Foster to Adopt
Foster care typically involves temporary placement for children in need. However, there can be situations where foster parents may have an opportunity to permanently adopt a child that is under their care.
Foster parents serve the vital role of providing a loving home for children in need. Typically, this is for a temporary period of time. Most foster children are ultimately reunited with either their birth parents or another family member. However, there can be situations where parental rights for a child in foster care are relinquished.
In these situations, a foster parent may be able to permanently adopt the child as their own.
This is not a requirement of foster parents, nor is it the norm. If you’re planning to become a foster parent, your primary goal should not be to adopt your foster children. Still, being open to adoption should the situation arise is a great attitude to have.
While Benchmark Family Services primary goal is to facility foster care and equip foster parents with the tools and resources they need to provide temporary foster care, we can also help navigate foster care to adoption services in Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana as needed.
To start your journey towards becoming a foster parent, or to simply learn more about foster-to-adopt situations, contact us today!
Understanding the Differences Between Foster Care and Adoption
Adoption and foster care are two topics that sometimes get confused. While both involve finding loving, stable homes for children in need, the surrounding circumstances are often very different. Many foster children don’t need a permanent home. They simply need a place of care and stability where they can thrive while certain matters are resolved.
More than half of children who enter foster care return to their birth families.
In the meantime, foster parents tend to their needs and ensure they are living a full, functional life. When becoming a foster parent, your end goal shouldn’t be to adopt the children you’re caring for. Not only can this lead to disappointment, but it can also conflict with what’s in the best interest of the child.
Children in foster care typically have birthparents whose legal rights are still intact. Until those rights have been revoked, either by the parent or by the courts, the child cannot be adopted by another family. Courts generally want children to end up either in the care of their parents or another family member such as a grandparent, aunt, or uncle.
As a foster parent, it’s always important to respect the interests and opinions of the courts, the birth parents, and of course, the child.
What “Foster to Adopt” Looks Like
Though some may tell you that “foster to adopt” isn’t real, that’s not exactly true. Foster parents do sometimes end up legally adopting children that they’ve cared for. When this happens, it can be a wonderful situation. However, it’s important to know that this is the exception, not the rule.
As a foster parent, your number one goal is to provide a stable, loving home for a child while acting in the best interest of their future. Usually, that means having them placed back in the care of a birth parent or family member when the time is right.
Still, as a foster parent, it’s great to be open to the idea of adopting a child you’ve cared for. This typically looks a little different than traditional adoption. For example, the child will likely be older, and it’s likely they’ve experienced some degree of trauma or hardship in their life. Unlike traditional adoption, however, adoption from foster care typically involves little-to-no cost.
Before a child can be adopted, the parental rights of their birth parents must be terminated. This can take up to two years or more, depending on the circumstances. In the meantime, it’s important for foster parents to remain focused on providing care and support to their foster child as best they can.
At Benchmark Family Services, our primary goal is always to act in the best interest of children in foster care. Usually, this involves placing them in a temporary foster home until they can be reunited with their birth family. However, we are more than happy to facilitate foster-to-adopt situations in Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana when the need arises.
Whether you’re providing a temporary home or a permanent one, becoming a foster parent is a wonderful and rewarding decision for both you and children in need. To get started, contact us today. We provide foster care services and support in Texas, Indiana, and Kentucky.