Adopting in Duval County, FL I have ?'s

I know the child has to be in your home a minimum of 6 months for adoption finalization. Other then that I can't really help you. We are licensed foster parents in Duval county and are adopting our niece. Her adoption is thru Idaho though and not Florida. We'll be finalizaing in Florida but going by Idaho's subsidy amounts, etc... I'm sure someone from Jax can come by and answer your questions. I know there is a few here that have adopted here in Duval County.

Thank you for that much atleast.

Sandmj - Though I have no experience in adopting but I am a licensed foster parent. I have met with adoptive parents and you can wait up to 2-3 years for a child under the age of 5. Most children who have been tpr'd but not adopted are already older than 8, a large sibling group or have medical/emotional/physical disabilities. Younger kids are much harder to come by and that's why in the end we decided to foster with the hope of adoption. Most children who get tpr'd will be get adopted either by their family members, or their foster parents. If you take a look on the heart gallery of jacksonville or the state of florida website. There are very few children under the age of 5. Good Luck on your decision.

Thank you for replying. I have seen the heart gallery. I didn't know that it was that long. We are African American and I have heard that the wait is not as long if you are hoping to adopt and African American Child. We considered foster care first, but they stressed to us if you want to adopt go adopt only. We are a military family and waitng for a child that we are fostering to become availible for adoption is not a luxury we have, because we will have to move to the next station. I know fostering is the only way we'll get a newborn though. But we'll see. Thanks again.

[QUOTE=hkolln]I know the child has to be in your home a minimum of 6 months for adoption finalization. " The requirement is only 90 days not 6 months.. This may be the requirement becasue you are adopting out of state but I know for me and my adoptions it was only 90 days...

We were told finalization between 3 to six months. That won't be a problem at all. Waiting 2 to 3 yrs for placement would be the problem.

I am a single AA woman in duval county and I just completed the adoption of a 1 and 3 yr old boy sibling group in Nov 07 and I will be completing the adoption of my other 1 yr son prayerfully by April or May 08. I am a licensed foster parent and all 3 of my boys got placed with me as Foster only placments that just happened to get TPR'd. They were all placed on April 5, 2007 and sibling group number 1 was adopted Nov 07, but that was only because the agency was dragging their feet. My youngest son is expected to be TPR'd (Parental rights terminated) in 2 weeks...(Prayerfully) His mom is a fugitive right now and she is running from the law, there is NO WAY she is going to get these kids back seeing this is her 3rd offense and just 2 weeks ago, she left my son's 2 and 3 y/o siblings in the house by themselves for 2 days. I am going to be honest with you, you are going to be in for a long wait if you do straight adoption with the ages you want. Primarilly because either the foster parents or relatives end up adopting children that young. I got licensed to be a foster parent just because I knew that was really the only way I was goign to get placed with the younger kids without having to wait forever. There is a greater risk that the kids will go back home with "Foster-adopt", but HONESTLY at least 80% of the kids I PERSONALLY know of do not go back home in Duval County (Note the PERSONALLY part of that statement, as in I don't know what the county statistics are, these are kids I personally know of) But I know MANY people who have adopted their first placement. I adopted my second placements and they only came one and 1/2 month after I was licensed...... As a matter of fact out of the 6 kids I have had in my home, 5 of them have been adopted or will be adopted very soon....I have adopted 2, and will be adopting 1 and the other 2 will be going to another adoptive home soon. My advice is to get licensed to be a foster parent....It's the best decision I ever made... I haven't even been licensed a year and I have 3 sons all placed at age 2 and under.....the oldest was 2 and 1/2 the youngest was 6 months and I get calls ALL THE TIME for more kids (many of which are headed for TPR and if they know at the time of placement they will let you know)......again no guarantees but we live in a VERY PRO ADOPTION county, so the odds are very much in your favor!!!! If your interested....My youngest sons older siblings (age 2 girl and 3 boy) will be available for adoption really soon as well, but they have to be adopted together, don't know how far along you are with the homestudy and all, but if you are interested I can pass your name on to the case worker....feel free to email me: ybunited@yahoo.com If you would like to read more about my boys visit our blog: [url]http://farrahlynn.blogspot.com[/url] Edited to add: BTW..Licensing and the MAPP teachers are told to tell people who only want to adopt to do straight adoption because at one time they were getting too many foster parents who would only accept kids that were already TPR'd and they didn't have enough who would take kids who would only be there temporarily..... But I talked to the teachers after class and I go to Foster Parent Association meetings all the time and everyone told me PLAINLY and BOLDLY...if you want younger kids...get licensed to be a foster parent

Thanks so much that's the best info I have got yet

Makarios - I agree with you most of the kids I know are also TPR'd. I wish my county was Pro-Adoption. The judge on my kids case is very PRO-Parent (which is not always a bad thing but seriously how many chances are you going to give the parents) - Thank Heavens that we are changing judges at the end of this month. That's why I got into fostering. I love kids but ultimately would like them to stay in my home permanently but do and will support r/u when it is fit for the kids.

Just an FYI - one of the reasons there aren't young ones featured online (at least from the adoptive foundations mouth) is that they are to young to give permission to be featured and their privacy rights waived. I'm not an adoptive mom - don't want to be - but withing the last few years, I've had 5 young children leave my home as adoptive placements - that should've been in "possible adoptive" homes instead of mine. One set of siblings (3 & 2 & 2 in care their entire lives - it took 3.5 years, 3 foster homes, shelter, and my home) were TPR'd but Bio appealed and lost. And we've had 5 more moved to "possible adoptive homes" as foster children - and they have now been adopted. It really ties the hands of the State if you go straight adoption only because by the time TPR has happened the child has probably been in a foster home long enough for them to bond with (both ways) and they wind up being adopted by the foster parents. And they can't place in an "adopt only" home until TPR and an Appeal is done. It is really hard on the children to be in a non-adoptive-foster home - bonding, thinking this is my home, and TPR happens. . all of a sudden Bio is gone, foster family is gone, neighborhood, bed, car, smells, and toys are different. And on top of it all you wind up with children who have gone thru removal from home, possibility of several foster homes, and then another transition to you. If I were thinking of adopting - I would be open for any 1st placement child that fit my age group. You really don't know where a placement will take you - I love every one of them!!! If I had a child from the hospital and had him/her in my home for the usual 18/24 months - I would probably wind up adopting too. This is why I do emergency - no longer than 6 months. I give placement 6 months to find a concurrent placement or the cw has that long (from my standpoint) to make inroads and facilitate ru. I know I sound harsh. This is my way of not getting too attached while lovin' the dickens out of them while I can. Like having grandchildren come for an extended stay. . . . with a lot more strings (UFF) LOL!!

Hearing what you all have to say I believe we are going to do foster to adopt. I believe even if we have to go through losing one or two it will be worth it in the end. Thanks so much for the advice.

It sounds like a good choice. I am currently waiting for my license and have started a blog. We are Foster to Adopt. aroominmyheart.blogspot.com

We tried to go the straight adoption route too and never got anywhere. MAPP classes complete January 2006 and adoption home study done April 2006. We were open to ages 0-8, up to 3 siblings, any gender, any ethnicity. By September 2007, we hadn't gotten anywhere, despite proactivity on my part looking at the waiting children online photolistings and checking in with our caseworker. Finally made the decision to foster, even though I was afraid it would rip my heart out. Got approved to foster in September 2007. On the 14th, we brought a two-day old infant girl home. She's been here ever since, goal is still reunification. Her aunt has been petitioning to take her so I'm afraid we'll be losing her soon. Oh, no! Since then, we've had a few respites all of which were to be be TPR'd soon. One was a sibling group, 3 yo AA male and 11 mos old AA female. Another was a CC 4 yo girl. We still want to adopt. Just called FSS to get our adoption homestudy update just in case. Until then, still waiting...............