Foster Adoption

ArmyWife160 · 09-20-2007, 06:52 PM

Hi ladies,
Dh and I are in the process of adopting from foster care. We've finish our homestudy although we're still waiting for the drug test paperwork from our agency. I was told the paperwork would be mailed out the day after labor day, but we still haven't received anything and I've tried contacting the agency three times and still no word. It's frustrating me.

Dh and I are hoping the homestudy will be approved soon so we can submitted for the children we've identified. Is there anyone else adopting from foster care also?

ProudPCOMom · 09-20-2007, 06:58 PM

We're going the foster/adopt route. We currently have 2 foster children that we would adopt if they became available.

ArmyWife160 · 09-20-2007, 07:55 PM

how long has the process been for you? We're hoping to adopt from foster care, but I think the foster parents are also trying to adopt the children too.

anang · 09-20-2007, 11:26 PM

We adopted from foster care last year. Our older 2 kids came to us in August 2006. Their little brother joined us in February and we finalized in june this year for all three. The home study part took us 7 months which is considered long. We were matched with our boys only three weeks after our home study was finnished which is very quick!

good luck - every state does it diffrently so no other advice except hang in there.

ProudPCOMom · 09-24-2007, 12:33 PM

We went to an information meeting in Sept 2006 and decided on an agency by Nov. We started filling out paperwork in Jan 2007 and began classes in late Feb. They asked during class if anyone wanted to be fast-tracked and we volunteered - we felt no reason to delay. We filled out some additional paperwork (that was not included in our original paperwork) and had our fingerprints taken and the homestudy completed in 2 visits. Also had our home fire-inspected - the home inspection was part of the homestudy.

We were licensed on Friday, April 13th and received our first placement the following Monday. Our second placement came 6 weeks later (although we had about 10 calls in between that we either turned down or didn't accept quickly enough). Only time will tell if either one or both become adoptable.

Good luck, I don't know how fast/easy it is in other states, but our agency has been great and I highly recommend them - near the DFW area.

mommavia · 09-25-2007, 04:14 AM

I do not have experience with this but wanted to wish you good luck! And also wanted to drawn your attention to the Military Adoption Reimbursement if you weren't already aware. There is also a Yahoo group for military families who are adopting. It isn't a super active group, but it's nice to know that there are other families who have really BTDT! There are also several memebers who have adopted from foster care in the group.

Good luck!
Cynthia

ArmyWife160 · 10-02-2007, 02:02 PM

Thank you both for the replies. We've already finished our homestudy, we're just we're supposed to have the drug test done today. I hope dh can get off work to do them. I believe all paperwork is in place with the agency, at least I hope it is. Georgia seems to be really slow when it comes to adoption. I just want to hurry this up. We've been in the process for 12 months now.

Kristinlogs · 10-03-2007, 01:07 AM

DH and I started the foster/adopt process in August 07. We got out application in and last weekend we received and invitation to the next PRIDE training, we RSVP'd so now we're just waiting to hear if we got in to start on Oct 11th, if not we'll have to wait until Jan 08 for the next class.

They've told us that we'll likely get called right away. We're excited, we've almost finished our nursery, with toddler furniture as well just in case. We're going to be on the foster to adopt program and also the straight adopt program.

We're still TTC too but it's more on the back burner because of stupid medical issues.

Kristin

ArmyWife160 · 10-03-2007, 01:37 AM

Good luck. I hope you get the call. I'm waiting for dh to get off his butt and get the drug test done. From then it's a waiting game for us. We started this process a year ago. We had problems with our first agency and had to switch then dh got deployed..etc so finally i'm trying to do all I can on my end to make sure nothing gets delayed.

Oomis · 10-04-2007, 07:40 PM

We became licensed on August 31st after 17.5 months of classes, mounds of paperwork, inspections, two homestudies, etc, etc, etc. It has been a long road. The day we were licensed we got a call about a legal risk sibling group. The ages were wonderful and everything seemed meant to be. BUT...I talked to a foster mom who had adopted the older brother to these two and found out there were allot of problems with the little boy we were not prepared for.

We picked them up the next day and by that night we were calling our agency asking them to place the boy with someone else. We got to keep the girl for 5 days and we wanted to keep her but CPS would not split them (even though they do this all the time). Needless to say our journey has been hell on our emotions so far. So far we have gotten a couple of more calls but have said no to those because it was nowhere near what we told them we would accept. The placement they offered yesterday said she was extrememly aggressive with small animals and babies. She has a 9 month old brother they would not adopt with her because of this. I was like hellllooooo...not only do we have a small dog...but we hope to adopt an infant through this too and we are still TTC so what if I get pregnant?

My advice is to stand your ground as to what your limitations are. Do not let your agency talk you into something you may not be ready for and expect some heart ache. You can prepare yourself all day to give up the child you hoped to adopt but when it happens...it is unexplainable. Plus if you are solely wanting to adopt then I would be patient and wait for the parental rights to already be terminated. Some foster parents we went through the classes with are going through hell right now because CPS is trying to give their kids back to the birth parents and trust me...they don't need them. Our agency told them they would bet their last dollar they would have the rights terminated quickly. They had their hearing on Tuesday...and the judge gave the birthparents a 3 month continuance on their program.

I am so sorry to sound like Debbie Downer but the agency did not prepare all of us properly about how much this could take a toll on us.

ArmyWife160 · 10-04-2007, 07:43 PM

I'm sorry you're going through such a roller coster with your agency. You can always switch agencies. We did when our first agency decided to screw us over. I'm used to the system and how it works. I have experience to a certain extent, but in a different state. Ga moves a lot slower than FL does (my hometown) and everything is completely different. However, dh and I are very firm about what will we accept and who we will parent. I hope everything works out for you.

Miss-Meme · 10-04-2007, 11:16 PM

We tried to be foster parents back about 10 years ago. I was only like 19 or 20 years old. We had some of the same problems that Oomis talked about with them trying to place us with children that we would not accept. Since I was young myself we did not want a teen. All the called us with were 14 or 15 year old boys. I told them over and over that we did not want one that old and why...they just kept calling about it. We had one or two calls about younger sibling groups and we said yes, just to have them call later that day and say they found someone else to take them...then why did you call us in the first place.

It really put a strain on DH and I.