[mike-n-myla]

Hi -

I will try to keep this brief and to the point:

Background info:

My wife and I were fortunate enough to learn about an 11 mo old child (now 14 mos). Who is a ward of the state, and being caref for by a foster family. The bio-mother has terminated her rights, and the final hearing for the father will be held shortly (called a "Best interest of the Child Hearing). My wife and I have completed most of the paper work for the homestudy, and have the social worker scheduled is to do the house visit next week. We have been visiting the child 2x's a week for the last three months at the foster parents' home.

Question:

We were told that assuming that we have the home study complete when the rights of the father were terminated, that the transition process could start almost immediately, and that it would take about 3 months.

The child now has a new case worker, and they are saying it will take a year to complete the process after the father gives up his rights. Is this right? Why so long?

We were also told that if we became foster parents that they could move the child to our house for the interim 1 year period. If we do this, what are the chances that the child would be adopted by someone else?

If someone could possibly answer the questions above and shed some light onto the ENTIRE adoption process when adopting a child who is a ward of the state, it woud be appreciated.