Our adopted child's bio brother going into foster care, do we have rights?

Question

We have adopted a baby, who has a biological half brother, with the same bio mother. It appears that the brother will be going into foster care, as the parents are really s******g up, and both have addiction problems and fight all the time. The mother is living with the brother's father, not the father to our baby.

Since we adopted the baby, (closed adoption), does anyone know for certain that we would or would not have any rights to adopt the brother to our baby. He has lived in our home a short period before with his mother.

Has anyone ever had a situation like this happen? We live in Arkansas.

Answer 1

From my understanding (from being in a similar situation), you as the APs do not have rights, but your child should.  Foster care's goal is to keep siblings together whenever possible - or at least that is what they claim.  

When we learned that our son had a bio sister born after we adopted him, the sister had already been placed into foster care for several months.  We did not know at the time that the state was supposed to contact us to see if we would be willing to adopt the sister to keep the siblings together.  We were told "off the record" that it was because our son's sister was born in another state and they didn't want to give up the "bonus" they would receive for placing the sister into a permanent adoption through their own foster care program.  

We have since tried contacting the state she was adopted in to at least get important medical information to her family as our son suffers from a rare genetic disorder.  But we have not had much success with knowing for sure that they were given the information.  It saddens me to know that my son has a full blood sister out there somewhere and doesn't have a chance to know her or be with her because of state politics.  

If I were you, the minute you know the sibling has entered foster care, I would contact social services.  Be careful, because they may already be in foster care now in a program called "kinship care" if the child is staying with a relative of the family.  When talking to the social worker, I would keep referring to your own child's rights to know and/or be with his sibling.  It may be a long fight, but please don't give up.  Some days I regret not fighting harder for my son's sister.

Answer 2

No, you have no legal rights.  However, the agency may be interested in placing him with you.  Call them. Time is of the essence.  Good luck to you all!

Answer 3

I think its great you would consider this at all. I dont know what your rights are but I woud like to say I hope all goes in your favor. Your family is obviously the better one! Good luck!

Answer 4

I'm not sure if you have rights, but I could see where a judge might sway into your favor so two bio children are kept together. I'd talk to someone about adopting him and see what they say. Best of luck!

Answer 5

Sounds exactly like my situation. Yes, you have rights. Social Services prefers that siblings be placed together. Sounds awful, but I had "first choice" to take in my child's half-sibling.

I would call all the social workers and attorney's involved and let them know that you want the child. Good luck

I live in Los Angeles.

Answer 6

In most cases you will have rights IF the state decides to change his case plan to "Adoption" or "Permanency" becomes the case plan for the child...

You may be able to have him placed with you more quickly if you contact DHS or Child Protection where the child lives and let them know you wil be a resource....  You would need to get your Foster Parent Home study and certification done if the state is planning to keep the child in foster care and work with the parents....

The state is required to First Work with the parents, and help them find a way to regain their parental rights. Unless there have been Other Foster Child siblings...? I can't tell by your post if you adopted through foster care or if mom decided to relinquish her rights?

If this sibling is the first to enter Foster Care then the state will make every effort to provide the parents the chance to reunite. When this fails and the state decides the parents are unfit--unsafe or unable they will start the process of terminating the parental rights.... This usually doesn't start until a child is in Foster Care at least 16 months...

If the state decides that the child should have a plan for Adoption the state must also do a "Relative Search" and make sure that any of the child's family isn't interested and able to adopt the child. Parents of Siblings are considered as relatives. If you wanted to wait until the state decides the plan will be adoption--then you still need to contact the DHS office and let them know who you are and that you request to be considered as a "Relative Placement" or "Kinship Adoption"

You will need to have a Relative Home Study done and I would advise you contact YOUR local DHS office and inform them of the sibling--where he/she is located in foster care and that you want a relative home study done....

If you get certified for Foster Parent you may be able to have the sibling placed sooner--but, you would have to facilitate visits with parents, and do the things foster parents must do--with a chance that the parents may regain their rights...

If you let everyone know (by phone--by letter and by certified letter) that you want to adopt the child if the case plan changes then you would Likely not have the child move in until after the case plan is changed to adoption....

You will also want to get training and education in the issues this child may very well have.... We adopted siblings and our daughter was with their mother for 4 years--she has some significant emotional problems and had a very negative unhealthy start in life... Adopting the older sibling is likely to be far more Special Needs...

You may be able to have some Adoption Assistance support for the older child... No matter what you do the most important thing is to let everyone know your interest and take the steps you need to in order to be considered....

Good Luck.

Answer 7

You should contact the social service agency and mention your interest. I would be in the child's best interest to be place with a sibling if family members are not available to care for him.

Our son was place with us first. His sister was with a grandparent when that didn't work out she was place with us. Once our youngest daughter was born she too was place with us. Sibling connections are extremely important. Before our youngest was born we worried if we would have enough time and money for another baby, making it 3 under age 2. That worry disappeared as soon as we asked our selves what's more important. Giving our children money for a collage education or the opportunity to be raised with their sister.

Act fast.

Our youngest has a sister from her fdad that is in foster care. She is place in a foster home. We have always expressed interest in having them together. The social workers feel it is easier to leave her where she is because she has been their for a while.

Answer 8

The caseworker will most likely contact you if the child becomes available for adoption.  If you are interested in fostering him, you can probably go through the process to become a foster parent and talk to his caseworker.  I don't know what the possibility would be of fostering him in the meantime, but I do know that (in Oregon, at least), caseworkers see AP's of one sibling as the first resource for other siblings.  And if the other siblings do end up in other placements, they also try to get the two families in contact so that the siblings can at least know each other.  Hope this helps!

Answer 9

Legally, you have no rights.  If you can contact the placement supervisor, perhaps you might be able to at least get a chance to have the child placed with you.

Answer 10

I don’t believe you would have any rights. You adopted the brother and that does not give you rights to siblings or half siblings.  Now what you might do is contact the foster care system see if it would be possible if the child could eventually be placed with you as a foster child. Have the parent’s rights been terminated or will they be? If so and the child is eventually available for adoption you could express a want to adopt the child, if that’s what you want to do. Grant it would not guarantee anything but often foster care prefers to keep siblings together if at all possible. Though I realize these 2 were not in foster care together.

At the most perhaps you could some how keep in contact with the brothers foster family or adoptive family if he is eventually able to be adopted.

Answer 11

The court system favors keeping siblings together. I would imagine that they would like to know that you are interested. I am not sure if you have any legal rights. However I am sure you stand a great, great chance of making a huge difference in this child's life. I would not wait. This boy needs someone to love him.

Answer 12

I am not sure if you actually have any rights but I think you would have a very good chance of getting the sibling just because they are siblings. My only concern would be the child getting attached as siblings while living in your house and having the one child sent back to his parents.

Answer 13

I certainly don't see how you would have any legal recourse or any legal rights whatsoever to this child. However, you may want to contact foster care (human services) and offer to provide foster care for the child if you want to do that.

Answer 14

I don't think you have any rights per say, but if you and your hubby would be willing to become foster parents you might get preferential treatment because he has lived with you before...

Answer 15

I'm not sure if you have rights but the Foster Care system likes to keep kids placed with family members. They will probably favor you over strangers. It's hard to get kids put out there they would keep him in a shelter until they could place him. You should work on this quickly.