K Ba of Local, ME A lady in Gardiner has been fostering kids for years. Her house is the worst one in the neighborhood, it reeks of cigarettes, and the yard it a complete dump, not to mention the falling down barn attached to it that she keeps stuff in for the kids. While a nice person, doesn't the State inspect these home beyond the initial approval inspection? My friends went through the red tape of "you need this kind of door knob and this room needs to be divided and made private" and each kids gets their own room and so on. They were to make changes they could not afford to do but were excellent people with long term jobs and good children. They eventually gave up. Every time I drive past that house I can't believe it has foster kids living in it.report abuse

Jumper of Farmingdale, ME NOBAMA AINT 4 ME Times--I do think that things have gotten easier; however, I would like to take the opportunity to explain a little bit about why becoming a foster/adoptive parent is so difficult. The process is a double edged sword in a way b/c we are desperate for more foster parents but we also want to make sure that they are quality foster parents. There is no perfect way to have all good foster parents, but the process "weeds out" those that may not be the best of foster parents. Foster parenting is much different then parenting your own children, in that a lot of these kids have tremendous issues and behaviors...i.e sexualized behaviors, fire setting, etc (all of the trainings discuss this and again weed out some that wouldn't be able to handle this and teach others how to handle this). The trainings also teach of the great expectations of foster parenting, for example reunification process. So, yes the process is frustrating, but it is for the benefit of the children who deserve quality foster parents (you know someone who will be there for them through good and bad) and deserve to stay in one place and not be bounced around.report abuse

NOBAMA AINT 4 ME Times of AUGUSTA, ME I DONT KNOW IF ITS GOTTEN ANY EASIER, BUT ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO, MY WIFE AND I WANTED TO FOSTER CHILDREN, WE HAD TO GO THROUGH LOTS OF RED TAPE AND GO FOR WEEKS OF CLASSES WITHOUT MISSING ANY! BOTH HAD TO ATTEND AT ALL TIMES, IT WAS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR BOTH OF US TO NOT MISS ANY BECAUSE OF CERTAIN PLANS THAT MIGHT ARISE, OUR LOVE AND GUIDANCE FOR CHILDREN CANNOT BE TAUGHT IN THIS PROGRAM YOU WENT THROUGH FOR MANY WEEKS, WE WERE FOSTER PARENTS ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO, SO WE HAD KNOWLEDGE, BUT NONE OF THAT COUNTED...SO SAD TO SAY, WE COULD NOT PROCEED:(report abuse