Being a foster parent involves a lot of paperwork.

When we got our first placement — a sibling group of two — I did not have a good system in place for managing all of the paperwork that followed. After several months of trying a few different filing systems out, I came to the conclusion that using a binder system worked best for us.

In this episode, I am sharing my binder system for keeping our three foster kids’ paperwork organized and easily accessible, with very little maintenance once the system is in place.

To help you get started, here are the tabs I use in each of the binders.

If you are not yet a foster parent, but are preparing to become one, now is a great time to set up your binder system!

//Foster Care Binder:

Inside front cover, I have bits of info that I use regularly and don’t want to search for. This might include Medicaid ID numbers for each child, contact info for case managers, and other high-touch info.

Tabs:
Placement Agreements
Family Team Decision Meetings (FTDMs)
Court
Additional Training
Compliance Reports
Outside Services
Medical Treatment Letters
Referrals
Continuing Education
CASA/Guardian Ad Litem
Foster Care License

//Each Child’s Binder:

Tabs:
Medical Checkup Summaries
Growth Charts
Medical Testing
Vaccinations
Therapy
Dentist
Notes (i.e. behavioral notes, milestones, anything related to that child that you want to keep track of)

//School Binder:

Tabs:
Newsletters/Classroom Notes from Teacher
Correspondence from the Principal
Special Ed
School Bus
Progress Reports
Old IEPs

Hope this helps! Please leave any questions or future topics you’d like me to address in the notes.

Thanks for watching and thank you for caring about foster care!