Adoption FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions About Adopting from Foster Care:

• Who can foster or adopt?

  Most people are eligible to foster and/or adopt, regardless of marital status, age, income, sexual orientation, or gender identity. You do not need to own your own home, have children already, be young, wealthy, or a stay-at-home parent to adopt or foster.

  The number of LGBTQ families fostering and adopting is rising with passing legislation and laws that provide marriage equality to LGBTQ couples. Our website provides a list of resources that may be helpful to current and prospective LGBTQ foster and/or adoptive parent(s) and their children. If you are considering becoming a foster or adoptive family you can visit the Human Rights Campaign website for informative articles about parenting and adoption. You can also look for local support groups and agencies that specialize in working with LGBTQ families.

• Why isn't there more information about the youth in their profiles?

  There are several reasons for this. Please remember that the youth live in our communities. We need to respect their right to privacy, and have an awareness that they may attend the same school, church, or playground as anyone who reviews this information on the website. The availability of their photos with this information leaves the youth recognizable and vulnerable to negative attention. Sometimes our youth visit the website and read their own profiles, as they have every right to do. Sometimes their friends or even acquaintances' parents visit the website and discuss what they read with others in the community. Try and put yourself in the position of our youth. As we strive to protect the privacy of our youth, we need your help.
  

  We really depend on caseworkers to share detailed information about a child’s strengths and needs with selected families who have inquired. Prospective adoptive parents do not have as much ability to self-screen given the limited public information, but most families agree that it is more important to protect the child's privacy.

• Who will respond to my online inquiry?

  Your inquiry will be received by a staff member at Raise the Future. Within 48 business hours, it will be forwarded on to the child's caseworker. Our agreement with caseworkers is they will respond to you or your home study worker within at least 30 days. You or your home study worker may receive either an email or phone call response to your inquiry.

• Can a child be placed out of state?

  Yes, children are sometimes placed in out-of-state adoptive homes. However, caseworkers often prefer to keep children near their current communities because most children have relationships they want to maintain (i.e. biological siblings, former foster parents, friends, therapists, teachers, schoolmates). When a suitable family is not available nearby, caseworkers will consider out-of-state inquiries. Sometimes, the caseworker will prefer an out-of-state family because of circumstances in the child’s background and/or situations when it would not be in the child’s best interest to stay in their current community.

• Should we send you our home study?

  No, we do not collect home studies from families. If the child's caseworker determines that you may be a possible match for the child, they will request that you send your home study to them directly. We do keep an electronic record of the information you give us when you make an inquiry on a child. We use this information when we search our database to find families who have indicated interest in certain types of children, and we will contact those families to discuss a specific child or invite them to attend connection events focused on that type of child.

• I’ve heard that it costs a lot of money to adopt.

  Private infant and international adoptions have substantial fees.
  

  
  Adopting from foster care has minimal costs.

  • Depending on whether you choose to work with a private Child Placement Agency or your state/county agency, the home study and training costs may be covered by the agency.
  • The family must pay for all of the items needed to get their home ready for the placement of a child.
  • If you choose to hire an attorney, you will be responsible for the related fees. However, attorney fees may be reimbursed up to a certain amount, per each state's non-recurring adoption assistance guidelines.
  • The child may also have Medicaid coverage until they are 18 years old.
  • The county or state Department of Human Services will also help the family cover costs associated with the child’s special needs that are not covered by Medicaid.
• I’ve heard all of the children in foster care have a lot of problems. Is that true?

  All of the youth we work with have experienced the trauma of being removed from their families and placed in foster care. Many have experienced other traumatic events in their lives, such as abuse and/or neglect. The children are resilient and, while they sometimes have a hard time learning to trust anyone after what they have been through, they need caring adults they can rely on and who will provide them with non-judgmental, unconditional love and commitment to help them thrive throughout their lifetime. We encourage you to learn about caring for children who have experienced trauma by visiting our on-demand learning center.

• What happens to children in foster care who don’t get adopted?

  Raise the Future believes that every child waiting to be adopted deserves the opportunity to have the life-long love and support of a family. We continually work to find adoptive families for children until they become adults. As youth living in foster care enter their later teen years, most child welfare agencies have programs intended to help them learn the skills they will need to live on their own. Generally, at the age of 18, or when they graduate from high school, youth emancipate from the foster care system if they have not been matched with an adoptive family. Sometimes youth transition to independent living in an apartment prior to emancipation, and a caseworker will check in and provide assistance when necessary.

  Unfortunately, many youth who emancipate from the system are not emotionally prepared to be independent. Often these youth have higher rates of unplanned pregnancy, incarceration, homelessness, and death. It is very important for all youth to have the support of a family.

• If I adopt a child from foster care, can their biological family still come and take them back?

  Children who are adopted from the foster care system have had their birth parents' parental rights terminated by a court or the biological parents have relinquished parental rights to the Department of Human Services. The Department of Human Services makes efforts throughout the case to locate kin or close family friends that may be willing and able to care for the children. Usually, by the time a child is being publicly recruited for, all of those placement options have been explored and ruled out. The adoption finalization hearing is the moment when the child becomes the permanent, legally adopted child of the adoptive parent(s). Once the adoption has been finalized, the biological family has no legal tie to the child.