How does adoption through foster care work, do you get to watch foster kid for awhile to see how it works.?

Question

How does adoption through foster care work, do you get to watch foster kid for awhile to see how it works.?

Answer 1

First you would contact your local Foster care office. Ask them when an informational meeting is coming up. You attend, and they tell you about the various programs that they have, how they work, and what you will need to provide, and the classes of theirs that you will need to attend to complete their program. You will be assigned a home worker, attend classes, and complete a home study.

There are a couple of different programs for adoption. One is for Special needs (Which can include hard to adopt children based on race, and age.) Another is Medically fragile, which are children that have disabilities.  Both of those programs are straight out adoption. I'm not aware of how exactly they work. You probably spend some time with them, and get to know each other before making the decision.

Then there is such a thing as Concurrent Planning. Which is placing a child with you that more than likely will not go back home. The goal of the Cabinet is normally to reunify with the parents. However, there are situations where biological parents more than likely will not get their children back. Children that have been abandoned in the Safe Haven Law, children of parents that have a history of losing their other children and not doing the work to get them back, etc.

These children can be placed with you prior to the termination of the rights of the birth parents. Some are coming quickly, some have just started.  Some are newborns, and the process is just beginning.  Most of the time Concurrent homes are protected by the workers, and are only given cases that are very very likely to go to adoption.  

It is a wonderful program. The cost is basically nothing.

As you are given a subsidy for the child while the child is a foster child in your home. While the child is a foster child, they also will carry your State's medical insurance. Then when the Adoption is ready, the State normally pays all adoption costs.

It's a rewarding experience.

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I have to disagree with the post below me that says babies are hard to come by. Both of my children were given to me straight from the hospital. The wait time?  As soon as I signed up I was given my first baby. The second baby was because they didn't have anywhere else to put him. There weren't enough homes. I wasn't even open.  You can narrow down your ages, your exposures, your problems etc. It may take a little more time, it may take no time at all.  Babies are everywhere. If I called today and said I wanted another baby, I would have another in my home in a week tops.  It's that fast. There aren't enough homes to fill the need.

Answer 2

My parents are foster parents and acutally ended up adopting one of the kids, and are on their way to adopting two brothers that have been living in their home for a year.  When you start out in foster care sometimes they are looking for permanent care and sometimes the kids just need a place to stay while the parents get themselves together.  Sometimes a temporary placement can turn into a permanent placement if the parents don't get it together.  If the foster care agency wants permanent placement then they will tell you it upfront.  Some foster parents don't plan on adopting other kids so a permanent placement is not right for them, others want to adopt.  They will live in your home for a year or two and if everything is going all right, the foster parents might have the option to adopt.

Answer 3

I am  a Foster Parent that is in the process of adopting an 8 year old.  He has been with us for a year and a half already.  Here's how it works.  If you are a foster/adopt home, your case worker will try and place a child/children with you in your home.  All foster placements are different in so many ways.  Long story short if you are a foster parent, you have the first choice if your foster child comes up for adoption to be the first family to be asked.  As a foster parent you do not have to pay for the adoption like you would an individual outside adoption.  You also choose your ages.  Don't try for a baby, because they are far and few between.  We are waiting for parental rights to be terminated and in this phase to be able to adopt our son  it will take another year.  They've been in care for 2 years already. So you see it takes a while.  Alll Foster children come with their own set of problems.  We've had over 175 children and this is the first one that we want to adopt.  This is over the past 17 years also.  He's a keeper!  Even if he does have adhd.  We love him with all our hearts.  Good Luck!  I hope i didn't scare you off.  It's all worth it in the end!

Answer 4

I know people who are doing foster/adopt.  They provide foster care when the state calls them.  The state also knows that they'd like to adopt.  The state tries to place children with them who will be more likely to become available for adoption, but it doesn't always work out that way...a lot of foster kids are reunited with birth parents.

They also look at http://www.adoptuskids.org to see if there are any kids listed who they might be able to/want to seek out for adoption.

Answer 5

If you are a foster parent and the child or children living with you have thier parental rights terminated and there are no other biologiocal family members willing to adopt, you are USUALLY the first place they will look as an adoptive placement.  (I say usually because not every agency works this way.)

If you strictly want to adopt, you can look at websites of foster children who are avaliable for adoption.  There are photo-listings you can check out like www.adoptuskids.org and state photo-listings.  I'm not sure about every state, but in Pa, most children have visits with a potential adoptive family to determine if they are compatible and then live with the family for months before anything is finalized.  For instance, the agency will pick the family they think is best from the profiles they recieve.  Then they will do visits with that family and if everything works out, the adoption will be finalized.  This is sort of over siplified, but this is just to give you an idea.

Answer 6

In New Jersey, fost-adopt (which is foster care with the intent to adopt if the child becomes available) means you have a foster child placed with you.  You raise them while the birth parent is trying to get their life back together.  If the birth parent fails to make the changes necessary to be a good parent, the child becomes available for adoption.  You, as the foster parent, get to adopt the child.  If for some reason you are unable or unwilling to adopt, the child is then available for a "select home" adoption - adoption by a family that has been waiting to adopt but has not wanted to foster.

Some times the placements don't work out and the children have to be moved to other homes, but that is not the usual case.  When it does work out, it means you have had a longer time to love your child rather than having to wait until they were legally cleared for adoption.  Sometimes that wait can be several years.

Answer 7

FOSTER CARE IS WHEN YOU TAKE CARE OF A CHILD UNTIL THEY FIND PERMENTANT PLACEMENT.....ADOPTION IS WHERE YOU ARE THE PERMENTANT PLACEMENT. SOMETIMES YOU START AS ONE AND END AS THE OTHER.

Answer 8

Adoption through foster care is not always possible.  In most cases all is done to reunite the children with their parents.  There are times when you can adopt a foster child but most times you can not.  If  you do foster care remember that.  You are helping a kid or kids until there parents can take care of them again.