Infant adoptions in foster care?

Question

My husband and I are foster parents and we love it. We want to adopt through the system and are likely going to adopt the two children we have living with us now. However, we would also like to adopt an infant, so we are looking into infant adoption. (This is not an either or situation, we still plan on foster care adoption.) My question is, how often do foster parents get an infant placed in thier care and then have the chance to adopt. I have been led to believe by my caseworker that this does not happen often and I am inclined to believe her, seeing as we have had only one infant placed with us in over a year. Any input?

Answer 1

This is a question very near and dear to my heart.  I was told by the dr. that I could not have children.  So I decided that I wanted to adopt and I could not afford it so I did Foster to adopt of course you take a BIG risk on your heart that they will go back to the birth parents or a relative will come and adopt them because I relative has first choice if they want the baby.  You also need to specifiy you want an Infant and you want Foster to adopt.  I have read other people's comments about most of the infants have problems or are drug addicted and all kinds of things however there records are open to you and you can go and read everything.  I was VERY specific and told them that I wanted an Infant and that I did not think I could handle one with special needs.  It seems like allot you have to take courses and traning and home studys and allot of other stuff.  Any way I adopted a little boy he has no problems at all his parents signed the rights over but then they needed to find relatives that  might want him and there was none to be found so I ended up BLESSED to adopt my son he is the love of my life.  So you don't always get a special needs child.  I got my son when he was 2 weeks old.  However I did not get to legally adopt him until he was 15 months old.  Hope this helps and Good Luck

Answer 2

If you have trouble adopting an infant in America you could always go visit Africa, there are plenty of infants there whose parents have died from AIDs.

Answer 3

As a foster parent myself....not very often. Infants are usually returned to their parents within 5-6 months of care. The State will try real hard to see that the parents get them back.

Answer 4

My understanding is that if you want an infant, you want to put into adopt or fost-adopt an infant.  There is enough demand that they will normally put a baby in with a family who they know will want to adopt it if they are able.  Your caseworker should be able to help you.  That said, it can still take years to actually get a baby.  The fact that you're already foster parents will no doubt help though, as you will save all the screening time you'd normally have to wait.

Answer 5

For most children in care, the goal is reunification, regardless of their ages. The younger a child is, the less time that the Adoption and Safe Families act allows them to stay in care. Should the parents show no progress toward getting their child back after 15 months, in most cases, an infant would be available for adoption. This is happening more in Iowa than it used to because we are dealing with a serious meth epidemic right now and that is bringing more babies into care than usual and their parents are having a hard time meeting that deadline in some cases. As far as how frequently this happens here and in other states, I do not have a figure, but I have met people who have adopted babies from care.

Answer 6

People often ask why adoptive parents choose international adoption when there are so many of "our own" in need of families.  Well, you are seeing that, if you want to adopt an infant, there really aren't that many infants available in the U.S. unless you are prepared to wait years and years.  You can either decide to do that, or adopt an infant internationally.

Answer 7

Last month, we adopted our foster son placed with us when he was 2 days old and he is 2 now.   We have raised him as our own since he was released from the hospital at birth.We have fostered more infants and toddlers than any other age.  We also adopted our other son who was placed with us when he was one. You just tell them that baby age is your fostering preference.

Answer 8

It's pretty rare.  I'd agree with that.

Their first priority is to reunite the child with the parents.  If that can't be done, then they look for alternatives for permanency for the child.

If you do get an infant in your care and reunification isn't possible and the child's birth family doesn't have any other relatives that will be able to care for the child, most states would give you priority over others inquiring about adoption, though...so there's that.

SG

Answer 9

Usually if it is an infant in foster care then it has been born with some kind of addiction (Cocaine is one that happens a lot), or HIV, or very developmentally challenged.  The other ones are snapped up before even being placed in foster care most of the time.

I hope you are blessed with a baby soon, even if the chances are slim!

Answer 10

If you love the kids, then it doesn't matter if it happens often or not.

Answer 11

I think your case worker is correct. I have not done foster care adoption but I have had several friends who have, and while they had infants for short times, they never got the chance to adopt them. You might look into your church agency or a local adoption agency for infants

Answer 12

I know a couple of families who have adopted infants this way. It is rare though and they had to wait quite a while and accept several children who were returned home before an adoptable child was placed with them. Make sure your case worker has you down for an infant adoptive home.

I have a friend who is waiting for a placement of an adoptive child through foster care. She has waited 1 year. She did accept a temporary placement for a couple of months but after the fact was told that having that foster only placement actually hurt her chances of getting an adoptive placement. She isn't even waiting for an infant. She is waiting for a child up to age 4.

Make sure you meet as many case workers as possible so that your name is out there and the different case workers know you by name. They have very little time to place these children and as sad as it is the first to say yes is the family who gets the placement.

Answer 13

We only took babies and toddlers because of our very young bio. children.  We only wanted to foster children younger than they were.  Our house was always full for 2+ years!

One day, a 3 month old baby came to us.  Because of her mom's poor track record, TPR was pretty fast.  We unexpectedly fell in love with this little sweetie and adopted her.  As her foster parents, we were given first opportunity to adopt.

Once you complete your pending adoption, make sure the agency knows you are only interested in fostering tots.  Also, be willing to do emergency shelter care for those just removed from the home & awaiting a hearing.

You can never really know if a child is going home or to an Aunt or up for an adoption.  Just be available to all the little ones in need and pray that the right one shows up!  Good luck!!

Answer 14

My son was originally in foster care and would have been put into a foster/adopt program had his biological family not requested that we adopt him.  I also have a friend who adopted an infant through the foster care program.  Now, both children are considered "special needs" so perhaps that is why they were available as an infant.  Our son has a metabolic disorder and my friend's daughter had some breathing issues and required a breathing tube for some time.  

I would ask the caseworker to give you statistics on how many infants become available for adoption or if she could let you speak with someone who might have additional information.  

I've heard that adopting infants is difficult through foster care, but our experience has shown that there are infants available for adoption.  

Good luck to you.

Answer 15

Your caseworker is right, infants do not get placed into foster care very often, and the chance of them being adopted is very small.  Really, the only infants available through foster care are either very sick, or are part of a larger sibling group.  

We have a 6 month old in our home through foster care, he has been with us since he was 6 days old...but he is VERY VERY sick!  I am running to doctors at least twice a week, many weeks it is more like 3 or 4 times a week.  

The age of 2 is usually a little more likely in the foster system...and as they age up it gets to be better chances for placement and adoption.