[ChitownTracy]

This is the deal....a foster mom, who is the bio aunt, wants us to foster to adopt this child. Our SW is not very optimistic, saying DCFS is not easy. I get that...

BUT This foster mom/aunt, wants us to be the parents. We are working with 2 different adoption agency...DH and I need to get our PRIDE training 30 hours completed before we are eligible to foster to adopt. Our homestudy and everything else has been approved. We have actually been waiting to be matched with a potential birthfamily since june...

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, with the foster family/birthrelative wants you to adopt the child....
And how did it work out? Were you able to work around the red tape of the state. ANY Advice would be helpful. DH and I want this desperatly to work out...
Thanks

[momofmykids]

Where are the birth parents? Have they either surrendered their rights or had them terminated by the courts? If not, I'd think the aunt doesn't have alot of say as to who gets to adopt this child. If the bps haven't surrendered or haven't been terminated, then THEY ARE STILL THE LEGAL PARENTS WITH RIGHTS TO THIS CHILD!

How old is the child? Is this child currently in foster care? Give us more details and we may be able to offer more advice.

Good luck!

[ChitownTracy]

Short version, bmom has had 9 kids (including this one) all 9 have been taken away....and her rights terminated by the courts. Aunt/foster mom- comes into the pic b/c her brother has conceived the last 5 out of 9 kids with bmom.
the last 4 kids (the 5th being this one) were placed into adoptive homes...1 boy with the aunt and 3 others with non related a-homes. aunt says, if history is a given, bps will not meet conditions of state.

baby is 1 week old. Case is still in the investiviagated stage. Plans have not been made yet as to the goal of the long term plans of the child.

I have more info, just not sure what else is useful to know. Thanks again!!!

[ALI143]

If your agency/attorney got the adoption paperwork ready and made signing easy/convient could aunt tell bps about you and maybe get them to consider signing over rather than going through the state? The benefit of open adoption might help the bps feel more comfortable with the decision. And while that's going on you could get your hours in as fast as possible and spend "heart gaurded" time with the baby maybe helping aunt out by babysitting, ect. that way you could take baby as a foster/adopt when you're done with hours if the bparents haven't decided on an open adoption through an agency.
**Guessing, all laws and public agencies differ by state, circumstances**
I just hope everything works out for you!

[tlc4kidz]

Just a word of caution....I would tread lightly. Your aunt has already given you WAY more information than IMO she should have. She signed an agreement of confidentiality and you should really know nothing about this babies history. I'm not saying that you should or shouldn't attempt to adopt this child, but I think it has to be done the right way. The baby is only a week old. There may be relatives, or families with a sib that would be willing to adopt. There are so many things that would have to be looked at, and I don't think you can really present yourself as a pre-adoptive placement until either rights are terminated or concurrent planning is ordered.

I would love to be able to post something more encouraging, but I know that around here DSS REALLY frowns on "arranged adoptions", as they feel that is their job.

[momofmykids]

Originally Posted by ALI143

If your agency/attorney got the adoption paperwork ready and made signing easy/convient could aunt tell bps about you and maybe get them to consider signing over rather than going through the state?

Wouldn't work. The child is already in state custody and DCS is not going to return custody to the bps just so they can sign over to you. That would be way too risky.

If this child is only a week old, you can bet the farm that the parents still have rights *unless* they have voluntarily surrendered AND the revocation period has passed. Because this baby is a newborn, there is likely going to be family coming out of the woodwork if they find out that the child is going to a non-family member.

Finally, remember that the goal of foster care is 99.9% of the time reunification with the bps or placement with some bio family member. I, like tlc, would like to be able to encourage you more, but I wouldn't get my hopes way up on this situation. I also agree that you've been given WAY too much info! Foster parenting is all about confidentiality. This aunt is endangering her license. In TN, you can get in some DEEP trouble for disclosing that much info.

Praying for all involved...