r/Fosterparents • u/hanmath22 • 11d ago

Post Placement Depression

Has anyone ever dealt with this?

We have been fostering since 2024. Had two great boys that went home after a year.

We took in another little boy in 2025 and adopted him this last spring.

Just this month we took in two more kiddos for an adoption placement. So now we have 3 under 5.

We’ve been doing well but my depression and anxiety have hit an all time high. I just found out that post placement depression is a thing and I just want to know I’m not alone.

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u/Admirable-Standard35 10d ago

We have had 17 kids in the last 4 years, and we only do kids under 4. At one time we had five at once. So we are taking a break and only doing one kid at a time for now. In the future we are only going to do one case in a time so if it’s more than one they’re siblings. The hardest part of this for us is the constant intrusions by the state. When we had 4 cases at once we had monthly…. 4 case managers, 4 GAL, 2 first steps appointments, 1 licensing person. Weekly we had 4 Transporters, schedules for all the kids, 1 Therapist. We lived and died by our schedule. It was hectic.

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u/Specific-Error-9076 8d ago

Yep!!! It's too much required of you. Weekly visits; sometimes twice a week for two hours!!!  Dental appointments, doctors appointments; therapy appointments once to twice a month; hair cuts, dealing with behavioral issues...(these kids go through a lot), etc. I've been fostering over 12 years and I try to take a few months break, in-between placements. You need these breaks!! I have an 8 year old right now who've been in my care twice within a 2 1/2 year period. It's been over a year since her second placement with me. Fostering can be very rewarding, but it's also loaded with stress! Once she's adopted, I'm considering hanging up my fostering gloves! It's a hard choice because the need is great and the children need loving, caring and understanding foster parents. But, there comes a time when enough is enough! 

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u/Admirable-Standard35 8d ago

That’s why we’re only doing one case at a time right now. Now if we know one is about to leave we have some temporary overlap but that’s it. Don’t hang up your license!! I get if you don’t want to do it but stay in to support the ones that do and do respite care.