Indiana is not the most proactive state, to be sure, but I was told by the SNAP specialist (who works with families who want to adopt an Indiana child or sibling group) that we really needed to complete our foster training, have our agency redo our homestudy to follow the SNAP layout, and send it to Indianapolis for approval by the SNAP committee. I also learned:
1. You can get county foster training done, but you might have to go to a larger county. (People in our training in Fort Wayne were from Allen Co., Steuben Co., Noble Co., etc.--northeastern Ind.) You ONLY need to complete this training (20-32 hours...20 hours minimum) if you plan to do foster-to-adopt (you'll be foster licensed by the agency that did your training after you complete it, pending state approval).
2. If you only plan to adopt a child from the state photolisting (
www.adoptachild.in.gov? or the Indiana Adoption Initiative site) and not do foster care, I don't think you need this training. But you WILL need a homestudy. (You also need a homestudy if just fostering.)
3. Either the county can do your homestudy and foster training for free (I think) and take forever to do it, OR you can hire one of the many non-profit, private agencies in your county who can do it for a fee. (We paid for our homestudy, but foster training was free.)
NOTE: I was told that when your county learns of a child that they need to find a home for, they will always try to place that child in a county-licensed home rather than a home like ours due to cost. A county-licensed family only costs the county $23 per day (to pay the family the daily per diem and to cover the case management), but a privately licensed home (like us) can cost the county up to $80 per day. This is why they'll only choose us if none of their own families can take the child. Not a good thing to learn AFTER getting licensed, so take this into consideration.
4. This is only for Indiana, but a child adopted from either foster care or from the Indiana photolisting must stay in your home for a minimum of 6 months (generally) before you'll be allowed to file for adoption. This is why it is wise to become foster-licensed...so that you can make use of the county services available to your foster-to-adopt child while you wait for that 6 months to pass (health insurance, counseling, speech therapy, etc.). Whoever is managing the case (either the county or your own private agency) will have to visit with you once a week or so to monitor the placement for those 6 months. As long as everyone is doing OK, you'll be allowed to complete the adoption.
5. Finally, I just found out that it will be alot easier to adopt across state lines than to wait for a younger child or sibling group to suddenly become available for adoption in Indiana. Because as soon as they become available, they are put on the photolisting and hundreds of families inquire about them, which puts our chances at slim to none. In fact, most young children never even make the photolisting because their foster family (or even their own relatives) want to adopt them. I'm just not sure how long it will take to get a child placed with us in foster care to begin with.
We finished our foster training on July 24, and got our SNAP (state-approved Special Needs Adoption Program) license 1-2 weeks ago. No calls about children, yet, but it's early.
Good luck!