How do you start the process of adopting though fostering children?

Question

How long do you have to foster before you can adopt ? Do you still get money to take care of the child even thou the parents rights are being taken away soon and you will be adopting soon?

Answer 1

The information I have is for the state of South Dakota, we are foster parents.  As far as how long you have to be foster parents before you adopt, there isn't a set time, in fact you can tell your social worker that you only want to foster children that will likely be available for adoption.  Even then there are no set time frames.  For example, we have a little guy I picked up from the hospital.....he is now 6 months old.  It is pretty clear that he will not be going back to birthmom, but we still have at least another 6 months before we even know if he is going to be available for adoption, and after that it could be another year or two before any thing is official.  Foster care is not the easiest way to go about adoption.  

As far as the money factor.  Foster care is not a money making proposition.  We receive a check for $14.98 a day.  Out of that check we buy everything for the little guy.  Diaper, Wipes, food, clothes, laundry detergant, etc.  Needless to say there isn't a ton of money left over at the end of the month.  The biggest blessing is that their health care is taken care of by the state.  

As far as receiving the money after they are adopted, no.  There is a way that you can still receive the health care benefits, but the monthly check stops once the child has your last name.

Answer 2

The foster-adopt program is not a guarantee.  You must go into as a foster parent. Period.  Maybe you'll get to adopt.  Maybe not.

All children in the foster-care system receive a support check.

Answer 3

Foster to adopt is a tough thing to do because you have to understand that the child can be taken from your home and given back to it's birth parents.  You must state when you stat  to foster that you want to foster to adopt because it is totally diff. paper then just fostering.  It is a process and you should go and talk to a case worker I had to take class's on foster parentsing and also do cpr and do a home study and a full dr. exam on my husband and my self but it was all worth it for use because just after a few months which is VERY fast we got a baby boy he was only days old so we were his foster parents and know he is ours he is the light of my life I am sooo happy we decided to take the chance.  I could not imagine not haveing him in my life he was meant to be in our family I think and that is why it only took a few months.  Anyway we adopted but not till he was 15 months old that took along time but he never left us.  I did get a check for him and his medical insurance paid for each child get's a diffrent amount of money depending on him and the foster parents.  Know I adopted my son and he still gets his check from the state till he is 18 he also has his medical benefits paid till he is 18 also.  Hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 4

What you need to do is talk to your case worker or the people who placed the child with you. If the parents have no rights then you can start the adoption process pretty easy, but if you have to get the parents to reliquish custody it can be brutal.(we wanted to adopt one of our kids we fostered but the parents blocked it AND we lost the little girl from our care just to be sent to another foster home) IF you don't have any problems, you will still get Foster compensation until your adoption is final..unless you live in a state where they take the child to another home until the adoption is finalized, but again your caseworker can tell you all the details for your situation. Just don't get your child's hopes up until you know how things will play out. We told ours that we were going to make her part of our family and then the next thing she knew she was being sent to a new home. It was just so cruel.  I wish I could be more help, but I wish you all the luck!

Answer 5

You can find out how to become a foster parent, what the stipend for care is and how long a child is generally with a family before adoption can take place if the parental rights are ultimately terminated by going to your state's child welfare system website.  You can Google your state and put in search terms like child protective services and your state name to find the agency...or look in the blue pages of your phone book.

Generally the stipend stops once you adopt.  In some states it will continue until the child is 18 if you adopt a special needs child.  In our state a child is considered special needs if they're white and over age 7, African American and over the age of 3 (I think), part of a sibling group or has some kind of disability or special educational, emotional or physical need.

SG