We actually started the process last November when we attended an event called Fostering Hope where we learned more about foster care and heard from a panel of former foster children and current foster parents. We learned so much from their first hand experiences, and left the event feeling a pull towards this ministry. We filled out a card saying we would like more information, and by the next week someone from Fostering Hope had reached out to us asking how they could help us get plugged in. After much discussion and research, we decided to go through DSS for licensing, so they sent our information over to Heartfelt Calling who sent us the application and signed us up for Foster Parent Orientation in January 2020.
Luckily for us, this orientation was hosted at our own church, so we were able to go right after work. The class lasts 2 hours and goes over the very basic process of becoming foster parents in South Carolina. Next, we submitted official background checks and went to Greenville for fingerprinting. After our application was accepted we were sent a list of Pre-Service Training days; you must complete two 8 hour days of training before your home study. We went to our first training day in late February, which you know is the same time Covid-19 hit the US and effectively shut everything down. We had to pause our licensing process while we waited for more trainings to become available, but in the meantime we were assigned a DSS licensing coordinator who met with us in our home to sign a lot of paperwork and begin the home study process.
Finally, in May, pre-service trainings had moved online so we were able to schedule our second 8-hour day over Zoom with 15 other couples. By June, the fire inspector was back to visiting homes (initial inspections must be done in person) and we passed our inspection. By the end of June we had completed our home study, fire inspection, family autobiography, financial documents, and all of our paperwork was sent to the Columbia office for final approval. At this point it had been six months since we officially started the process. Normally, foster parent licensing takes 3-4 months to complete. This timeline is really dependent on how willing you are to get your paperwork turned in and attend the trainings. We experienced quite a delay because of Covid, especially waiting for our fire inspection, but remained patient as everyone was working hard to move us along. We didn't really get frustrated until July when we had done everything for our part, and were just waiting on final state approval to issue our license. We ended up waiting until September 20th to hear back from our licensing worker with the final approval. We continually emailed our contacts at DSS until we got this done. At times, it felt like we were getting the runaround, but we were persistent and it was finally approved.
It is now October, and we still haven't received an actual paper license to keep on file. We were very disappointed by how long our file sat on someones desk, but were told that kinship foster families and families with homes open to older children were higher priority. We are so thankful that we are official now!
Once we received our license and were placed on the "open bed list," we had received two placement calls and had our current baby in our home within 24 hours. So, the need for homes is great and if you've been on the fence about getting licensed, go ahead and get started! The entire process took just over 8 months for us. We are currently licensed for up to 2 children, ages 0-3 of either gender. We told our family support coordinator that we would prefer a single newborn child, but would also be open to young sibling groups. In our home we have a nursery with a crib and daybed, as well as a spare bedroom with two twin beds, so we have plenty of space to love on these kiddos!