Thanks for all of the input! It has been so long since we initally decided on public foster care, that switching to private foster care didn't really occur to me. I discussed it with my husband, and he was willing to at least investigate that, probably in August when we have some things in our lives more settled.

The only thing that is unfortunate is that in our county, things have been restructured so that the private agencies are strictly thereputic, mainly kids 7 and up with more significant issues. I think 8 is about my top limit, given my husband's concerns, and I think 5 and under would be better for us.

I don't mind and am prepared to deal with quite a bit of adjustment and initial problems. I would like to find a situation where things are settling into some type of liveable, reasonably happy routine within 2-3 years. Although if it turned out that we had a really difficult child, we are willing to deal with it, we are not looking for a situation where our home lives are completely upended for the rest of our lives (I know, who is?) I suppose that this is part of the point of doing this as foster care, if the situation is not right, we just don't adopt them. Is there any chance of fostering the kind of kid we want to adopt through thereputic foster care? I am not sure that I am up to some of the deeply troubled kids that I have heard stories about.

Here is the agency we would probably look at: www.hillside.com/Join/foster.htm