[cag4nyg]

How hard is it to travel with a foster/adopt child. We are looking to go on a cruse in march of 2008 to mexico. We are hoping to have a placement by then but are unsure as to what we need to do to gwt it approved for the child to go with us.

Heather

[straightblues]

If it is prior to TPR, the bio parents will have to sign off on it. The bio parents in my case refused to sign off and we couldn't go with the children last year.

Post TPR the judge can approve the travel. The judge also has to give you an order allowing you to get a passport. I just got an order for a Mexican cruise this summer. We applied for passports for the children last week and will finally be able to go as a family.

[mommytoEli]

you can travel out of state prior to tpr if the judge approves it as well....but leaving the COUNTRY is a whole other story. we wanted to take our foster kids (who we were going to be adopting) to europe, and the sw said we wouldn't have a chance, but we did get the ok to take them to nevada and massachusetts. it is worth a try to ask at least.

[ca-bigsister]

Of course it is easier if the bios approve the trip before you go. I'd talk to the SW and to the children's attorney about the trip. The DCFS attorney can do a "walk on" court appearance requesting that the judge approve the trip.

If the children's attorney is for it, it's that much easier. I've just always been really clear about where we'd be, contact numbers, reason for the trip, how it will benefit foster children, etc., and haven't been turned down yet.

Of course I've heard this is not the norm.

[straightblues]

Also be advised that if you travel prior to TPR, the parents will have to be notified and they will be given all of your travel plans. They will have things like flight numbers and hotel information. If you have crazy bios light I have whom threatend to kill us, the children and the social workers, that might not be something you want to happen.

[cag4nyg]

luckly we wont be flying or staying in a hotel, the ship would be leaving from a port about 1 h 30 min from us, so if there is no TRP yet the only info they will get is the ship we are on and the dates =).

I talked to one of our SW today since we dont have one assingned to us yet, He said it would be no problem as long as we were up font about it. Let them know from the start, he said it just can not effect the visits with bio fam or things like that. And be prepaired to loos what we put out or make sure to buy travel ins.

We should have our Home study compleated sometime in june latest. So i am hoping by the time the trip rolls around trip will be compleated.

We finish our traning classes April 16th and we are already licenced by the state.

So its just a matter of time, we have even changed our preferance.


Heather

[momofbgtwins]

I know you posted this a while ago, but I wanted to write to tell you my story. We recieved our placement in June of 2006. We knew two months later we would be going to Cancun in June of 2007 for a family reunion. We kept asking the babies social worker if she knew how to get them passports. She was no help. I got all the information. They told me that yo have to get a court order stating that it is ok for you to take the children out of the country. You need the exact dates on the court order that you would be gone. Once you get this you need to get their passports. A lot of the judges will let you speak when you got to court, but some will not. Also make sure you become a defacto parent(child has to be in your home for 6 months). Defacto parenting gives you the right to sit up with the lawyers and speak to the judge.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
And we had no problems when we flew to Mexico.

Gina

[cag4nyg]

We already canx the trip before we even got approved because we did not want to lose any money on the trip. Instead we bought Disney Vacation club for now and we can use that where ever the places are like 500 + places. We will go on a trip out of country after the adoption is final and we get his passport