[ScrapMonkey]

When a baby is taken into care it will go to a regular foster home because mom and dad have to have time to work their caseplan to get the baby back. Quite often, relatives will be found to take an infant. Bios will often start of working their plans and have every intention of getting their baby back... but time goes on and sometimes the bios slack off and even drop off the face of the earth. By now the baby is several months old, court is every 6 months, time passes and the baby gets older while in a foster home or in a relative's home. When enough time has passed and the judge agrees DFS can seek to terminate parental rights, the "baby" is more likely than not a toddler now. He has attached and bonded to his foster family or caregiver. If TPR is granted, the person caring for that child is usually given the first opportunity to adopt. Many, many foster parents will adopt that child they've had from birth and now love as their own. Relatives are now sought out more strongly as part of the TPR process as, generally, a relative coming forward is more desirable than even the foster parent who has had the child from birth. Most of these children will get a perm. home through this process.

Who won't? Often, larger sibling groups and kids with special needs too severe for the foster family or family members to take on. Not that these kids don't find homes, they often do, but many do not.

It is not easy to find an adoptable infant in the foster care system. That said, we've brought home 3 newborns from the hospital. The first is now our son. The second was supposed to be with us a day or two while mom worked a private adoption plan. The agency dropped her when she flaked on two appointments, even though there was a family waiting and a baby born. We were not looking to adopt him and he was adopted by a loving family the same day we adopted our second son. The third newborn is now 7-month old and I think she'll go back home (though we adore her and wish we could keep her forever). None of our babies were "a sure thing" for adoption. They all came to us as regular foster placements, NOT foster adopt, although the two boys quickly went "fast track" to adoptions.

Foster Adopt is certainly no guarentee to an infant adoption BUT if you are willing to love a baby that might go home until you get the one that stays, it's a valid way to find your family. Foster Adopt made me a mom and it made us a family but it is NEVER an easy road. Never.