Disney and Foster Children

[Disney_Angel]

We are now only 35 days away from our trip. A relatives child was place in foster care and we are trying to get her in a kinship care arrangement.
We may get her as early as this weekend. My question is will Disney allow me to add her on to our reservation this late? We got the free dining and upgraded to the DxDP. All our dining reservations are in place for party of three. And we made them 180 days out. I do not know what to do. I would just feel awful leaving her behind with my parents. She has never been to Disney and I know she would LOVE to come with us. Does Disney have a policy for this and who do I call and what documentation will I need. Any foster parents out there?
Please help!!!

 

[Ohio Disney Girl]

I would love to know this also as we have started our foster classes and wondered what would happen if a child was placed with us before our trip???

 

[mom2zandjsquared]

I would say as far as dining goes you should be able to add her on to your reservations (since you are a party of 3 sitting at a table for a party of 4). As far as adding her on that would probably not pan out but it never hurts to call Disney and ask; they may just be able to sprinkle a little pixie dust onto your vacation.

 

[The Disney Bunch]

Call & ask - you never know until you ask.

 

[frtchr]

I have no idea, but I really applaud you and everyone else who fosters or cares for kids like that. I think you're amazing!!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Just wanted to say...make sure you inquire if the child placed with you will be ALLOWED to go to Disney. Different states have different rules about out of state travel for foster children. Ask the child's social worker about the rules for your state.

 

[OhioAriel]

We are 35 days away from our trip as well and just last week we added my Mom to it. There were no problems with her getting the free dining plan that was already in the package we booked a long time ago. And we only had to change one of our ADR's, at the Biergarten and it was only a 15 minute change.
You should just call and ask. I hope they are as flexible with you as they were with us! Good luck!
I really admire your willingness to be a foster parent! And as a PP said you should definitely check to make sure the foster child would be able to cross state lines with you.

 

[Disney_Angel]

I have no idea, but I really applaud you and everyone else who fosters or cares for kids like that. I think you're amazing!!!

Thanks...but we are just ordinary people living in an extraordinary world.

However I did get grass stains out of white capris today and that is pretty amazing.

 

[JoanneGreco]

Just wanted to say hello. We adopted three children out of foster care in 2003. They were siblings and had been in the system for four years when we adopted them. They were 5, 8 & 11 when we adopted them. We're going to Disney in October to celebrate our five year adoption anniversary!

 

[gemanda]

We've now done 2 WDW trips with a foster little one...chiming in with what we've done/found...

We are now only 35 days away from our trip. A relatives child was place in foster care and we are trying to get her in a kinship care arrangement.
We may get her as early as this weekend. My question is will Disney allow me to add her on to our reservation this late? We got the free dining and upgraded to the DxDP. All our dining reservations are in place for party of three. And we made them 180 days out. I do not know what to do. I would just feel awful leaving her behind with my parents. She has never been to Disney and I know she would LOVE to come with us. Does Disney have a policy for this and who do I call and what documentation will I need. Any foster parents out there?
Please help!!!

I don't know if Disney has an official policy or not. Never hurts to ask. May be tough to add to ADRs, but who knows.

For documentation...you should receive some sort of foster contract from the county/state. Carry that with you. Also make sure you have something notarized saying that you can take the child out of state. Have all the medical information in case of emergency. Nothing too major.

I would love to know this also as we have started our foster classes and wondered what would happen if a child was placed with us before our trip???

When we make our ressies, we always make them for our maximum household based on our license. That way, if we're completely full, we're good to go.

Our first trip with our foster baby, it was decided less than 2 weeks before our trip that she was coming with us. Luckily, our ressies and ADRs were fine, we just needed to grab a plane ticket for her.

Just wanted to say...make sure you inquire if the child placed with you will be ALLOWED to go to Disney. Different states have different rules about out of state travel for foster children. Ask the child's social worker about the rules for your state.

Very true. Rules have recently changed here; we now have to have both the bio parents' and a judge's approval to go out of state. Takes a ton of planning and requesting permission forms and affidavits 6-8 weeks out.

 

[PoohGal05]

I am so excited to see this thread about children in foster care and families who are planning on going to Disney. This afternoon, I had a home study done to be a foster parent.

 

[badblackpug]

I don't think form a WDW point of view it will be any trouble to add a child to your reservations. The room's maximum occupancy will probably be 4 and, right now, you only have 3. As a PP said, you dining reservations will also probably be for a table for 4. As you will be fostering a relative's child it may be easier to get permission to take the child than it would be to take a "standard" foster child.

 

[Disney_Angel]

I am so excited to see this thread about children in foster care and families who are planning on going to Disney. This afternoon, I had a home study done to be a foster parent.

You are awesome to be helping a child in need!!! Your willingness to care for a child will touch their lives in ways you can not imagine.
The DH and I wish you the best.

 

[Disney_Angel]

Just wanted to say...make sure you inquire if the child placed with you will be ALLOWED to go to Disney. Different states have different rules about out of state travel for foster children. Ask the child's social worker about the rules for your state.

Thank you for this valuable piece of information. We will need to get permission from mom and dad. Which they both said no problem too. The social worker said that we would not need permission from a judge but we did need a letter from the agency oking the trip. She did go on the to say it would have been more complicated had this not been a kinship care arrangement. Now we just need to get her here. The red tape is awful....but I am sure very necessary.

I hope we could keep this thread open for other foster famlies who like to visit Disney.

 

[Disney_Angel]

We are 35 days away from our trip as well and just last week we added my Mom to it. There were no problems with her getting the free dining plan that was already in the package we booked a long time ago. And we only had to change one of our ADR's, at the Biergarten and it was only a 15 minute change.
You should just call and ask. I hope they are as flexible with you as they were with us! Good luck!
I really admire your willingness to be a foster parent! And as a PP said you should definitely check to make sure the foster child would be able to cross state lines with you.

Thanks for the tip! I hope we will not have any problems.

 

[Disney_Angel]

We've now done 2 WDW trips with a foster little one...chiming in with what we've done/found...



I don't know if Disney has an official policy or not. Never hurts to ask. May be tough to add to ADRs, but who knows.

For documentation...you should receive some sort of foster contract from the county/state. Carry that with you. Also make sure you have something notarized saying that you can take the child out of state. Have all the medical information in case of emergency. Nothing too major.



When we make our ressies, we always make them for our maximum household based on our license. That way, if we're completely full, we're good to go.

Our first trip with our foster baby, it was decided less than 2 weeks before our trip that she was coming with us. Luckily, our ressies and ADRs were fine, we just needed to grab a plane ticket for her.



Very true. Rules have recently changed here; we now have to have both the bio parents' and a judge's approval to go out of state. Takes a ton of planning and requesting permission forms and affidavits 6-8 weeks out.

THANK YOU! I knew I could not be the only one who had to make some last minute adjustments. I just hope she is in our care soon!

 

[bayleebugs_mom]

I am a social worker and I just finished filing out paperwork for two of my foster kids to go to Disney! I am amazed daily by my foster parents who take their foster children with them on vacation! Just make sure if the children are placed with you that you have a court order or documentation stating that you have permission to have them with you. Some judges will award some type of custody to a relative to cover them legally, others just consider it a placement. Make sure for your sake you have the appropriate paperwork.

To all of you that are taking foster care classes or are already foster parents THANK YOU so much for what you do!!!!! You guys are amazing and make my job easier!!!!

 

[LilLisaLou]

We have just been asked to consider a sibling set of three. We already have our WDW plans in place for October. We would take them with us of course. What do I need to do to make sure that it's okay? Ask their caseworker?

I live in CA and will be doing a week of respite care for two small children b/c their foster parents are going out of town for their son's wedding. Do you think that it's okay if I take them to Disneyland? It's just about 45 minutes away. Should I check with the foster mom and the caseworker? Do I need any special documentation?

Are there any tips I should know? Is it okay if I take pictures of them? I was thinking maybe I could get one of the souvenir photo albums and just be sure to take a lot of pictures of just the two of them (it's a sibling set of two) so they could take it back with them. They are 7 and almost 2.

 

[PoohGal05]

Okay, I have a question/scenario that maybe someone can help with. My family (Mom and myself) are planning on going to Disney next August. I will be booking our trip at the end of September. I am thinking I will have my foster child by then, if not sooner than that (I'm excited, but that's another story !) Anyway, as I am doing contract foster care which means I will be doing an infant, that means long term foster care so there isn't the extra placement for the infant. I don't know how long the child will have been in foster care (although I'm sure I could ask and get the information). CFC could be as long as 18 months. My concern is putting the child on our reservations, then prior to us leaving, the child going back to his bio family. As their are many infants and toddlers waiting for home placements, I do know if the child were to go back to his bio family, I would get another one right away.

With that being said, are airlines now requiring passengers who are flying with infants and toddler to purchase a seat for them?

Just sitting here typing, if a child that was placed on our reservations goes back to his family before our trip, I could just wait until we get back from Disney for another placement, since Disney doesn't charge for under 2s anyway as of right now.

Can I just say again, how I am LOVING this thread?!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

To the last two posters. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you absolutely have to check with the case worker for the child to make sure it's ok to take them out of state. There are many issues at play. The state has to ok (and in some cases, a judge has to approve your travel). There is an issue if the child gets sick out of state because they will have state medicaid and will not be covered if you didn't have state permission to travel. Also, most children in foster care have regular visitation with their bio parents and if a trip interfers with visits, you'll need permission from the BIO family to go too.

BTW, You don't have to buy airfare for children under two.