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Originally Posted By akat

Hi Im fairly new to the board and I have posted a few things with little response (except for the warm welcome) after which I have again had no reponse. So I thought I would address you personally since you are the "expert". My question is is there a certain number of children you are allowed to adopt? I am from Illinois and we have 4 children and 1 foster child. I do know that in Illinois you are only allowed to foster a total of 6 kids and if they have special needs that number decreases. But I wasnt sure if that applied to adopting as well or is it based on the adoption type? example you could adopt as many as you like if it is private but only a certain number if it is through the state? And arent most of the waiting children through some state agency? because they have to be somewhere while they "wait". I have been reading the board as often as I can which doesnt seem as much as some others but I will be watching for a response. If anyone else knows please feel free to answer.

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Originally Posted By louise

I remember your question from a while back. I know in California there does not seem to be a limit [I know of families with up to 9 adopted special needs kids] but maybe other states have different guidelines. Graham.....??

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Originally Posted By Liz

My DH and I were foster parents here in Illinois for a few years and we have adopted 2 special needs older children (one in state adoption and one out-of-state). I do know that you
are only allowed to have a certain number of foster children
(with a limit also on how many you can have under the age of six at any given time).

Since we gave up our license after our last adoption 3 years ago, I am not sure if the numbers are still the same, but at that time you could not have more than six children total including your own. If you are adopting a special needs child through the state, that limit also applies as you would be that child's foster parent until the adoption is legally finalized (about 6 months). However,exceptions to that rule are made on an individual basis in the case of large sibling groups being adopted together and if you are already the legal parents of a child whose siblings later become available for adoption thru the state.
There may be a few other reasons that an exception might be
made, but it is usually done in order to maintain existing
sibling relationships.

If you chose to do an independent adoption, (a child who is not a ward of state) these rules do not apply. However most independent adoptions tend to be babies and not "waiting children".

Either way, I would ask your licensing worker or adoption worker if you have any special concerns about your own situation, especially if you are interested in adding a sibling group to your family.

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Originally Posted By barki

I think we are bound by how many bedrooms we have available. Since we are adopting thru the state foster agency we have to comply with foster regulations for having a child placed in our home. The children are placed as foster children until the paper work is transferred to the other dept. and they are then an "adoptive" placement until finalization. The foster dept. has guidelines about how many children may be in a room, age and gender spread of the children in the same room, etc. With only two bedrooms available for child occupation I don't think we COULD adopt 6 children...LOL!

There can be special variances for special circumstances, but one has to have the branch manager write a special dispensation to do that and it isn't a COMMON thing, although they do it on occaision. For example, no child over the age of two may sleep in the foster parents' bedroom. However, in order to accomodate another waiting foster child whom they couldn't place elsewhere, they allowed the 2 yo to stay a few months more in a crib in parents' bedroom so that older child would have their own bedroom.

In order to REALLY know what Illinois has on the books you should look it up in their info packet or ask your caseworker. (It was IL, right?? not Indiana? if it was IN, just replace IL with IN in the sentence. LOL)

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Originally Posted By Deana

We live in Nebraska and are allowed no more than 6 kids under age 12 and can have 9 kids if some are over 12. This includes bio, foster and adoptive kids. We are licensed for 3 foster kids because we have 3 already and didn't want teens. If we get an adoptive placement of 3 kids and have a foster placement at that time we have to have the foster child moved. I don't know if our guidelines help you much. You should try asking your worker where you do foster care.