Foster Care

[charliej47]

I am going through the process to become certified for Foster Care.

One of the items on the "Home Study" list is that all weapons must be stored under lock or in a safe and in "inoperable" condition. The ammo may not be stored with the weapons.

I asked the inspector what that meant and was told that the weapons could not be loaded. I'm not sure that is correct, but I also know that I am not going to dismantle them.

Anyone have any idea on this?

[gfrlaser]

Sounds like they want them not only in a safe, but rendered useless as well. Maybe a trigger lock is the best bet. Better than having them unloaded. Still....... no fun.

[BriKuz]

Big dif from when I was in foster care... used to (with permission, of course) of grab the Mauser and put 10 or 20 rounds downrange just for the heck of it, then clean and put it back away... we won't even mention how many rounds of .22 left the 8 shot revolver... of course, to tell the truth, some of the kids I knew in foster care you wouldn't want NEAR a firearm...

[JediSkipdogg]

Are you going through a county or private foster care agency? Big difference in rules and regulations for the two.

[TJW815]

I'm not really able to offer any help with what your doing, but, I do wanted to commend you on willingness to help out unfortunate children. There is definitely a need in our area.

[charliej47]

Are you going through a county or private foster care agency? Big difference in rules and regulations for the two.

Butler County!

[JediSkipdogg]

If it's the county, then I would say that violates 9.68 and they don't have the authority to mandate that.

[WestonDon]

If it's the county, then I would say that violates 9.68 and they don't have the authority to mandate that.

I'd say you are correct. Can they deny certification if he fails to do so? I bet they could find a way to do so.

[JediSkipdogg]

If it's the county, then I would say that violates 9.68 and they don't have the authority to mandate that.

I'd say you are correct. Can they deny certification if he fails to do so? I bet they could find a way to do so.

They could which is why it's a touchy area to even fight. My girlfriend does the foster care work for Highland county and they can deny for almost any reason. I call it the "vibe denial." Now, you can go through any county. So, if you like to travel some, Highland County is always looking for good parents and I can put you in touch with them.

[JediSkipdogg]

Interestingly, I talked to the girlfriend on this and there is a section of the OAC that describes exactly what you are saying....

5101:2-7-12 Site and safety requirements for a foster home.

(F) A foster home shall comply with the following requirements regarding weapons:
.....(1) The following weapons kept on the grounds of or in a foster home shall be stored in an inoperative condition in a locked area inaccessible to children:
..........(a) Firearms.
..........(b) Air rifles.
..........(c) Hunting slingshots.
..........(d) Any other projectile weapon.
.....(2) All ammunition, arrows or projectiles for such weapons shall be stored in a separate locked space.
.....(3) Any foster caregiver who is also a law enforcement official and can document that their jurisdiction requires them to have ready and immediate access to their weapon shall be exempt from the requirements of this paragraph.

She says how stringent each of those are is up to the inspector. She says one state inspector that sometimes does the inspection to insure the county inspectors are doing it right is very anal when it comes to firearms. She says he once removed a home temporarily from the list due to a model firearm that was hanging on the wall. The item didn't even fire, but since it wasn't stored away, it violated the above.

[charliej47]

I talked to the person that came out to my home for the inspection and I asked them the average time to get certified. They told me it was taking 3 to 5 months.

We talked about the problem the state was having on finding people to become foster parents and she told me that it is now required that you sign up as foster/adopt and not just foster.

I have been told that if you sign for just foster, you will not get approved. They now want to have children that they have control of out of the foster system within three years.

They are now moving these children into group homes and they are having a lot of problems with the group homes.

[JediSkipdogg]

The system is overloaded but I do not believe that's true on the foster/adopt. I'll ask my girlfriend later tonight about that. She does say the system is overloaded though. It's overloaded with kids and homes. There's not enough homes for the kids and not enough employees to certify and keep up with the homes. My girlfriend quite often works 10-12 hour days and gets yelled at for it. But when a person in say Butler County takes a Highland County child, she has to drive the 90 minutes to do the home inspections. Unfortunately, sterilization isn't an option yet so people would stop having the kids.

[charliej47]

During the winter we took the mandatory 36 hours of classes down in Cincinnati. It was during one of these classes that this was brought up. While it is not official, they are strongly pushing the adoption angle.

Because they have become so stringent on their requirements, people are turning away from fostering. Because of this, they try really hard to place the kids with a family member whenever possible.

[CroManGun]

During the winter we took the mandatory 36 hours of classes down in Cincinnati. It was during one of these classes that this was brought up. While it is not official, they are strongly pushing the adoption angle.

Because they have become so stringent on their requirements, people are turning away from fostering. Because of this, they try really hard to place the kids with a family member whenever possible.

This needs more publicity; they're always crying about a shortage of foster homes. Seems the shortage is self-generated by the agencies themselves!

[JediSkipdogg]

This needs more publicity; they're always crying about a shortage of foster homes. Seems the shortage is self-generated by the agencies themselves!

It's generated by the idiots that have the kids and then the idiots that want to foster the kids just for the money. Debating that exact aspect she said a lot is controlled by public pressure to do something after a major foster care incident. So then they make it tougher for others. You'd be amazed how often they yank kids. I think my girlfriend is called 2-3 times a month to yank kids from a foster home after the caregivers are arrested for something. Kinda sad when you think Highland County doesn't have as much as say Butler or Hamilton County.

Not saying this is what the OP is doing, but it's very profitable IMO. Butler County gets about $25 per day per kid, then something like $100 per month for clothing. So you get something like $10,000 a year for each kid, plus lots of options for more money when it comes to mileage. I've had people where I work call that their child has run away or call us for a domestic at the house then beg us not to do a report on it. Essentially, they want us to do it all off the books because if the agency finds out they can remove the child and revoke the license. Essentially, they are in it for the money only. Kind of sad if you ask me. But those abuses to the system punish the good ones.