Foster-to-Adopt.. Or Adoption from Foster Care

Blsd4given · August 2012

Has anyone adopted via Foster-to-Adopt... or Adopted from Foster Care? If so, would you please share your story? I'm just curious how this could all play out....

ctbride08 · August 2012

I adopted from foster care. Its a loooong story, but basically it went like this:

- Got licensed (that took about a year)

- waited for the right call. it never came.

- met a foster mom through a friend of a friend who was having trouble with her 3 year old foster son. one thing led to another and we agreed to take him - and got his 6 week old baby sister as part of the package.

- fostered them for about year.

- without any notice, we were informed they were going to be reunified with thier bio mom. that sucked.

- one week later, we get a call. bio mom was hiding a pregnancy and she had another baby. can we take her? we say yes.

- reunification efforts put on hold but visitation and services continue. for another year.

- about 2 years in, TPR is filed. eventually its granted.

- a month after TPR and while we are still waiting for the adoption ppwk to be filed, bio mom has another baby. we are called to take her (this would be 4 kids total with 3 under 3), but say no. that sucked a lot.

- about 3 months later we adopt our 3 awesome kiddos!

Blsd4given · August 2012

Spooko:
My parents foster/adopted twice and are in the process of a kinship adoption. I did a kinship adoption and that mimics a lot of the same steps as foster care adoptions. What do you want to know exactly? This could get far too long otherwise. LMK.

Just in general - like ctbride08 provided.. How long it took.. Hiccups.. etc. Just your experience... We talk a lot about DIA and IA, so I wanted to shine some light on this path too. I'm really curious how it works without fostering first, too.

NariaDreaming:
Are you leaning toward older child, or hoping for an infant placement? DH and I are currently looking into older child/waiting child adoption.

Both? Smile We've stated 0 - 6... but would also consider/are flexible regarding older children as well... probably up to 10 or 11. I've been perusing the waiting child lists - and have seen a few we'd be interested in (I hate saying it like that... Feels like they're an item for purchase.. ::shudder::).. but, according to another agency, our license would only work for adoption in our state right now. We may pursue the interstate adoption process with another agency after this licensing process is complete. What's your age range?

EratMama · August 2012

For us:

*First foster class-May 2011

Licensed Oct 11

Got two calls--we said no to for different reasons *One of the big myths I hear with foster care is that you have to take whoever they give you. Not true. We chose what age range we wanted to be licensed for (1 to 2 kids, ages 0-4), and had a whole list of questions we asked before making our decision.

*you can decide the level of "risk" you are open to. "Higher risk" means a higher chance the child will be reunified with bio parent(s), "lower risk" means a lower chance the child will be reunified. We asked specific questions about the case to determine what we were comfortable with at this time.

Halloween Oct 11--get a call for three day old baby boy, say yes, go pick him up from hospital. Know there is a four year old sister "someone will probably talk to us about at some point." And an (at that time we were told she was 8, she's really ten) year old sister.

We fall in love with Pumpkin. Meet his sisters, and love them. In April, we decide we would like all t hree to move in. Meanwhile, the case is progressing toward TPR, and we know there is a VERY HIGH likelihood these kids will stay.

Carrot moved in in June, Zucchini transistioned in over this summer.

At this time, their TPR case is scheduled for next week, but could get rescheduled due to crazy court stuff.

According to WI law, a child must be in the home 6 mo before adoption (for any type of adoption, even safe haven or private adoption). The earliest we could adopt the kids is Feb 15.

Hope that helps.

mommytoconnor · August 2012

My timeline went like this. A little different as I am a single mom. I started the process almost 6 years ago. Took classes (over 10 weeks), homestudy after that, certified and approved about a month or so later. Then the wait begins. I waited for almost 4 years. My age range was 0-8 years old. I had several calls to see if would like to be considered, which I always said yes. But I was not chosen as I was single, eventhough I am very financially secure and have a great job, family, home, etc. They always choose a 2 parent family. So after years of these calls, my caseworker called me and asked again about a baby who was 3 months old at the time. Of course I said yes, but in my heart this was the last time. I couldn't go thru the heartbreak again. On the date of the hearing, I rec'd the call I have waited all my life for. I had been chosen. I was in the middle of the grocery store with my mom and started crying and ended up leaving all my stuff in the middle of the store. I had to get out of there. I got to see him for the first time a few days later. Took him home the day after our first meeting. My son had no contact with birth parents ever, but it still took until he was 10 months old to terminate parental rights, after 3 court hearings. Made me crazy. Then had an adoption worker assigned to me who was wonderful and between her and my wonderful lawyer, they got an expedited court date and my son's adoption was finalized one week after his first birthday. He is the absolute love of my life and I can't imagine my life without him.

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Foster-to-Adopt.. Or Adoption from Foster Care

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