- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Adoption
Foster to Adopt
DH and I are now really considering the foster to adopt program. Has anyone looked into this?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Foster to Adopt
Fredalina - I think you're my soul mate. As of right now, we plan on accepting all ages and I would like to foster pregnant teens, as well as those aging out of the system.
StepanovR - We met with the SW doing our home study for the first time yesterday. She told us that if we complete all the paper work in a timely manner (2-3 months) that we should be certified within the first week of June. We just submitted our application January 7. I think Fredalina's advice is good. You need to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. I sometimes wonder if I'll be able to give a child back to his/her parents, after loving them for months (infact, my best friend voiced the same concern when we told her we were doing F/A - I guess I got a big hear). But, ultimately, it's about the child; and the child needs to be cared for, loved and guided especially when s/he in foster care. I just hope I'll be able strong enough when the time comes.
We've been foster to adopt parents for almost 3 years. We've had 8 children in our home, 3 of which have been infants, 4 have been under the age of 3 and we have a 9 year old. Everyone says don't count on infants coming into care, however, the tide is changing and they are quicker to take infants away due to the signs of neglect and the increase in mothers using drugs during pregnancy and "investigating" the older children in order to try to keep them in the home and get the family services. I believe in the larger areas/cities there is a increased chance of getting newborns as well.
I know in our agency there was a whole "baby boom" and quite a few people have infants in their home. If you're more willing to except drug exposed/addicted babies, the likelihood of getting a call for one is increased as well. I've had 2 heavy drug exposed babies and one marijuana exposed baby, along with 1 toddler who was addicted at birth and 3 possibly drug exposed toddlers (probably exposed in utero).
We are in the process of adopting a toddler and an infant, biological brothers. We were already set to adopt the toddler and SURPRISE! the infant was born in October.
Always remember that the main goal of foster care is "reunification" whether it be with parents or another family member.
Do you have any big questions we can answer?
There's a link to my blog in my signature. I've tried to document as much as I could. On the right hand side bar there's also our time line so you can have an idea of that as well. If it wasn't obvious from my blog, we are foster to adopt, which means we are fostering with the intent to adopt one day. GL!
We have been licensed since June and have had numerous calls. Said no to about 6 and said yes to 10. Still haven't had our first placement...guess we're just not fast enough.
We really enjoyed the classes we took and overall are really happy with our agency.
Yes, we are in the foster/adopt program.
ETA: It took us about 8 months to get approved from the information meeting to the approval meeting. We have had a few respite placements since then, but nothing in the permanent category. Our agency does only cases that are already TPR, so we have mostly children over age 8 to choose from. It is still a long process even after that.
We had one potential match that fell through because of a racial problem on the child's side. He wanted AA parents and we are CC. We were very disappointed.