[MichelleW]

Has anyone done this? What is your experience? We're wanting to adopt a sibling group from 0-4 (any age in between that is fine), but we don't want to foster parent. I was just wondering what are chances are.

[fadnohra]

I was interested in this as well. I live in Louisiana and was told that we had to sign up to foster parent if we wanted to adopt.

[athikers]

You can "straight" adopt. You will still technically be a "foster parent" during the waiting period to finalize the adoption. But, the child would only leave if you disrupted, there would be no chance of them reunifying or moving to relatives.

The wait is typically MUCH longer for straight adoption from foster care as opposed to foster adoption.

[vernellinnj]

And..usually children are not in the age range you specify. Most people end up fostering because most children are adopted by their foster parents.

I'm in NJ, I've been licensed for straight adoption for almost 2 years - have not received ONE call.

But, that being said, what God has for you it IS for you. With this process, anything can (and does) happen.

Good luck.

[~*Max*~]

Originally Posted by MichelleW

Has anyone done this? What is your experience? We're wanting to adopt a sibling group from 0-4 (any age in between that is fine), but we don't want to foster parent. I was just wondering what are chances are.

Just keep in mind that in general, a child/sibling group that becomes available for adoption has been in foster care already, and chances are high that it's with a family who is over the moon at the prospect of adopting them. If you can find it to take legal risk placements, you'll have a MUCH greater chance of adopting via foster care.

[ANEIRA]

We wanted to do straight adopt but we were advised by the CW (who is also a friend) that we would have a lot better shot if we Fostered as well. so thats what we are doing..
GL!!

[mamala]

Originally Posted by ANEIRA

We wanted to do straight adopt but we were advised by the CW (who is also a friend) that we would have a lot better shot if we Fostered as well. so thats what we are doing..
GL!!

Same here. My home study was done for straight foster, fost/adopt and straight adoption. We've been fostering for a year. I'm also in NJ. Our current fd really looked like a hopeless RU and she leaves either 5/8 or 5/19... so you never know.

Our homestudy only got to the adoption unit in OCTOBER and we're limited to 3yo & under. We just got a call Thursday for a nearly 2yo with some special needs (should be mild, but who knows yet).

[reapingjoy]

We are adopting from FC without fostering. Our story is really quite a miracle & like another poster said "what God has for you it is for you".

We had a private homestudy & were also in the process to adopt from Ethiopia when we found out right after Thanksgiving that our facilitator in country was dishonest & our agency's program shut down. Because I knew that our private domestic HS was good, I started looking online for private or public domestic situations. I finally had a friend make contact at our CSB because she used to work there. It's a long story how it worked out, but within 3 weeks of finding out our ET adoption was not going to happen, we were totally matched with a 3 y.o. from foster care. We met her in January & she came home on Feb. 29th.

I have been told by several people that this is a complete miracle & "never" happens, but God had bigger plans. The biggest problem I have right now is dealing with CSB. They have been way less than helpful & have renewed in our minds the reasons why we said we would never work with them again (we lost a fd about 2 years ago to relatives who were marginal at best; a very sad situation).

So, it is true that there is no way she will be RU, I am still at the mercy of CSB for everything (w/o benefit of the larger FP stipend). We were told that she was totally healthy with no medical or developmental needs, but since she has been with us, she has been diagnosed with asthma, disclosed some possible abuse from the FM's house that we are getting ready to go to therapy for, & we are waiting for our specialist appt. at the end of May to find out if there is a medical reason why she falls down & is sometimes shaky when walking.

So, even if they say that a child is perfectly healthy, I would totally expect some issues. And then you must work through CSB to resolve those issues. I tried to take care of 1 little thing on my own (a mistake on an insurance card) & was told that I can't do that - I must go through them for everything. It wouldn't be so bad except that I feel like I'm having to convince them that my daughter needs help (because all they know from the FM is that she is totally fine).

So, in a nutshell - yes, it can be done & it "can" be done for your age group, but is very rare without the child/ren having some diagnosed SN (& then there are possibly more that are undiagnosed), and you will still have to deal with SW's (we have 4 people involved in following up with our family - it's overkill & very intrusive) & essentially following "fostering rules" until the adoption is finalized.

But - I am living proof that it can be done. :-) (& we can't wait until Sept. when CSB's part is over!!!)

Blessings,
Beth
DS S-19
DS J-17
DS J-14
DS E-10
AD E-2 Guatemala
Soon to be AD M-3

[crick]

We adopted a sibling group straight from foster care and were able to do the age ranges we wanted, minimal challenges and a very easy process for us really.

We found out about them in April, met them in May, spent the summer doing our visits and by August 1st, they were living with us permanently.

We only wanted legally free and our group was in the last month of the appeal process where bio mom could appeal her termination.

So it can and does happen and nothing is "typical" in my opinion, in regards to availability or length of times, since things vary so much from state to state and depends on what types of situations you have stated you will or will not be interested in.

[Sam-N-Tony]

I too wanted to adopt and was told that I had a higher chance of adopting a younger child by fostering first, so we went that route. Had I adopted a child without fostering first I think I would've had a failed adoption. I think there is a experience that you get from fostering especially children from the system. Now that might not work for everyone but I think fostering first was the best thing we did, we know what works for our family and what we are and not willing to accept.

Most kids from the "system" have many many issues and some people feel they can handle when read on paper and reality is a different thing. You might get lucky and get a easy child or children for a much easier transition.

You should really really sit down and decide what's best for you and your family.

[arkansas parent]

We are adopt only. We were matched with our son with in a couple days of being approved. (he was almost 4yrs). We are now hoping to adopt again (age 0-7yrs) I found out last week we have been reapproved. I hope we don't have a long wait. One thing I am doing is emailing every adoption specialist in the state to let them know we are wanting to adopt.

[momto3]

Arkansas parent, how do you find out e-mail information for all of those adoption specialists? I'd love to do the same thing in our state, but don't know how to obtain that information. Thanks!

[MichelleW]

thanks for all the replies! It's given me somethings to think about

[Sunshinemom]

We adopted our son from the County as a straight adoption. He had just turned 2 the week before we met him. We did get our license and did function as his Foster Parents as we waited the 13 months for finalization, but never was there a chance of him being removed from our home. His parental rights had been terminated and his Foster Mother whom he'd lived with since birth already had children and grandchildren of her own and as much as she adored him she felt he needed a younger family with siblings.

Anyway, I don't know about your county, but here we were told the wait for straight adoption could range from 2 weeks to 12 months. It took us 11 months from being approved to getting "the call". They never discouraged us from going this route or told us our age range was going to be a problem.

Good luck to you!

[JoMama79]

We are interested in this as well.

We have 2 boys, aged 4 and 1, and would consider a girl or 2 siblings (g/g or b/g) up to age 10. With such a large age range, is this possible without a long wait? I am constantly cruising various photolistings. Are those kids generally actually available, if they're over 7ish?