If you’re new to fostering then I would for sure go through the state. We fostered children through both St Josephs and the state, both were very different experiences. We actually took our fostering classes through St Joes and that was a good experience, however we were then placed (for our first experience) with a child who had severe reactive attachment disorder and had already been through dozens of failed placements. From the start it was a very rough experience. Over the course of 9 months we had multiple hospital visits, psychiatric in patient periods, etc. We were absolutely not prepared for the level of care that the child needed. We had another foster following that one that ended up exploding after a month or so with similar issues.

Once we started exploring the state option we learned that our experience wasn’t uncommon at all. The way it was explained to us, by other experienced foster parents, is that all children are initially put in to the state system. From there they will usually be placed with foster families or, depending on their level of trauma or special needs, go to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and treatment. The children who end up bouncing around to multiple foster families will often end up going to group residential programs, like St Josephs. The result is that St Josephs usually ends up with children that are much harder to place due to special needs, children that have already had several failed placements and have unfortunately built up a good deal of street smarts and emotional defenses.

When we started fostering through the state it was quite a different and much easier experience. We still heard horror stories from the social workers but we also heard, and saw, success stories.

Whichever way you go know that you’re going to experience a good deal of red tape, quite possibly some placements that aren’t a good fit, and what is most definitely an emotional roller coaster. But, if you stick with it and build up your patience, you’ll find it to be an incredibly rewarding experience, and a service that is desperately needed by so many kids.