Texas DFPS?

mloverstreet · 02-07-2009, 06:34 PM

Hey Ladies!

I was just wondering if anyone has successfully adopted an infant through the Texas foster care system. If so, did you find the process fairly straight-forward or were you unsatisfied with the experience? Also, I'd like to hear from cysters who had failed adoptions or bad experiences.

DH and I are trying to sort through all of our options. We're looking into adopting through the foster care system, through private agencies, and international adoptions. Thanks so much!!!

MHootie · 02-08-2009, 08:28 PM

Hi Maria: I'm actually a caseworker for DFPS in East Texas. Let me know exactly what your goal is and I will give you my personal opinion. Are you willing to risk losing the child? Are you willing to wait a while until the adoption is consummated? Are you open to foster to adopt or strictly adoption? I cannot give a professional opinion because of policy, blah blah blah but I CAN tell you the advantages/disadvantages.

Would love to help!!

mloverstreet · 02-08-2009, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MHootie

Hi Maria: I'm actually a caseworker for DFPS in East Texas. Let me know exactly what your goal is and I will give you my personal opinion. Are you willing to risk losing the child? Are you willing to wait a while until the adoption is consummated? Are you open to foster to adopt or strictly adoption? I cannot give a professional opinion because of policy, blah blah blah but I CAN tell you the advantages/disadvantages.

Would love to help!!

Oh, wow! Thanks! I'm sort of in East Texas or rather the very edge.

I'd prefer not deal with the nightmare of becoming attached to a child and then having to relinquish the child to the parents for reunification. I think we're leaning more toward strictly adoption but we might consider foster to adopt--if we had the right information and could make the decision wisely.

I guess my biggest question is how many foster to adopt situations with legal risk infants or young toddlers actually work out? Is there, like, a statistic or an average? 1 out of 4? 1 out of 10? And how long does an adoption completion take? 6 months? 12?

I'd love to hear any of your thoughts on adopting/fostering within the Texas system. Again, thanks so much for answering my questions!!!

MHootie · 02-08-2009, 11:31 PM

You are not going to believe this....I just had a really long message typed out and it would not let me post....ugh. I'll send you a private message

ProudPCOMom · 02-09-2009, 02:17 PM

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

mloverstreet · 02-09-2009, 02:44 PM

Susan, thanks so much for your info!