[sunshineinCA]

I've been a FP since April on the "fost-adopt" tract with my County. We thought it would be a good introduction to the type of kids in the "system" and confirm that we are wanting a <4 year old. We are just recently "adoption" approved as well. It is a two-step process (repeats really) in our state. We are licensed for up to 3 <7 year olds. We have had 1 emergency placement (siblings <2) when mom got arrested. The poor little guys needed way more help than we could offer and so they only stayed for the weekend. Since then we had 1 offer to fost-adopt a 10 month old and 1 offer to fost-adopt a 2 year old, both with substantial issues that we were not able to do because of their high needs. We got these last minute calls for these kids because we "volunteered" to do back up shelter (emergency) placement on the weekend. It has its ups and downs. The ups, are that most of the FPs I know have adopted from the placements they received within the first year. FP's are given first opportunity to adopt (after relatives). The social workers in our area seem to place the "likely to be adopted" kids with fost-adopt parents (vs. parents who only do foster care)when possible. However, it is ALWAYS the goal to reunite the kids with parents, relatives, etc. whenever possible, and they have made that very clear. With that said, some mom's continue to have children and continue to have them removed (sometimes mental health or substance abuse issues) so the workers know that there is a "more likely" chance they will be adoptable. The good part is that the six months required for adoption in our state can be "foster" time. So, no additional time for waiting is required if the judge says that the child should be placed for adoption. Our state also does "concurrency planning" which means the kids have two plans... a plan for reunification and a plan for long term care or adoption. We have met other FP's in our area that have adopted in 6-9 months time. Some parents only want to adopt, and in our state that means you must be a licensed foster parent, however, you tell the workers you only want adoptive placements. You can specify "without risk", which means that the parental rights have already been court terminated (not usual in our area, but varys by county), or "with legal risk" which means that it is still possible that someone would come into the system and want the child. It seems that the judges give the parents with newborns less time to "get their act together" than those with older kids. They tell us its because those first 2 years are very important to child/parent bonding. So, we wait, like many for the "right" placement and hope that meanwhile, we can provide a safe and happy home for kids in need.

Sorry for the length, hope that helps!