[eejay]

I am a gay single woman in her 40's who is interested in becoming a foster parent. I live in the Philadelphia area. Does anyone know how to proceed? What are the pitfalls? This is my first posting and inquiry.

[elefant99]

I cannot help you too much, but wanted to say Hello and share what little information I do have.

My partner and I went to Pride last year and Philadelphia DHS had a booth there and they were soliciting GLBT families for foster care and adoption. We picked up information at the time but did not keep it as we are several years away from being ready to adopt. Maybe you could look them up online?

Here are a couple other articles you might be interested in...

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/2...al/6837658.htm

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...ty/3188746.htm

BTW - welcome to the board - my partner and I live in King of Prussia...

[eejay]

Thanks so much for the info. I'm relatively new to the area, having moved here from the west coast a little over a year ago. I live in Montgomery County. Just discovered the county is having its required foster care classes again in January.

I too have thought about adoption, but wonder if I would be considered too old. When I lived in Calif, my job required too much travel. It would not have been fair to a child. Now my situation has changed. From what little I know, PA is not very friendly to gay adoption.

If you have any knowledge or wisdom to share, please write back. Thanks again.

[JuliannaTeresa]

I work in Childrens' Services in California.

Alot of older Girls have feelings of being Lesbian. To me Professionally it sounds like you would be perfect to understand and be compatible as a Foster Parent to this type of situation! Professionally, also I do not see any Pitfalls!


Keep Talking Please!

[elefant99]

I think PA's friendlieness towards GLBT adoption depends on where you look. We have located several agencies in the area that would be happy to work with us when we reach the point of adopting. I do know that PA now allows second parent adoption, which will be great for us and other same sex couples. I would think the passing of that law would indicate an upswing in thoughts regarding LGBT adoption, although I don't really have anything to compare PA's regulations to. I have lived in several other states, but was too young to be really interested in doing much adoption research.

Now, of course, you are interested in fostering, and I don't have much advice there other than what I have already told you. I would recommend that you just be brave and call Mont. Co. DHS and simply ask what their attitude is regarding GLBT fostering. You don't have to tell them your name or anything, and you can get some information without really throwing yourself out there. If you do think you want to adopt, I could forward you the names of a couple agencies who are "family friendly", though I cannot vouch for anything else about them.

I'll be interested to hear what information you receive from Mont. Co. We had considered getting information about their foster to adopt program, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet!