Adopting through DCF

Hi! Let me scan my brain. Where are you in FL? I know if I open my phone book to adoption, I will find the St. Petersburg Dio., which provides to Pasco, Hernando, Pinellas, and Hillsborough Counties. Have you looked there? You can also call your church for a name. Based on what I've learned the St. Petersburg Dio. will provide adoption services for others not of the catholic faith. I do know they have more strict requirements, for instance I think you need to have been married 5 years (but it might have been as low as three). I do think they will adopt to singles, though. That ruled us out (DH and I have been married since August last year) so I stopped researching. Hope that helps. ;)

I am in the Orlando area. I do know there is a Catholic Charities here as opposed to the ones that provide services in the area you mentioned. It is just that their website mentioned pregnancy services, but not adoption. I was just wondering if they even still provide adoption services, or if they are now counseling pregnant women to parent their babies, provide emergency funding and food bank supplies. Thanx for responding! Love & Light, Tee

I don't actually know the answer to your question, if I were you I'd call my church's office, and ask explain what you want to do, and see if they can tell you who to call. I've found the rectory office to be very helpful to me in the past, the number should be on your weekly handout, or you could look in up in the phone book. Best of Luck and let me know if I can help with anything else Ani~

Thanx for the advice, I think that's a good place to start. Love & Light, Tee

My husband and i have been in the adoption ring here in Utah for about 6 months. We have had our home study, created our profiles and have been approved since the first of the year. Of course it's been a waiting game since then. We are currently registered with an agency that only handles Utah adoptions. We have just found out that my husband is being transferred to Tampa and am a little disappointed that we have to start the whole process again from scratch. I think our homestudy will transfer but I'm not sure what else we need to do. We, like everyone else, is looking to adopt a caucasian infant girl or boy. Can anyone give us any ideas as far as a place to start and what we should do next? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This will be our first child and it's so discouraging that we're going back to square one. Dana

Dana ~ I wouldn't be to discouraged if I were you. Did you keep copies of your paperwork, etc.? If not I'm sure you could get a copies of everything from your agency. Most of the questions seem to be similiar allowing you to use your old application as a guide. You might be able to find an agency that would be willing to "handshake" with your old agency so you wouldn't end up totally back at square one. Were you officially waiting? I can't help much other than that all my contacts are for older children and international. Sorry :( But keep your chin up, I don't think you'll have to much trouble finding a workable agency here. :) Ani~

My husband and I have adopted one child through DCF and we are waiting to adopt a second. The son who we finalized with came to us after waiting to be adpoted for almost a year post-termination. His sisters had already been placed for adoption with someone else. His adoption was relatively easy and we finalized within 9 month. Joey was 8 when we adopted, which is funny to me now when I consider that we started the process 3 years ago certain we would not accept a child over two. He also has special needs...more than I ever thought we could handle. And yet, I'm so glad we didn't limit ourselves. He belongs with us. One thing I learned, though, through his adoption is that they never give you all the information up front. For example, it wasn't until we were well on the way to finalizing that someone tipped us off to the fact that it had been reported earlier on that he was having possible psychotic episodes. Minor detail that might be helpful to know. Our other son was placed with us almost two years ago as an adoptive placement. We are still waiting, and most recently thought that we were going to lose him after all this time to his maternal grandmother. His case has been one screw up after another. A nightmare that is hopefully coming to an end. At this point, I'm just counting the days until his adoption is final and we can turn in our foster liscence and be done with DCF. Even as I say that, as a foster parent I am thankful for those who adopt through DCF. These children need so desperately for someone to love them, someone willing to help them carry the baggage of their early lives and try to overcome the past. Good luck, be prepared to hurt a lot in the process, but also to be immeasurably blessed.

Hi. I'm a reporter at The Miami Herald. We're starting a project on hard-to-place/special needs kids in the DCF system (with the aim of conveying to the public that many of these kids may be more "adoptable'' than they might seem at first glance. If you or anyone you know is considering such a child, please contact me, Elinor Brecher, by return email or at 305-376-3631. I'm also interested in talking to anyone who has adopted a special-needs child or who considered it and decided otherwise. Thanks!

........meridithmc. [quote] Our other son was placed with us almost two years ago as an adoptive placement. We are still waiting, and most recently thought that we were going to lose him after all this time to his maternal grandmother. I am confused!!! Was he placed with you as an adoption, but the paperwork and never got done? Or was he placed with you as a foster (to adopt) child and you are still waiting on that. Or was he placed as a foster and came available for adoption, and you are waiting??? Were the parents TPR'd??? I thought Florida long got rid of their foster to adopt program, at least when I had MAPP last year that was what we were told. I mean you may foster (thinking you may adopt) and that child may never come available for adoption at that time. So I am real unclear, I still hear parents in Fl talking about fostering to adopt! I wish you much luck, the wait must be horrific! Love & Light, Tee

Our son Bryan was placed with us by the adoptions folks at DCF in July of 2002 at 22 months old. His Mom's rights had not yet been terminated, however, they pretty much knew the goal was adoption since he was removed from the hospital at 3 days old. Mom was picked up while pregant eating garbage out of a trash can. She was high on cocaine, and the voices in her head were telling her to kill her children. Bryan had been with one foster family before adoptions placed him with us. They were preparing to move out of state, and since we were also foster parents, they moved him to us prior to the termination trial which was set for November. One could ask why they took so long to proceed but it is the same old story...too many changes in caseworkers, and the system giving chance after chance to a birthmom who just wasn't going to ever be able to get it together. Mom's rights were terminated in December 2002, but she appealed the ruling within her 30 day window. DCF didn't get the file to the appealate court until June of 2003 and it sat there until the ruling came back about 3 months ago which said that they had overturned the termination due to the fact that the court thought DCF had not given the maternal grandmother a good enough chance to get custody. Grandma recently pulled herself out of the running, and once that is made official in court this month we can finally proceed. As far as foster to adopt...that is how we entered into the system in 2001. I have a friend in my church that just started fostering within the last year, she is also foster/adopt and is working on adopting an infant that was placed in her home as a foster child 7 months ago. So, I guess it is still possible, at least here in the Ft. Myers area. Hope that clarifies things for you... Meredith

"I thought Florida long got rid of their foster to adopt program, at least when I had MAPP last year that was what we were told. I mean you may foster (thinking you may adopt) and that child may never come available for adoption at that time. So I am real unclear, I still hear parents in Fl talking about fostering to adopt! " DCF is not so eagerally to offer the foster to adopt program. They want you to make a clear decision on foster or adoption. We started with the foster to adopt situation and then went on to fostering with the hopes to adopt one of the children that come in our home. Needless to say we are close to adopting a two year old that we have had for eight months. So it is possible. It just depends on who you talk to. No they don't advertise for the foster to adopt program but ask and they will tell. Jody

Dealing with D.C.F.

Dealing with D.C.F. The foster to adopt program is not in place any more. D.C.F. will be gone by Sept. as of the case worker i have spoken to who is doing an adoption for us. There is a new Foster care program in place and it will be completely different departments, one for foster care and one for adoptions. About 70% of the D.C.F. offices are closed and there are only a few still in place in this state. I can not recall the new name but will be talking to my case worker Monday and will post it. We are adopting our third one in a time frame of 4 years and and we were doing foster care for over 20 years but had to change our homestudy to adoption only. The homestudys and Mapp class is the same. We will be getting our new son on July 28. 2004 and we can`t wait. I just had to take him back to the foster care home last Wed. and now the wait is on. This will be the case workers last adoption under D.C.F. and she then she will be working for the new people who take it over. :)

dcf will be going to community based care (CBC) Not all areas will be switched over by september some will take longer Jody

Our area has already switched. Every district is contracting out to private non-profits, so there is no one name or organization across the state. I can say by my experience of it that privatization means little more than a change in names and less services. It is the same caseworkers and the same basic structure. Yes, different agencies are in charge of the different aspects of care, but they all are still housed in the DCF building. In our case the biggest loss is we no longer have a staff person who helps coordinate community donations for the kids(she was the one we could call when a child came with nothing and she could get us a gift card for wal-mart, she was also the one who coordinated the huge christmas present drive), planned seasonal activities for the kids, and helped the foster parent association stay together. Now they pay for nothing that doesn't lead to the "permanence" of a child. I guess shoes without holes in them and bikes at Christmas are non-essentials for kids. With my son still waiting for permanence after 4 years I guess I am not wholly convinced. Instead of more caseworkers, which is the obvious solution to most problems, the great business minds in charge have added a new level of beauracracy. They now have people whose only job is to harass the caseworkers to stay on top of their cases. This in addition to supervisors. They promised that caseworkers would now have a caseload of no more than 20, but most still have twice to three times that. Sorry, I'm venting. I just never cease to be amazed at how we think if we change what we call something that fixes everything. We finished our last adoption before the turn over, so I'll be curious to see how different it is. Meredith