[rachelandbrad]

Hi,
I'm not a foster parent, although I do want to be one day, but I work in a RTC and had a question about legal guardians. I thought this would be the best place to bring it.

So one of the kids was in foster care and his foster mother chose to become his legal guardian instead of adoption, he has lived with her for several years and she has been his legal guardian for several years, I believe she became his legal guardian when he was around the age of 7 he is now 16ish, I was just wondering why she would choice to be a legal guardian over adoption, obviously it was her personal choice to make but could anyone give me any ideas about why legal guardianship would be better than adoption for a long term situation with a younger child?

Thanks so much
Rachel

[stevenstwin]

Here it is often a matter of financial support - we'd get a lot more as legal guardians (they'd continue to pay for couselling, provide a monthly stipend, etc). Other reasons that we had for looking at it wouldn't really apply as much to a yourger child.

Originally Posted by rachelandbrad

Hi,
I'm not a foster parent, although I do want to be one day, but I work in a RTC and had a question about legal guardians. I thought this would be the best place to bring it.

So one of the kids was in foster care and his foster mother chose to become his legal guardian instead of adoption, he has lived with her for several years and she has been his legal guardian for several years, I believe she became his legal guardian when he was around the age of 7 he is now 16ish, I was just wondering why she would choice to be a legal guardian over adoption, obviously it was her personal choice to make but could anyone give me any ideas about why legal guardianship would be better than adoption for a long term situation with a younger child?

Thanks so much
Rachel

[jphollen]

In my state it foster care and adoption are almost always the same stipend and healthcare/mental health benefits. So here legal guardianship versus adoption is often seen with older children who either do not wish to be adopted and or do not want to loose college funding from the state. I know some people in my area who also did guardianship instead because the teen in question was already considered troubled. The foster parents thought it was too much risk financially to adopt. (ie if he went out and stole another car and hurt someone they could be held liable).

It can be easier to get a bio parent to agree to guardianship versus tpr and then adoption. I still have never heard of too many cases, unless it was an older child or a relative taking guardianship.

[MamaS]

Legal guardianship does not make the child an heir to property, etc.
Legal guardianship is reversible if the child gets into serious legal trouble or has mental/emotional problems that might require expensive, long-term therapies.
Legal guardianship does allow the child to be claimed as a tax deduction.

[rachelandbrad]

Thanks so much this I guess I forgot to add this kid is atleast part native so I guess ICWA could have played into it to. I just feel so sad watching him, he talks about reconecting with his birth mom when he is 18 but as far as I know he has had no contact with her since he was removed, it all just seem s like a very strange situation to me, and because I adopted my infant son, the kids all think I'm some kind of adoption and foster care expert and bring all sorts of crazy questions to me.

Thanks so much for your replys

Rachel