bedding: Pick something good for many ages and as plain and neutral as possible. Twin Air Mattress: get the kind with a built in pump, you can turn it on while on the phone with the placement desk! Toothbrushes: You need to always have a stash of these. Also, a variety of tooth paste, some kids can’t handle mint and need bubblegum or watermelon. Pajamas with out feet: these can fit a wider range than the tag suggests, stick to “boy” options and you should be set. Kid Friendly dishes. Twin Bed: We like using a day bed as our “base bedroom setup,” You can add a crib or Pack-N-Play to the room in a pinch and use the twin bed as a soft place to sit and read.

Foster Care Bedroom Transformations

Our kid room(s) went through many transformations:

One Twin-(we were prepared for an older kid)

One Crib-1st placement

Two Twins-2nd &3rd placement, pack-N-play in the office for our 1st placement (temp set up for emergency placements)

Back to One Crib for our first placement

Two Cribs – 1st & 4th placement

DOUBLE REUNIFICATION

Two Twins – 5th & 6th placement

Low Bunk Bed – 5th & 6th placement (more room to play!)

Low Bunk – 5th, One Twin – 6th (Converted the Office into second kid room)

Moved to a bigger house!

Low Bunk – 5th placement, One Twin – 6th placement

5th moved to a pre-adoptive home

Started Emergency / After Hours Care

One Twin – 6th placement, Low Bunk Bed – 7th, 8th,

One Twin – 6th placement, Pack-N-Play 9th placement

One Twin – 6th placement, Low Bunk Bed – 10th, 11th

Low Bunk Bed – 6th, One Twin – 12th

Had a Bio-Child! (Sleeps in our bedroom)

(Sleeps in our bedroom) Low Bunk Bed – 6th, One Twin, One Crib – 12th & 13th

I am exhausted just thinking about how many transformations our rooms have made!

Please comment bellow with your own tips and tricks or questions and ask those burning questions!

Thanks for reading, if you have questions or comments, feel free to post them in the comment section below, we would love to hear from you. To receive updates when a new post is published, click the “Follow” button, we appreciate your interest in our journey. You can also “like” our page on Facebook.

Thanks for reading! If you have questions or comments, feel free to post them in the comment section below, we would love to hear from you. To receive updates when a new post is published, click the “Follow” button. We appreciate your interest in our journey. You can also “like” our page on Facebook.



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