Fostering a child with complex medical needs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Today we had the opportunity to talk further with our social worker in person. We learned that the medical team wants the major procedure to be scheduled when school gets out in a little over a month, meaning that we will have time to bond with the siblings and get to know them beforehand. Right now, the medically complex child looks and acts just like a healthy child and has no symptoms or mobility issues other than minor pains and mild learning disabilities, and he will deal with a loss of independence/new mobility issues while recovering and for several months or potentially years afterward. There is the possibility he will be in the PICU for a few days/weeks depending on side effects from the procedure, which would obviously put a lot of stress on or family unit, but they are hopeful that he will be able to stabilize and not have to be in the PICU at all. The medical team is anticipating he will be able to return to school on a regular schedule in the fall, although he will need an absence accommodation added to his 504 so that he/we are not penalized for the number of absences he will obtain from all of his follow-up appointments/procedures. The occupational therapist would come to our home/his school after he is discharged but we would need to transport him to physical therapy almost every day. We were informed that we could get an in-home nurse come if we so choose so. We were told that it is very likely that he will completely heal and not have any permanent mobility issues, but that there is always the chance that he is not able to make a full recovery/be 100% back to his normal self. A lot of it depends on the gravity of the side effects; on top of the side effects from the procedures themselves, he will also be on very strong medication with lots of side effects.

Our social worker also discussed details about their previous placement and personal things about the kids. I am starting to fall more and more in love with these kids, and I really want them to have a safe and stable home that I know we can provide. We have until the end of the week to make a final decision, and we are both leaning towards yes.

It would be helpful to know what condition and surgery this is.

I don't for a moment believe they have nursing services. I have Tricare and couldn't get a non-nursing care provider to our house for respite hours for about 1 year. The wages were too low.

Tricare is different from Medicaid but it will be a struggle to find someone good and reliable on a minimum wage.

You need to consider the daily therapies - if there are two a day, one you drive for how will that work along with follow up doctor appointments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Right now my biggest concern is that he will be immunocompromised, which would change some of our usual summer activities, although DD is very go-with-the-flow. We began to talk with her today about the possibility of them moving in and how that would change our family life and she seems excited to have other kids in the house again.

This child is going to limit many things about what you do especially if there are multiple therapy appointments a week plus doctors' appointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Today we had the opportunity to talk further with our social worker in person. We learned that the medical team wants the major procedure to be scheduled when school gets out in a little over a month, meaning that we will have time to bond with the siblings and get to know them beforehand. Right now, the medically complex child looks and acts just like a healthy child and has no symptoms or mobility issues other than minor pains and mild learning disabilities, and he will deal with a loss of independence/new mobility issues while recovering and for several months or potentially years afterward. There is the possibility he will be in the PICU for a few days/weeks depending on side effects from the procedure, which would obviously put a lot of stress on or family unit, but they are hopeful that he will be able to stabilize and not have to be in the PICU at all. The medical team is anticipating he will be able to return to school on a regular schedule in the fall, although he will need an absence accommodation added to his 504 so that he/we are not penalized for the number of absences he will obtain from all of his follow-up appointments/procedures. The occupational therapist would come to our home/his school after he is discharged but we would need to transport him to physical therapy almost every day. We were informed that we could get an in-home nurse come if we so choose so. We were told that it is very likely that he will completely heal and not have any permanent mobility issues, but that there is always the chance that he is not able to make a full recovery/be 100% back to his normal self. A lot of it depends on the gravity of the side effects; on top of the side effects from the procedures themselves, he will also be on very strong medication with lots of side effects.

Our social worker also discussed details about their previous placement and personal things about the kids. I am starting to fall more and more in love with these kids, and I really want them to have a safe and stable home that I know we can provide. We have until the end of the week to make a final decision, and we are both leaning towards yes.

It would be helpful to know what condition and surgery this is.

I don't for a moment believe they have nursing services. I have Tricare and couldn't get a non-nursing care provider to our house for respite hours for about 1 year. The wages were too low.

The SW made it seem like attempting to get a in-home nurse would be an uphill battle but that the option was there for us. I’m not entirely sure that an in-home nurse would be worth it for us as his primary issues are mobility issues (he won’t have a feeding tube/trach/super complicated medical equipment). He would be at an increased risk of nighttime seizures due to the medication which is why the nurse was an option.

Make sure its in place before you accept the child. It would be very rare for it to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Today we had the opportunity to talk further with our social worker in person. We learned that the medical team wants the major procedure to be scheduled when school gets out in a little over a month, meaning that we will have time to bond with the siblings and get to know them beforehand. Right now, the medically complex child looks and acts just like a healthy child and has no symptoms or mobility issues other than minor pains and mild learning disabilities, and he will deal with a loss of independence/new mobility issues while recovering and for several months or potentially years afterward. There is the possibility he will be in the PICU for a few days/weeks depending on side effects from the procedure, which would obviously put a lot of stress on or family unit, but they are hopeful that he will be able to stabilize and not have to be in the PICU at all. The medical team is anticipating he will be able to return to school on a regular schedule in the fall, although he will need an absence accommodation added to his 504 so that he/we are not penalized for the number of absences he will obtain from all of his follow-up appointments/procedures. The occupational therapist would come to our home/his school after he is discharged but we would need to transport him to physical therapy almost every day. We were informed that we could get an in-home nurse come if we so choose so. We were told that it is very likely that he will completely heal and not have any permanent mobility issues, but that there is always the chance that he is not able to make a full recovery/be 100% back to his normal self. A lot of it depends on the gravity of the side effects; on top of the side effects from the procedures themselves, he will also be on very strong medication with lots of side effects.

Our social worker also discussed details about their previous placement and personal things about the kids. I am starting to fall more and more in love with these kids, and I really want them to have a safe and stable home that I know we can provide. We have until the end of the week to make a final decision, and we are both leaning towards yes.

It would be helpful to know what condition and surgery this is.

I don't for a moment believe they have nursing services. I have Tricare and couldn't get a non-nursing care provider to our house for respite hours for about 1 year. The wages were too low.

The SW made it seem like attempting to get a in-home nurse would be an uphill battle but that the option was there for us. I’m not entirely sure that an in-home nurse would be worth it for us as his primary issues are mobility issues (he won’t have a feeding tube/trach/super complicated medical equipment). He would be at an increased risk of nighttime seizures due to the medication which is why the nurse was an option.

Make sure its in place before you accept the child. It would be very rare for it to happen.

During the time that this child will be recovering they will be a foster child, which means that they will have Medicaid. Medicaid will cover nursing services, although my experience is that the nurses may change frequently, so you will constantly have strangers in your home. Having different caregivers so early in an adoptive placement may also make attachment very difficult.

As someone who has done something similar, with a child who was a biological relative, just be aware that this can be both rewarding and very very stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: We have been foster parents for three years and have a biological child in early elementary school. We are currently in between placements and a few days ago our agency informed us of a sibling set of two children close in age to our child, although they are all in separate grades. One of the children in the sibling set was recently diagnosed with a severe medical condition. The child will need to be hospitalized for several weeks due to an invasive procedure and then, after discharge, will have daily therapies (OT, PT, etc), appointments, and other minor procedures for an undetermined amount of time. The prognosis is good, but we have been informed that the treatment will most likely cause chronic health conditions. Most of our former placements have been short-term placements but this situation is very unique as the parental rights have already been terminated and we could adopt the siblings.

My husband has a fairly healthy work/life balance and I work for myself and have a flexible schedule for appointments. I also worked in healthcare before I began working for myself, so I think we are in a better position than most to be able to care for a medically complex child. Our biggest concern is whether or not we have the bandwidth. This is not our first time with a sibling set, but obviously this is a different situation. We are worried that we would turn our child and the other sibling into “glass children.” We really want to say yes as we know this is a difficult placement, but we want to know if there is anything we should take into consideration before we make a final decision.

I would pass