When a family has decided they would like to add children by adopting a baby or child from the state foster care system there are a few things to consider. Most state offices will encourage a family to consider becoming a foster care resource and provide a child with a safe stable home while the state determines if the biological family might be able to reunify with the child. As I have written before Foster to Adopt is the highest risk placement an adoptive family might be asked to accept however, Foster to Adopt is not the only choice a family has when working with the state.
The passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, ASFA, mandated the states to no longer allow children to wait for years in the system. If a child is in foster care 16 of 24 months the state is required to start a permanency plan for the child. In many cases, the permanency plan will be created concurrent to the reunification plan with the biological family.
When the permanency plan is started it triggers several things the state needs to do. First, to rule in, or out any relatives who might be interested and able to raise the child. This is usually referred to as the Relative Search. As a society most of us can agree it would be better for all children to be raised with their biological relatives whenever it is safe or possible. Therefore, all children placed for adoption will have a relative search completed.
If the relative search turns out to indicate there are no family members willing or able to provide a safe and stable home for a child in foster care the state will start the process of terminating the parental rights of the biological parents. In most cases, the state would like to see the children placed in a pre-adoptive family before the rights of the biological parents are severed. This means the baby or child may not become orphan or wards of the state and prevents children from falling through the cracks in the system. The first choice for placement is typically with the foster family who has the baby or child in their home.
For many reasons some foster families will not be interested in adopting a child in their care. The foster family may have never been interested in adopting or they may feel they are unable to meet the special needs of the baby or child in their care. If this is the case the state will present these children to the families with approved adoption home studies before the child is listed as “waiting” and made a ward of the state.
Pre-adoptive placements may take place as the state is setting up the termination of parental rights. Usually, it is a very low risk that a family who accepts a placement of a child in this situation will disrupt. There is still some small risk a judge may not approve the termination of rights or the biological family may be able to suddenly prove they are safe. It is rare that families who have a pre-adoptive child placed in their home will not be able to adopt. But, it can happen.
When the state is not able to place a child in a pre-adoptive family and the termination of parental rights moves forward the baby, child or sibling group will be considered “Legally Free” or “waiting”. At this point an adoptive family has little or no risk the placement will disrupt. It also means that families in any state may be considered for the adoptive placement. Part of the ASFA included a mandate which has streamlined the paperwork between the states and made it possible to find the best family resource for the baby or child in any state.
I have heard of some states telling potential adoptive families they do not have any children in their state waiting for adoptive parents and the only way to achieve adoption is the foster to adopt program. This is not exactly true as an approved adoptive family is able to look at the waiting children in any state and may have a child placed. It is important for families who look at the children in other states to understand these kids typically are older or have more special needs then those placed before a termination of their biological families rights. It is also important to remember if you are not interested in adopting a baby and want to provide a child with a forever home there are hundreds of thousands of children waiting in the United States.
The number of children, and the needs of the children, waiting in any state will have a lot to do with how effective a state is in placing children in pre adoptive families. The number of families there are interested in adopting and the overall effectiveness of placement the state will have a lot to do with how many children are legally free for adoption. Some states will have more children placed in pre adoptive families and others will have fewer families to place children with. Either way an approved state home study makes it possible for families to look at the National Lists of waiting children. There may be a requirement for adoptive families to look inside their own state for a period of time before looking to the national waiting children’s listings. In most cases this will be six months to one year of looking in your own state.
Families with approved state home studies are welcome to apply with AdoptUsKids an internet site which helps match waiting children in the United States with families interested in adoption. My next entry will discuss the internet listings of waiting children.
Special Needs and Adoption-Related Terms:
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For more information about parenting special needs children you might want to visit the Families.com Special Needs Blog and the Mental Health Blog. Or visit my personal website.