Interstate Adopt in FL

September 9, 2003

We have our eye on a sibling group in another state who is in foster care. Would you suggest going through DCF or a private agency? If I do a private agency, do I still have to take MAPP classes? I heard that you must wait until the state has exhausted all local possibilities before they'll send your homestudy out of state. Can I just hire a licensed social worker to do a homestudy and then go from there?

Also, if I don't use DCF will I still be eligible for state subsidies?

yael

September 10, 2003

You should still be eligible for subsidies. But, depending on the state the children are in, you might have to go through an agency there to qualify for subsidy. In our case, when we adopted from NY, that is the way it works.

Yael

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happy6

November 8, 2003

if you get a homestudy done it is yours to do with as you please. just get a certified copy. if you adopt a child from another state that is in care you need to go through dcf in which the other state will contact them for all information and will follow up on the child until finalization. i like going through dcf. they are very strict and dot their i's. it doesn't take too long depending upon which state you go through. why not fl? there are over 3000 avail. if i still have the coorect figures good luck

FLAmy

November 9, 2003

The reason we didn't want to go through FL DCF is because they will not send out your homestudy until they've tried to match you in your district (they hold it for 6 months, trying to make a match). Then, they'll look inside the state for a match. They will not send your homestudy to another state until you've made considerable efforts to find a match instate.

As it turns out, the sibling group we were interested in has been matched with another family.

kttsizme

November 11, 2003

Happy6 wrote:

there are over 3000 avail. if i still have the coorect figures good luck

Where do you find about all these children in foster care in Florida?

I always seem to find just a handful available to adopt.

happy6

November 11, 2003

regarding homestudy... you can request a certified copy and they have to get it to you. then you can mail it to all the districts of dcf in florida yourself or anywhere else you would like to.

regarding finding children in florida to adopt you can do it like above AND read the following.

go to myflorida.com then to find an agency

please read letter from governor posted this week

then to fl adoption program also view

no place like home/connecting parents and children

that should help alot but please dont hestitate to do the foot work yourself. our casewokers are overwhelmed... i know this from the past in adopting our children. good luck