Adoption from foster care without being a foster parent

You can be an adopt-only home. And the only children you "foster" would be those placed in your home for adoption while TPR is finalized and the waiting period is progressing. So this person was apparently a licensed CASA worker with a license to foster-adopt as well. They typically can't foster as it would be seen as a conflict of interest, but if they become interested in being an adoptive home for a child being freed for adoption I guess they can. They may have to put their CASA work on hold or at least not be involved in that child's case while the adoption goes through. Kim

I am a GAL(another name for a CASA). I am not a volunteer, I am a paid employee. Iam also adopting from the foster care system. Previous poster is right, we can not foster, only straight adoption. The child can not be on our case load. Those are the only restrictions. I am sure every state is different.

To answer the other question....we are doing visits with the child. There is no set number of visits. It depends on how things go. We have visit #3 tomarrow. So far things are going well and we hope to have him moved in with us soon.

Actually, where I am at, a GAL is an attorney assigned to the child to make sure the child's rights are not violated. They are similar to CASA, but both of my long-term placements had both. They were not the same as CASA was just a child advocate. Kim

In Florida a GAL in not a lawyer. We are advocate's. We have lawyers that represent us in court, but we are the GAL's. So we are the same as a CASA.

I should mention we don't have CASA in Florida. Thats why I say we are the same. We are a CASA, but called GAL.

Hmmm. Did not know that. So really a Guardian Ad Litem does not HAVE to been an attorney, but just someone making sure the child's best interests are represented. I often wondered because it seems as though the GAL and CASA duties and responsibilities overlap and the only real difference is the GAL may be a little more prepared for legal issues etc. Thanks for the post because I was confused. I wish they would make everything the same everywhere. Licensing, rules, etc. are different everywhere and makes things so much more complicated than they have to be. Kim

In Georgia, you can be adopt only if you choose and you would only get children who has TPR'd or else babies (but there is a long waiting list), who are highly likely to be adopted.

Our former kids had a GAL, a CASA and a lawyer. Their GAL was a lawyer, but it was NOT their lawyer. I'm not for sure but I think a GAL here has to be a lawyer also. M

I think each state is different myself.

Just a word of caution: we had a placement that was legal risk but "highly likely to be adopted" and here we are, 8 months later, and he's being returned to his birthparents. A DSS atty once told us, "anything can happen in court" and I believe it. Nothing is for sure until you sign the finalization papers.

I have a former CASA who's in the process of adopting my former foster child (wonder if I'm the poster you are thinking of?) In the situation for my former fc, he had been moved to several different foster homes after he left me. I didn't want him moved but I couldn't take his brother so the cw insisted on moving him to be with his brother (which disrupted within 1 week of them being moved together.) They were then separated and never back into the same home until the CASA took things into his own hands. My former had 4 different homes after me. After much discussion with his wife they took the classes and met all the other requirements to become foster parents. He then resigned as the CASA for the boys and within a few weeks they had first one and then the other brother placed with them. The courts then did the TPR and the foster parent/former CASA worked with the tribes to get approval for them to adopt the boys. (They have c, aa, and na for their background.) He is still a CASA, just not for these kids.