[jkinville]

My wife and I are thinking of fostering or adopting but aren't sure which way to go. How long does it take to go through the process of becoming a foster parent? What is the possibility of adopting a foster child. We are afraid of fostering and getting attached to a child and having to give them back to the same situation they were in. What is the youngest age child you are able to get fostering? What are the chances of getting siblings (2)? Sorry for all the questions, we just don't have much of an idea. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[MommyAlysia]

As far as how young are available, some babies are taken at birth so its possible to get a newborn. It depends on the area you live in, some areas there are mostly older children/teenagers some there are an abundance of babies or some areas they could have a need for all ages. Usually you will get placed faster if you can take siblings. With foster care all parents are given a plan, if they complete the plan they will likely be returned to their parents, if they don't and their rights are terminated then they try and find relatives to take the child and if they don't find a suitable relative the FP gets first chance to adopt. HOPEFULLY, you won't have to hand your future foster children back to a bad situation. The goal is to send them back after the parents have gotten everything in good order so if they go back to parents then it SHOULD be a good thing. If they go to a *suitable* relative it is also a good thing so they can have family ties, while it may be hard to let them go its usually the child's best interest and, hopefully, that will make it easier on you. Unfortunately, it can and does happen sometimes they the children leave to go to less than ideal situations but thats not the goal. Good luck!

ETA : At the agency I am going to go through the process takes 6 months or less. Like everything else though, it just depends.

[millie58]

10 weeks for classes. during that time, home inspections and background checks were done. I think if you have rooms for boys and girls, it will be faster. when I started, I could only do 2 boys or 2 girls. I was certified in July and didn't get a call until October. I got a baby only because bmom of my foster son was pregnant and her husband kicked her. I've had 2 sets of kids leave. My first 2 girls went to a family that could take all 5 siblings and the next 2 were RU with birth mom. It's not easy but if you have a calling for it, it can be very rewarding!!

[wantonemore]

I guess it depends on where you are at. Here, it was about 42 days from first phone call to licenced to adopt (the licence to foster should come next week, making that part a 6 week process from phone call to licensing.) We have PRIDE classes, to "train you for fostering" and those were 5 classes over two weekends. It all depends (at least here) on how quickly you get your ducks in a row, TB tests, first aid/cpr, etc.

Don't know how long it will be to get a baby (looking for 0-3) but I will let you know! Good luck!

[NotAMomYet]

If we count from the first day of classes to our licensing, it was 1.5 years - but we had a lot of self-imposed slow-downs. If we don't count the gap between classes, sending the application materials, and having the home inspection, it was four months - one for classes and three for the application/interview process (and even that was slowed by our choice due to other obligations).

You can choose to only foster "legally free" children and that would possibly limit the risk of having children removed from your home after you've grown attached to them. That may also limit the possibility of infant children, however.

[DoYaReallyThink]

From what I keep seeing on here I think it depends on where you live to how fast it goes. It seems like it takes forever here.

[jp4ga]

Once you complete the classes in most states, placement takes place pretty quickly. However, we were told that we would probably be able to adopt a foster child within 18 months. After 3 years of trying and not being able to adopt from the foster system, we went through a private agency.

It is different state by state.