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Adopting A Child From Foster Care
Right now, there are thousands and thousands of children
who in the foster child adoption system waiting for a adoptive family.
The parental rights of these children have permanently
been terminated and there is NO possibility
that the child will EVER be returned
to their birth home. Often when families think
of adopting a child, they visualize an infant or toddler,
not an older child or sibling group. On average,
children in foster care that need a family are at least
eight years of age or part of a sibling group of
two or more. Imagine being ten years old and not
having a mother or father to count on or not knowing
if or when you’ll have to move to yet another
home. Some of the children waiting in foster care for adoption
are wonderful students, participants in school
sports and other activities, and have no needs
other than their age, membership in a sibling group
or race.
There is often a misconception that adopting a
child that is school-aged will be more difficult
or will have challenging behaviors that
may not fit into an existing family. In actuality,
they are children in the foster care system that
may have emotional, behavioral, or medical needs
but not all fall into one of these categories.
As an adoptive family you would know what the needs
of the child are and often, the child has NO needs
other than being a member of a sibling group, an
older child or teenager.
When you are considering adopting
an older child, your adoption agency WILL provide you with
a full written history. It will contain specific
information about the child as well as non-identifying
information about the birth parent and other birth
siblings. Birth parent information may include
their age, employment history, IQ, any problems
with addiction, as well as why their parental rights
were terminated. A full background report will
be presented to you and you’ll have the opportunity
to ask questions, talk to previous care givers
(foster parents), and current therapists or teachers.
The true benefit of adopting an older
child is that all information about what he or
she likes or dislikes, what their strengths or
weaknesses are and general personality traits are
all known. You can match the likes of your families
to the child that is placed in your care. Do you
like sports, reading or music? Your personality
traits will come out in the homestudy process and
your adoption agency will do their best to find
a child that needs you.
In additional to background information,
you will receive a FULL MEDICAL HISTORY on
both the birth parents and child. The reports will
include past and current medical information. Children
who come from the foster care adoption system come
with a medical card that will cover any pre-existing
medical conditionals. Your family will be able
to use this medical card until the child is 18
years of age or they graduate from high school
and it covers general medical care, any type of
therapy, dental and vision.
Children from the foster
care adoption process is generally done at low or no cost to the
adopting family. The adoptive family
will actually receive a tax free monthly stipend
until the child graduates from high school to
help offset the cost of raising the child. Some
states will actually help PAY FOR COLLEGE!
Your adoption agency will help you every step
of the way during the adoption process and they
will help determine for which programs you may
be eligible. When you finalize a foster child adoption, you
will actually be eligible for an Adoption Tax
Credit of $10,360.00 for each child that you
adopt. This means that you will get a refund
of taxes up to that total prorated over a five
year period!
When you consider adopting
a child, think about a child that REALLY needs
a home. When a child turns eighteen and they were
never adopted, the child becomes HOMELESS. Two-thirds
of the males will be arrested and 40% of the females
will become pregnant within the first year. Often,
children born to these women will also fall back
into the system. Opening your home to a school
aged child will reward you in a multitude of ways
for a life time. |
