Thinking about adoption, advice please!

Brenda - posted on 08/18/2012

I would say. No foster care is not easyer inless you get a already legal child then its just a matter of months and paper work. If you get into foster care with the hopes of adopting you will get your heart broken. Every child you get you will bond with and there is more chances of them being either return to the parent or returned to a family member of the child.

Deborah - posted on 07/28/2012

I've been a licensed Foster/Adoptive Parent for 6 yeras in MD. If you want to adopt through the Foster Care program, first, you take a 9 week training course (like 3 hours every Wednesday nite for 9 weeks) Then the county Social Services completes a Home Study--Get your finger prints, Have a 3 hour meeting with a psychiatrist that comes to your home to find out why you are doing this, have the Fire Dept come certify you have working smoke detectors, and have a complete physical to pass. To keep your license, you have the complete physical every 2 years, and have a 1.5 hour meeting once a year with the Social worker, and take 1st aid and CPR class every 2 years, and complete 6 hours of child-related class (you can find these on line, or thru Social Services) every year. I have had 7 children placed in my home for varied lengths of stay over the past 6 years (1 girl and 6 boys) while their parents completed what they needed to do to get them back. I would have adopted the little girl in a heartbeat, but when her parents failed to act, her father's cousin in NY came out of the woodwork after 7 months and adopted her instead. It hurt letting her go, but I saved her life, and I felt the hand of God in my life, with Mommy hugs I felt in my soul that would have never experienced had I not been a Foster parent to her. (Had she been with me for 12 months, I would have moved in front of the family in priority for placement, due to the bonding that had taken place.) Still it was the BEST 7 months of my life hands down! Now NM has called me and wants me to adopt an 11 year old girl. I am contemplating that at the moment. Once you are a licensed Foster/Adoptive parent you can register on www.adoptuskids.com and search for a child that might be availabel for adoption, if you State/county doesn't place a child with you. (I live in an affluent county that has roughly 170 foster parents and only 45 kids to place, so I was looking outside my State. Hope this helps!