Adoption
foster care - state vs. agency
We are planning to foster-adopt. What are the pros and cons for going through the state vs an agency that does foster care? If it matters, we do have a 1 year old already.
Thanks!
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Re: foster care - state vs. agency
That's how it is here as well. Generally speaking the state gets all initial referrals and tries to place in their foster homes, if they cant find a match, it is given to the agencies.
Blogs: Our Growing Family - CT Working Moms
This exactly. I am in AZ as well and each county has several agencies to choose from.
Lurker here:
My husband and I have been talking about adoption and have been talking to friends that have adopted through the state and through agencies. (We are in Victoria, Tx.) Almost everyone I have talked to recommended going through an agency. One highly recommended Lutheran Social Services. (Their website is: https://www.lsss.org/ .) They have fostered with this agency before and are fostering to adopt a baby currently from this agency. Hope this helps.
What a small world - We actually just moved from College Station to Victoria 2 weeks ago. I have contacted fosterintexas.org and they were so helpful! They have an office here in Victoria, and it looks like they are the same as Lutheran Social Services, or at least associated with them. Not sure if it is the same as the LSS your friend is using? Anyway, I saw on the website that there is a shortage in foster homes for infants right now, the girl I talked to said they recently placed 3 babies (under 2) in a shelter because they could not find anyone to take them...heartbreaking.
Do you know of any support groups for foster parents in town?
I'm thinking we are going to go ahead and go with the agency for multiple reasons, main one being that I have contacted CPS a couple times and never got a call back.
It is a small world! I will ask my friend about support groups. I know Deveraux does some things but not 100% sure.
I am going to send you a PM with the service worker they use with LSS if you want to talk to someone and I will ask my friend about support groups.
Application approved Dec '11
Mar '12: Homestudy interrupted by change in Uganda requirements - where do we go from here?
After searching and searching, back with Uganda but with our homestudy agency's program.
Homestudy complete July 19
USCIS I-600A submitted July 20. Biometrics appointments arrived Aug 17; fingerprinted Aug 21; 171H received Sept 25th. On the wait list Oct 1st: #18. By Jan 25th, we're #13!
Come home, baby A!
I'm a former foster parent in Texas. We were with 2 agencies and I can't recommend agency foster care enough. With both agencies we got so much support from the entire staff and from other foster parents. They provided excellent training opportunities (You have to complete a certain amount of hours for foster care in Texas)
In Texas, they use a CPU which basically puts out a call to any and all - state homes and foster homes. It's almost like a first come, first serve if your home fits what they need. While other states only send the agency homes extreme cases and high special needs, not in Texas. The system is so crowded they need homes. There are 3 levels - Basic, Moderate and Specialized. We were foster parents to 8 children - all but one were under the age of 3 when they were placed with us.
As a parent to 3, I would strongly suggest consider what you're willing to expose your child to because it is going to be hard for them to if/when the children are reunified with their family again. They bond with the children a lot faster than you will.