My DH and I did foster/adopt - however, we accepted emergency placements (which is the riskiest type). They are the children who have never come into care before and their future is not known (for how likely they would be available for adoption). You can do foster/adopt with less legal risk (where TPR is likely or is starting). For straight adopt we were told there would be a longer wait and you would be competing against many other couples for any one child - and the children would likely be older.
We were very fortunate that both of our foster children were adopted by us - we never had to send one home. They were 10 and 24 months old when they arrived. We adopted them after 14-15 months in CPS care.
My DH and I chose foster/adopt to increase our chances of getting a young child (under age 5) without having to *compete* against 30-70 other families. We did not want a child older than our bio-son as we wanted him to remain the oldest.
My understanding from the information meetings/agency classes was that babies who were abandoned would be send to a foster/adopt home rather than an adopt-only home. This was one of our motivators for foster/adopt - although we never received an infant who was abandoned.
Susan
__________________ Susan
PCOS dx 1996
Hypothyroid dx 2001
HELLP dx 2000, told me 2003
MTHFR dx 2004
4 early angels (12/97, 09/98, 02/99, 07/09) BS-B-05/00 (9 wks early - pictured at 2 days)-HELLP (4th gr) BD-S-04/03 (16 wks early)-HELLP-with us for one hour BS-M-01/05 (22 wks early)-PPROM, possible IC-born still AD-K-05/05 - placed 05/07, adopted 09/08 AS-B-06/06 - placed 04/07, adopted 06/08
Armour Thyroid 120 mg
Procardia XL 60mg
Glucophage 1500mg
Baby aspirin |