Regarding the USA foster care system, do you think it would change anything if...?

Question

after a certain age, the children legally adopt their parents instead of having the parents adopt the child? I know it sounds weird, but what if?

Answer 1

Ok, that doesn't make any sense.  The problem with adoption in the foster care system is that by the time children are free for adoption they are often older (9 or up) and most people want younger children.  There are also children with special needs or sibling groups that need to be kept together which are harder to place.  Adoption workers put a lot of work into matching families and children.  They spend a period of time visiting before the child is placed in the home and then they have to wait a minimum of 6 months once the child is in the home.  Its not like going to the pound to pick out a puppy-you don't just say "hey, I'll take that one".  The placement process actually works well, the foster care system just needs more families who are willing to adopt older, less then perfect, or multiple children.

Answer 2

Many of us who were in foster care needed to feel as though someone wanted us.  I was in no shape ready to commit to a relationship myself - I needed my foster parents to take the steps to adopt me.  I also don't think I could have waited until I was old enough to make that decision - I needed the stability and permanency early on - not when I reached a certain age.  I needed to feel like I belonged.

Answer 3

In our state the children who are able to voice what they expect for a family can do so... our daughter was old enough and the state selected a family that met the requirements she said were important to her.

Once the state has selected a child if they are old enough to read the "Family Book" the parents or family make it is given to the child before the meet the family...as well as anything else like a video tape.

After placement there is in most states a least a 6-month post placement time period and we met with the childrens worker every month as well as the CASA. During post placement the child could decided they don't really feel it is the family the need.

When we adopted our daughter the ceremony with the judge was more like a wedding and we did adopt each other as a family and just like I did when I married daddy we decided on what our family last name would be... In our home it would be taking daddy's last name--I did it, and both of our children adopted from foster care did as well...

I have seen some people suggest using the child's given last name. That would not have worked for us--as even though our children are full siblings they each had a different last name which was different from their biolocal mother's so majority won... if not for any other reason.

We found in our experience of adopting siblings from foster care and having them placed as post adoption placements (different then foster-to-adopt) that the state and caseworkers were very sensitive to the older child's wishes and needs.

We had a choice of cermony's we could do at the courthouse and ours was "joining a family together" language rather then adopted means the same as birth language. After the ceremony we had a "__last name____ Family Recieption" rather than an adoption party...

Answer 4

that doesn't make sense. What purpose would that serve.  That would make the child responsibel