Bedroom sharing, child with autism

[user1469215057]

Will try and keep this brief.
We have 5 bedrooms. Large rooms. We foster and also have four children. We currently have 1 long term foster child (15) who has her own room.
My eldest daughter also has her own room.
Currently my three sons aged 14,12 and 6 share due to their choice.
However, my 12 year old son with ASD has said tonight that he would like us to move our 6 year old out of his room.
Dilemma is that we have also been asked to have 3 & 4 year foster children, and we said yes on Friday.
Thoughts? Should we turn the placement down?

It would seem reasonable to me to expect that someone in the 6, 12 and 14 year old would want to split at some point. That seems a reasonable request and one I'd like to honour, I think, assuming his reasons are sensible and the issue he has with the little one being there is not easily resolved in another way.

Whether you turn down the placement might depend partly on how long or short term it is expected to be. I guess these things tend to be unpredictable?

Thank you for the reply. Yes I think we always knew this day would come at some point.
I think my son needs a bit of a bolt hole, especially because of the ASD. He gets on very well with my eldest son, but my youngest son is a bit stubborn, and I am sure is as annoying as any younger brother. Today has been a bad day, anxiety is always high on the day before return to school for my 12 year old in particular, so his brother being in the room has particularly bothered him today.

I think this placement would last a year or two, so I need to be sure I can commit to them having the room if I take them in.

If it were my son I'd just be checking if splitting them up is a proportionate response to the problem he is having. But I think many 12 year olds would not particularly relish sharing with a much younger sibling.

I think you've done fantastically well to have them happy sharing for so long, and having a 12 and 14 year old who are still happy to share. My two were split at 4 and 2 to keep our NT child safe.

You should turn the placement down. If you can't keep your own children happy and relaxed, then you're in no place to take in any others.