Adoption
More than 1/3 of all American families say they have seriously considered adoption at one time or another. Many couples and individuals begin their adoption journey with casual conversations that lead to late-night google searches, trips to the library and perhaps even calls to local adoption agencies. In some cases one spouse may begin to investigate the process while the other remains unsure. However your journey begins, an important first step is to educate yourself on adoption options, procedures, and costs. Here is a basic outline to consider.
Ways to Adopt:
- Adopting a child from the US foster care system
- Children in the care of the state, who have been removed from their biological parents, due to neglect and abuse, may become available for adoption. These children range in age from newborn to 18 years, with the average age being 9 years of age. They may be an only child, or part of a larger sibling group. Some may have special emotional, developmental or physical needs.
Families can become licensed through CPS or a private Child Placing Agency to adopt these children. Below is an outline of the three most common ways to adopt children from the foster care system.
- Foster to Adopt
- Foster parents who hope to one day adopt may be licensed as “Foster to Adopt.” Although they are still a foster home, and may have many children come and go, most child placing agencies try place children who are likely to become adoptable in homes who want to adopt. A family may have many children come and go before they are able to adopt. If a child becomes adoptable while in foster care, their foster family has a good chance of being able to adopt them.
- Legal Risk
- Legal Risk is a term commonly used to describe a case where children will almost certainly become adoptable. Although they are not yet free for adoption, parental rights may have already been terminated. Although it is not a “sure thing” when legal risk children are placed in your home, there is a very high likelihood that you will be able to adopt them.
- Straight Adopt
- This method of adoption places only children available for adoption in the foster home. Parental rights have been terminated and none of the child’s family is available or willing to take custody. These children must live in the home for at least 6 months before the adoption can be finalized.
Once a family is licensed, the family’s homestudy can be submitted by their caseworker for adoptable children based on the profile developed by the family and child placing agency. When a family is “matched” with a child, they are given a more detailed picture of the child’s background, needs, and permanency plan. The next step is pre-placement visits. These may begin as a one hour trip to MacDonald’s with a child, accompanied by their current foster parents or caseworker, and generally progress over several weeks to a weekend or overnight stay. At this point, the prospective adoptive family must carefully consider if they feel they are well suited to parent the child. If the caseworker and adoptive family agree to move forward, the child will be place in the adoptive home, generally within a few weeks.
There are many post-adoptive services available for children adopted out of foster care. Depending upon their age, race, any disabilities, and other factors, the children may qualify for college scholarships, healthcare and more. These services are provided by the state to ensure the best possible outcome for these children. Children must live with their adoptive families for 6 months before an adoption can be finalized, although it would not be uncommon for the process to take longer. The cost for these adoptions can be anywhere from nothing to less than $3000. Tax rebates can generally cover any expenses incurred from direct costs of the adoption.
To view just some of the many beautiful children available for adoption today in Texas, visit the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange, or TARE website at www.dfps.state.tx.us or at www.AdoptUsKids.com.
- Adopting a child from another county
- Thousands of children in foreign countries become orphaned or are abandoned by their parents, and are in need of adoptive families. Each country has their own unique system for arranging international adoptions. The laws governing international adoption are complicated and change on a regular basis.
When investigating international adoption, it is helpful to acquire a list of open countries who are currently allowing children to be adopted by American families. It is important to know the ages of children available, average waiting time to finalization and cost. Adoptive families should choose only reputable overseas adoption agencies that work with the governing bodies of other countries. An added expense to overseas
adoptions are the cost of travel required to complete the process in a foreign country. Hotel rooms, food, translators, international legal advisers and airfare can quickly add to the cost. While the cost of an international adoption is generally higher than domestic adoption, infants and younger children are generally more available, and the wait time is more predictable. - Adopting an infant in the United States
- Many women give birth to infants each year, who are then lovingly placed for adoption. These mothers may be very young, single, have too many children to care for, or just feel unready to parent. These women may ask someone they know and trust, such a family member, or a couple at their church, to parent their child. Others may turn to agencies to help them choose from qualified parents who have been approved by the agency. Birthmothers or Birthparents may be able to peruse a binder of prospective families and choose one they feel would be the best match for their child.
Parents wishing to adopt a newborn, may choose to pursue a private domestic infant adoption. These adoptions may be arranged by traditional adoption agencies and through private attorneys. The children adopted in these cases are almost always infants, although they are sometimes adopted along with older siblings. Fewer infants are available for adoption than any other age group, and agencies may set tighter regulations for adopting them. The wait time for this type of adoption can be as long as 2 years, and the average cost is $15,000, but can range from $5000 to $40,000.
It is of the utmost importance that private infant adoptions take place through the proper legal channels, and not be consummated through casual agreements. These non-legally bound adoptions are often the few and far between “adoption revocation horror stories” you may hear of.
- Adopting Stepchildren
- While not seen as a traditional method of adoption, a growing number of blended families means a higher rate of stepchild adoptions. These children may face many of the same losses and struggles as any other adopted child, but alongside the comfort of one biological parent.
Stepparents wishing to adopt their stepchildren need to carefully consider the lifetime role they wish to play in the child’s life. Some older stepchildren may resist being adopted by stepparents as well. If the other biological parent is still living, they may have to agree to the adoption as well.
