Foster-adoption

A stay in foster care can range from a few months to over two years, for some kids. That's a long time for a child to live in a household without the promise of permanency. While the main goal of the foster system is to reunite families, which is a realized goal for about half of the children in the foster system, half of the remaining children will not be able to be reunited with their birth family or guardians. These children are often targeted as legal risk cases and are considered more likely than their peers to be available for adoption than the other children.

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If the child's birth parents cannot get their lives together, then the child will begin waiting for permanent placement with an adoptive family. And what a better family than the one that has been fostering the child for the last few months or years? At least that's the idea behind foster-adoption, or fost-adopt programs implemented by many states and public agencies. The idea is that foster children will be most comfortable transitioning into permanent placement with a family they have already spent time becoming familiar with. This may reduce the chances of the adoption being dissolved or disrupted by emotional or behavioral issues, which are more common among foster children than their peers.

Prospective foster-adoption households will need to meet foster parenting requirements as well as pass a home study for adoption before becoming a certified part of a foster-adoption program. Fostering and adopting a child are two very different things. Both may require an adult to care for a child who is biologically unrelated to him or her, however, only adoption is a life-long commitment. Fostering a child with the intent to adopt without the legal obligations allow a foster child to adjust to the household and to normalize before becoming a permanent member of the family. The arrangement also allows for a household to decide whether or not the foster child is happy in the home and if a permanent placement is possible or if they think the adoption will end up dissolved or disrupted, which could mean the prospective adoptee would return to foster care until placed with another adoptive family or is aged out of the system.