Adoption Options
The options in adoption can seem overwhelming at first. But by understanding a few significant factors, you can limit the options down to the program or programs that make the most sense for your personal situation, your preferences, and your family.
First, you should become familiar with the three main types of adoption options. In every state in the United States, there are children who are available for adoption through the foster care system. Or, you could pursue a domestic infant adoption, a situation in which a birthmother (and often the birthfather) has decided to make an adoption plan for their child. They understand that an adoption plan means that they will be giving up their rights to parent the child, and that they will be entrusting that role to another person or couple. The birthparents will normally approach a lawyer or adoption agent in order to get help finding the right family for their child, and the parties can remain anonymous or they can meet and remain in contact. Another popular option is international adoption, where you work with an agency to adopt a child from one of dozens of foreign countries. Each of these choices has advantages and disadvantages.
THE TIME FRAME INVOLVED
Next, each adoption option has a different time frame involved. The length of time an adoption takes will vary depending on the type of adoption that you choose, the type of child that you are hoping to adopt, the laws in your state (and the state where the child was born, if different), and the laws of the foreign country if you choose international adoption. The general rule of thumb on adoptions is that the younger the child that you are requesting, the longer you can expect to wait. By asking the right questions, which you will learn here, you will get an accurate picture of the length of time your adoption will take. The best advice is to plan for the shortest estimate, but don?t be surprised if your adoption runs towards the longer estimate. Adoption often feels like a birth in that you don?t always know exactly when the child will arrive, even with a due date!
YOUR FLEXIBILITY IN THE AGE/RACE/NEEDS OF A CHILD (OR CHILDREN)
Also consider the characteristics of the child that you would like to adopt. While most people might first opt for a newborn, usually of their own race, this may be the option that takes the longest. Consider whether or not you are willing to adopt a toddler or older child. Or, if you would be comfortable adopting outside of your race. Special needs children of younger ages are often readily available for adoption, but you would need to be certain that your family is prepared and has the necessary time and resources to deal with whatever challenges that child may have. Lastly, sibling groups may be available for adoption faster than a single child. The more flexible that you are willing to be in considering the possibilities for children to adopt, the more options you will have, and perhaps, the less time you may have to wait.
LEGAL COMMITMENT
You will be learning a lot of information about yourself during the adoption process, and about what is important to you in creating your family. It?s important to be honest with yourself about questions that you might not want to answer, such as whether or not you can accept a child with disabilities. You?ll also be asked to examine your own motives in adoption. It?s natural to have expectations for a wonderful, loving bond with your child. But except in the case of newborn adoption, you have to realize that your child may have experienced some level of neglect or trauma. You will want to keep your expectations in check and make sure that you view adoption first and foremost as a way to focus on the child?s well-being and adjustment.
In the end, you will be making a legal commitment to the child that you adopt, and that child will have all the same legal rights as any biological child might have, including the right of inheritance. It?s important that your family and loved ones understand that this child is recognized by the government as your legal child, and you should expect others to treat the child as such. Hopefully, you will get their unconditional support, since the uncertainty of the adoption process means you might need a shoulder to cry on or an ear to bend from time to time.
RANGE OF COSTS
May prospective adoptive parents may get stopped before they start by what they feel is the high cost of adoption. While some international adoptions can cost as much as $40,000 or more, fees do vary greatly depending on the type of program that you choose. Foster adopt programs are by far the least expensive, as most states pay the fees associated with qualifying you for adoption and finalizing the legal portion of the adoption. Some private adoption agencies also offer a sliding scale of fees depending on your income. But no matter what, there are options that you can pursue to help you afford adoption.
Remember too that the information provided here is to give you a basic introduction to adoption options. It is not legal advice, and should not be treated as such. Since laws, programs, and fees change, be sure that you familiarize yourself with the laws in your state before committing yourself to a specific agency or program.
The most readily adoptable pool of children in the US, and arguably the American children most in need of help, are those that are currently in the foster care system. Children are placed into the foster care system for a number of reasons. Their parents may be deceased and there may not be other family members able to care for them. Sadly, more often children are in the foster care system due to some level of neglect or abuse from their parents or caregivers.
The goal of foster care is always to reunite the child with his or her parents if at all possible. But if this is not possible, the state will work to terminate the parents? rights. This means that the state has made a legal decision that the child would be safer in the custody of the foster care system or in an adopted home than in their parents? care. When the child becomes free for adoption, the child?s social worker will look for a ?forever family? that they feel will be a good match for the child. Interested parties are welcome to inquire about children in their own state or in any other state.
There is a national registry for foster care children that are available for adoption, and you can read about available children on the website www.adoptuskids.org. The database is searchable by sex, age, location, and other attributes, and the resulting list will include photos and descriptions of the child(ren) available for adoption. In almost all cases, the rights of these children?s parents have already been terminated and adoption is the agency?s plan for the child. But some children may be shown on the site that the caseworker expects will be legally free relatively soon.
FOSTER TO ADOPT
Many parents who adopt through the foster care system choose to become foster parents first. By doing so, they may have several different children under their care in a period of months. This could be a good way to learn more about their own abilities as parents. And although it?s not a fact people might want to admit, it also gives the potential parent(s) a ?trial period? with a child before they pursue adoption.
While you are fostering, the state pays you a monthly stipend in an amount that depends on the age and needs of the child(ren) in your care. The state considers this stipend as sufficient to cover the cost of housing and feeding the child. The child will have government health care, and the state will also reimburse you for expenses related child care, driving the child to and from appointments, and certain other expenses that are not calculated in the stipend.? It is very important that potential foster care parents understand that they will not ?profit? from fostering. Especially because many foster parents feel the need to spend more funds than the state provides on the child for things like birthdays or new school clothes, they may even spend more than the stipend provides.
Although adopting a child through the foster care system may seem relatively easy compared to other methods, it does have its own special challenges. In the majority of cases of foster care adoption, you may be considering adopting a child who has suffered emotional, physical, or even sexual trauma that has left its mark on their behavior and their development. Plus, you have limitations placed on you during the fostering period regarding things such as discipline, having others baby sit or care for the child, and possibly requirements that you bring the child to visits with his or her parents.
HOME STUDY
These challenges and circumstances are why every state?s foster care system requires that potential adoptive parents go through some form of training to learn about the possible issues that they could face when fostering or adopting a child from the foster care system. Most training takes place over a series of months, and involves the steps required for a home study as well.
A home study is an examination of your living arrangements and lifestyle that gives the state courts the assurance that you can provide a safe and healthy home for your adopted child. A home study is required no matter what form of adoption you choose. Although requirements for the home study might vary from state to state, the general format involves: financial statements and review, health statements and histories, criminal background checks, interviews with a social worker at his or her office, reference checks, and at least one visit by the social worker to your home.
CHILD BEHAVIORAL CHALLENGES
You?ll learn during the training that foster children may have some unique behavior challenges due to their history. The child may have emotional issues that manifest in anger, fear, or other behavioral challenges. Foster children have sometimes been known to do things that might seem like ?bad behavior.? But when you examine their past, these behaviors often make sense.
For example, a child might steal and hide food or money because they have lived in situations where they weren?t fed regularly. They may exhibit inappropriate social behaviors because they weren?t socialized or taught proper public behavior or manners. They may not be developmentally on target in comparison with other children their age because they weren?t held, played with, read to, or otherwise encouraged to grow and learn. You may need to be prepared to advocate for the child with the local school system and/or health providers in order to make sure that he or she gets the support that is needed to help them to reach their fullest potential.
If you are hoping to adopt an infant or young toddler, it can be challenging, though not impossible, to do unless you first become a foster care parent. This is because in many cases, the younger children that become available for adoption (those under five) are those that may have special needs. You can see this readily if you do a search on adoptuskids.org. Unfortunately, these children often wait a long time for a family that is willing and able to adopt them. It might be of some comfort to know that if you do adopt a child with special needs, you may qualify for financial support even after the adoption is complete.
It is possible to adopt an infant from the foster care system, though it is not very easy. Usually, this happens through a foster-to-adopt program. In this case, you and your family complete the foster care training and agree to serve as foster care parents, but with the understanding that you hope to adopt a foster child in your care should he or she become available for adoption. The state will place children with you that meet the criteria you ask for. So, you could state that you will foster newborns or infants up to two years old. Then when the state encounters a situation where they need to remove a newborn or infant from a home, they may place the child with you for care.
However, remember that since the child was removed, there was obviously a reason. The child may have lived or been born into potentially harmful circumstances such as drug or alcohol exposure. Or, perhaps the child was born to an incarcerated birthmother or a mother who doesn?t have the mental capacity to raise a child. No matter what the reason that the child was removed from the home, again, the goal of the foster care system is always to reunite the child with the birth family. In some cases, this could take years while the parents try to meet the requirements of the court in order to get their children back. So you run the risk that you could foster a child from birth, but that the parents? rights might never be terminated and eventually the child would be returned to the parents? home. This can be a very emotionally risky situation for a potential adoptive parent.
There are three situations when younger children that are not special needs children are likely to be available for adoption from the foster care system. First, the federal government requires that Native American children be placed with a Native American family whenever possible. If you or your spouse or partner are a legal, recognized member of a Native American tribe, then you may be able to find young children in the foster care system that haven?t already been placed because of this requirement.
The second case that often presents an exception is when the state is attempting to place a sibling group of children together in one home and one or two of the children may be younger. But you must also be willing to adopt the older siblings, and be certain that you can manage the needs of all of the children.
The final possibility for adopting younger children from the foster care system is if you are willing to adopt a minority child. In some southern states in particular, a large proportion of the children under five that are available for adoption are African American. In fact, African American children over the age of one are considered ?special needs? in some states simply because the foster care system has found that they are harder to place, and that offering financial assistance expands the field of possible parents to include? families that otherwise could not afford to care for the child.
If you can handle the uncertainty of a foster-to-adopt situation, or if you can commit to parenting a child with special needs, then adopting from the foster care system is an excellent option. It is relatively fast and by far the least expensive option. The only costs you may have are some legal or procedural fees, as other expenses are covered by the state.
Related posts:
- Funding Options for Your Adoption
- Introduction To Adoption: Adoption Requirements
- Top Ways For Locating A Child Available For Adoption
- Introduction To Adoption: International Adoptions
- Introduction To Adoption: Cost Of Adoption
- How to Avoid Common Adoption Pitfalls
- Introduction To Adoption: Agency Adoptions
- Introduction To Adoption: Types Of Adoptions
- Introduction To Adoption: The Home Study Process
- Adoption Tips: Your Adoption Profile
- Adoption Tips: Questions To Ask your Child?s Caseworker
- Introduction To Adoption: Independent Adoptions
- International Adoption
- The Legal Status Of A Stepparent
- Domestic Infant Adoptions
Source: http://www.e-self-help.com/adoption-options/
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