Question(s) about adopting a child who is a ward of the state

I see a red flag with they are letting you visit before your homestudy is completed. For Michigan to do this is very extremely rare! I would question their legality with this? If they were to move the child into your house for a year. The state would still be the legal Guardian. You would most likely be considered as the first Adoptive Family, but you also would not have control over who Adopts.

In most states there is a process for placement of a child for adoption. A child that is 'legally Free" will generally remain in a Foster Home until the state chooses a pre-adoptive placement. Most states have a process where the childs worker accepts Homestudies of interested families most caseworkers are asked to keep the case open to new homestudies until at least 50 have been submitted. There are sometimes exceptions made if the child is older and has been waiting a long time. Generally the childs worker selects three or more familiies to be considered by a panel of uninvolved caseworkers... This is called a staffing or in others states a committee meeting. At this meeting a decision is made as to which family will best meet the needs of the child and a back up family is selected. There is a 7-14 day waiting period before Anyone can meet the child... Some families do start the adoption process OFF with a specific child in mind and sometimes I have heard of the state working closer with a family to accomplish the adoption. Ther are some other methods of adoption of a child in Care--Sometime a Foster Family who has had the child placed for a certian period of time and it is clear the child has attached to the family can adopt without a need for a committee meeting... It is NOT acceptable for a Foster Family or a caseworker to offer up any child who is currently in Foster Care to any family let alone a family without a completed homestudy--and it is actually a violation of the childs rights that ANYONE has been given any information such as you have recieved...????? The Foster family signs confidentility agreements and they are not supposed to discuss a child in their cares life in any way! There could be a possiblity of becoming a Foster Placement for this child--and in that case IF the caseworker decided to plcase with you there would be a chance you were selected as the pre-adoptive family--But most caseworkers will NOT move a child who is in a good foster home to anothe foster home and then to a pre-adoptive family.... YES--once a child is placed it WILL take at least 6-months and usually around 12 months for an adoption to finalize. The first six months a child is placed by the state will be condiered a monitoring period. The caseworker will make visits typically on a monthly basis with the pre-adoptive family. The state generally does not start the actual paperwork to complete the adoption until the six months have passed. Then there is the time it takes for the state to process the paperwork and relesase the info so an attorney can write the adoption petition--then it usually take 30-60 days to get the court appointment where the judge signs the adoption decree.