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Originally Posted by bange
Thanks, that is very helpful.
So do the families usually only find out more details about the child AFTER they are selected? Or upon submitting their homestudy?
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It varies from state to state, and from sw to sw. In our case, we were given a page bio on each child (we adopted 4 siblings) and attached to that was a short note from our agency worker with a general background of why they were removed and asking if we were interested in meeting the kids' social worker.
We met with the social worker at the agency and both sides asked a lot of questions of each other. She asked us questions about parenting, views, etc. and we asked questions about the kids. While we didn't have the medical details, and some other details, we did feel we had enough info to continue on.
Next step was the committee hearing where we met the foster parents, the director of the county the kids were living, and the sw who had been involved from the beginning and made the decision to remove the kids. Plus the kids' sw and our agency worker were there. This is where we got a lot more details and more answers. And after that meeting we took a week to make up our minds and they also decided we were the right family for the kids.
It wasn't until after we met the kids and the sw was "confident" that we were going to adopt the kids that she allowed me to come to the social service dept. and view all the files and ppwk on the kids. I ASKED to see these files though. These files contained a lot more medical details as well as details of the bparents. So you need to keep in mind that sometimes things aren't necessarily offered and if you have any questions or concerns be sure to ASK.
Crick