[bluebird38]

Has anyone here done straight adoption? By that I mean that you did not get the child as a foster placement before you knew if you would be able to adopt. I am wondering if it is possible to have a child placed in your home for the sole purpose of adopting. I know that's pretty much what the photolisting for waiting children is for.

My state does not seem to have very many situations in which the child is already tpr'd and waiting for their forever family. So, I was wondering if maybe they put them into foster homes that are only wanting to adopt not foster to adopt and that's why they never make it to the photolisting.

I hope that makes some sense. We are newly licensed and are really wanting to adopt. We want to help a child that has been through the system and is now looking for their forever family. I think that is important also.

Also, is it better to go through your own state instead of others? I'm afraid our county will get mad if we want our homestudy sent out of state.

Thank you for reading my rambling!
bluebird38

[arkansas parent]

We are straight adopt too. The SW that done our home visit told us about a possible match before our homestudy was complete. The day we were approved the SW called to see if we wanted his information. We had a visit with him on Friday and plan another one at our home next weekend. He is almost 4yo and very sweet. Some states require you to stay with them for 6mo before going out of state.
Even if you are straight adopt you will be consider a foster parent untill the adoption is final. In Arkansas it takes 6mo.

[Chancey]

Absolutely you can ask for kids that have been TPR'd for straight adopt. Although, keep in mind that depending on what type of kiddo you designate you can potentially wait a VERY long time for one (especially for babies). Also, foster families are always the first asked (besides blood relatives) if they want to adopt a child that is being fostered in their home... this is another reason why it can take so long.

I have seen that it is MUCH easier to adopt within your own state. The adoption workers tend to favor people from their own state -- given equal families.

You may want to consider legal risk. We had a baby in our home that we declined for adoption (we just don't want to adopt a baby), so she did go to a legal risk family. They have now adopted her. If they were straight adopt they would not have gotten her because the worker wanted to place her in her "potential" forever home when she was young enough to not have as many attachment problems. They still had to wait for mom to fail her plan - hence the "risk".

[bluebird38]

Thanks for the quick replies.
We are looking to adopt a girl age 0-6 years old. If we get our remodeling done on our house we will be able to take a sibling group. We have three biological children already.

bluebird38

[leenab]

We're adopting out 3rd son through straight adoption, in state. We waited 1 1/2 yrs for him. He's 2 yrs old and is amazing. Be prepared to wait!

[Jeanie1]

We have been lisenced for three months and are being considered to adopt two children. They have already had TPR occur and we'll be their forever family if they choose us and right now, we are the only family they are considering so it looks good! You may have to wait a while but it's worth it if you don't want to go through the guessing game of whether or not they will be adoptable. Incidentally, we applied for these kids on the internet months ago before we had a homestudy, they were taken off the web but the CW got busy and is just now deciding on their family. Everyone else has already been placed so we are the only family still looking for a placement. We are okay with that!

[Lylac]

We have been on both sides of the adoption game.
With our daughter, we got her as a foster placement at 5 months old. It took 27 months for TPR and finalization.

With our new son, we did straight adopt. We found him on a website (a different state) in March, and didn't hear anything until June. Right now we are waiting to bring him home. He's supposed to be here by Thanksgiving...but it's not concrete. Things happen that slows everything down. Most ICPC's take quite a while to get approved.

As far as the difference. With our daughter when they placed her in my arms..I knew she wasn't my daughter. It was months & months before we knew for sure that she wasn't going back to her bio's. But somewhere along the way she became my daughter.
So we missed out on the overwhelmed feeling of holding your child for the first time.

With our son, when I held him I did know the feelings that a mom has holding her child for the first time. The world stands still, and at that moment, it was just me & him. Nevermind that it was an office full of folks.

With most foster to adopt, it's not a sure thing, plus you may have to deal with their bios, for visits etc..

Straight adopt- no visits with bios, and the peace of knowing from the first moment, that they are your child.

I prefer straight adopt anyday.

[bluebird38]

Jeanie1, we have been looking through the photolistings also. I've seen a few that I would like to inquire about. However, we've only been license with our county for about 4 weeks. So, I'm afraid they wouldn't send our homestudy out to another state. I've heard that some states have a 6 month waiting period before you can look out of state. I'm in Indiana.

Congratulations on your possible match. I hope everything goes quickly and smoothly for you.

bluebird38

[bluebird38]

Lylac, I hope your son gets to you by Thanksgiving. That would be a wonderful Thanksgiving!

bluebird38

[eternaloptimist]

Hi, Yes, we adopted our 11 year old daughter when she was 4. It was straight adoption. But she had to live in our home for 6 months before we went into court to finalize. I remember that we waited for 1 year -- but we were contacted about other placements during that time. However,we said no until she came along. Best, Elizabeth