Question about adopting from foster care

wbrauns · November 2013

Hello all!

I am a newbie, and although I have read through the FAQ's, I still had a few questions regarding foster care adoption.

My husband and I have been interested in fostering-to-adopt for awhile now, but because of his job, it would be hard for us to get certified. He works every four weekends, and is also in the military, which would make attending the mandatory meetings very hard, we are hoping (one day!) when his work slows down, we will be able to do that.

However, I am under the assumption that it is still possible to adopt a child from foster care, without actually becoming licensed foster care parents. I was wondering if this is true? And if so, what are the steps that have to be taken? I know a home study would need to be done, but I was wondering what else, and if this was even a possibility? I did email an agency, but don't expect to hear back until sometime this week and was hoping some of you ladies on here might have a little insight. I live in Iowa if that helps. TIA!!

wbrauns · November 2013

fredalina said:

The same training is necessary. Have you looked into private agencies that work with the state re: fostering? They may have more flexible schedules for training.

I haven't yet, but I will! Thank you for the tip!

ais4adoption · November 2013

You can go for the Guardianship of any child in foster care. A guardian is not a child's legal parent and may be subject to ongoing supervision of the court. Guardianship does not give all the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent to the guardian the way adoption does to an adoptive parent.

[Deleted User] · November 2013

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aligross · November 2013

AS it had already been suggested, I would look into private agencies and their policies...
We are DIA but still had to go through a training/education day. The company we went through is flexible on offering every 2 months different dates/times for the day training. I know we would be able to (once home study approved) adopt a child from the foster care system if that is what we wanted to do.

Good luck!

wbrauns · November 2013

Thank you everyone for all your replies!! We have frequented the adoptuskids website and I have a found a 12 year old girl on there that doest live far from us, that I would love to meet, but DH is worried she may be too old for our family (we are in our 20's) so, I was wondering if it was even possible to do it without being certified to begin with.

bhead81 · November 2013

I think a lot of it has to do with the state. Here in AZ state foster care and adopting through the foster care system requires the same certification and classes. The only difference was on the license you don't have the "foster care" portion. We decided to do both in case there was a situation that was presented that we were willing to go the FC route. It turned out well for us as we were able to do respite care for our family on several occasions.

mommytoconnor · November 2013

I adopted my son thru foster care about 3 years ago. Each state is a little different, but here's how is goes in AZ. You do have to go to training, which for my state was 10 weeks, once a week at night. You don't both have to go, but they recommend it. Then fill out a buttload of paperwork and forms and basically write your dicertation on your life from the moment you were conceived (haha). Then they have you fingerprinted with a background check and clearance. Then a homestudy, which your husband would be required to be there for, but they might make an exception if he were active duty. Then it takes several months for everything to get done and approved. Once you are approved you go on "the list", which here is a computer database with all your "acceptable" things you would consider in a child. The more broad you are on your selections the better chance you have of a placement. You can adopt from foster care, which is what I did, I did have to get emergency licensed though because they wanted me to have custody immediately. I will tell you it is a longer wait to just adopt, they are in much higher need of foster parents. You can get licensed as adoption and then if you decide you want to try foster, it's just an ammendment to your certification and is pretty simple to do. I can tell you I waited 4 years for my son and it hasn't been easy, but the best thing I ever did. He was well worth the wait. Good luck.

wbrauns · November 2013

mommytoconnor said:

I adopted my son thru foster care about 3 years ago. Each state is a little different, but here's how is goes in AZ. You do have to go to training, which for my state was 10 weeks, once a week at night. You don't both have to go, but they recommend it. Then fill out a buttload of paperwork and forms and basically write your dicertation on your life from the moment you were conceived (haha). Then they have you fingerprinted with a background check and clearance. Then a homestudy, which your husband would be required to be there for, but they might make an exception if he were active duty. Then it takes several months for everything to get done and approved. Once you are approved you go on "the list", which here is a computer database with all your "acceptable" things you would consider in a child. The more broad you are on your selections the better chance you have of a placement. You can adopt from foster care, which is what I did, I did have to get emergency licensed though because they wanted me to have custody immediately. I will tell you it is a longer wait to just adopt, they are in much higher need of foster parents. You can get licensed as adoption and then if you decide you want to try foster, it's just an ammendment to your certification and is pretty simple to do. I can tell you I waited 4 years for my son and it hasn't been easy, but the best thing I ever did. He was well worth the wait. Good luck.

Thank you so much for all the information! We were absolutely open to becoming foster care certified, but we had been told my DH had to be at every meeting to become certified, and he has military obligations every month that would make that impossible. Thank you for all the input though! I'm waiting to hear back from some SW's that will hopefully have some insight as well!

mtendere · November 2013

You will likely need to take the classes to adopt from foster care. That said, if you call around to other counties/agencies, you may be able to find them scheduled at a time you could make it work. Some places do one long weekend of classes, for example. But start off by calling your local agency and asking questions. They may be able to work with you and your situation. You won't know unless you ask!

daniandbri · November 2013

My husband is also military. When we were getting licensed for foster- they were really cool about working for us. We could miss one class (but couldn't be a few select ones). And if we had to miss that they would work with us on making it up in a one on one class.

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