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We have two children ages 7 & 9 and were hoping for one child or a sib pair under age 6, ideally with only minor "problems". The process was taking so long (and our agency kept adding hoops for us to jump through) that we became discouraged. Because of this an after reading DianeS's reply to a recent post explicitly describing the trials and tribulations of adopting a foster child, I have decided to give up Fost/Adopt. DianeS- don't get me wrong- I do appreciate your harshly worded but honest description. It was a good wake-up call. This path that we have been on has been too long and I am not willing to jump through so many hoops without any kind of guarantee of getting a child. More importantly, I am no longer willing to subject my bio children to lots of drama. New plan- I am hoping to pursue international adoption. It is obviously a lot more costly, but perhaps the best thing for my family. I am very interested to know if anyone out there has been in this situation and I welcome feedback. God Bless.
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Many SW have many children about 60 a piece. Most times they are lucky to find homes for the children, because Az does not have enough fosterhomes as it is. I dont discourage anybody from adopting from AZ foster care system I do encourage anyone to help Az kids, but be prepared for a long struggle. I dont know anything about out off state adoption so I can not give any advice on that, but I know single fosterparents, but the system is a turtle here. If you a not a patience person here you learn what the word means real fast. We just arrived from a function you see these poor souls you have to wonder how much longer these kids have to suffer in a system that so often defines the problem what these kids came into care for in the first place. Permancy is a strong word for anybody even our state kids:loveyou:
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:loveyou: Not only single people have to jump trough hoops also couples keep that in mind. Nobody said becoming a F/a parent is easy it is just the way it is and it is frustrating. Now Arizona has several agencys here some of them have been mentioned some not. Now these agencys have numerous programs to get to know some children. While you get to meet mabye some children you will also mabye meet CW who have children any age range you get to know all kinds of different people, which means you get your name out. Key one get the homestudy however, if nobody can get to that point while you get your name out in the open go directly through people that have the power and voice what you like to do. A homestudy is just about your life, but when you meet people they can put a face to the homestudy. Alot of the children have different needs to prevent alot of moves for these kids cw have to find the best family that can handle does behaviors. The more open you are as a f/a parent the better it is for getting a placement. Now when you go to the orientation ask alot of question example, how many placements and so on. If you are unhappy with an agency change everything will carry over.:coffee:
I feel all of your frustrations. We got spoiled with our 2. It was 13 mo for the first (including certification process) and 9 mo for the second (including recertification).After our 2nd, we kept have kept our certification alive through extensions. We told our agency that we were open to accepting a 0-3 year old from the State, when we did our first extension 2 years ago. Last year with no possibilities, we expanded to State and Private. Now a year later, no possibilities. So, officially we are expanding the search to 0-6 and extreemly open to a sibling set of 2.We have been looking out of state, but we are having difficulties with that. Our CW sends the HS and either the other end does not receive it or we just never hear anything back. It really gets you when you see that the children are still available months later.To emphasis how slow State Agencies are: We found a child in another state. The child was a featured Wednesday Child locally. We inquired to the CW. She said to send our HS and that she might begin actively looking to place him the following month. That was 4 months ago and the child is still available. He was free and clear when we first talked with her. It makes you feel really bad for these children. We are waiting and they are waiting. What's the problem......
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You were denied due to being single? That is so discouraging since I am single myself and hoping to adopt an older child (6-11). I am waiting for a call back to see if I will be accepted in the MAPP class. I had my interview last week. I have not read any encouraging messages on this thread and I don't want to waste time if I will have better luck trying out of state. We will see....
Good luck on your journey and I hope things get better for you!
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I know this thread is kinda old, but I wanted to reply.
I'm single and fostering in Arizona. It took 9 days for me to get a placement. I am not foster to adopt, however within a few weeks of getting my current DFS i was asked several times if I would be willing to adopt if it came to that.
I am licensed with the Arizona Children's Association and they have been great. CPS, not so great, but the licensing agency was great and have continued to be.
Just my own experience.
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I licensed for ages 0-6, although I said I would only take 0-4.
I currently have a 20-month-old who I got when he was 10 months old.
My AzCA worker comes to visit once per month, does a home inspection twice a year and just recently they changed some of their rules. You have to have a physical once per year, they make sure all your paperwork is in line and they are pretty big on the continued training. You have to have 6 hours of training a year after your 30 hours of initial training. They also do a lot of foster care appreciation things like gift cards and events for the kids. They did a big Christmas party that included kid-friendly food, music, Santa and presents. I'm really glad I went through their training.
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I have been licensed for over a year now and waiting ot renew my licence but my case worker is quiting. I am licensed for ages 0-18, and have had one placement that lasted almost 2 months. But nothing before and nothing after.
My family specialist just told me that she is leaving AASK. I was hoping to get my license renewed soon since I had my home study on hold now since May. My work is going through a big change and they needed me to work OT. So many things are coming up at the same time even amoung my siblings. But I really want to adopt and I just turned 50 so I want to do it soon. I am not even necessarily looking for babies but I would like children that can attach to me. I have a lot of neices/nephews and grand nieces/nephews and I love the feeling. I want my own that don't go home. I want to have my family to go on for generations even if it is someone elses blood line.
Keep thinking do I change agencies or is it me. My family specialist kept telling me I was being inconsistent because when it was taking too long to get placement I told her I was still interested in adoptiong but would foster. I am still looking to do both but is it being inconsiistent? :love: