In Louisiana but interested in Texas foster to adopt child

You will have to take the classes and meet the requirements for the state of LA before you can submit a request for a child here. I do not believe that you will be able to foster a child from the state of Texas though. What part of LA are you in? I have a friend who is a Social Worker in New Orleans.

The state listings are for children who are going to be, or have gone through TPR (Termination of Parental Rights). In order to adopt a child from the state listing you will have to go through your state adoption training classes. Once you have finished your classes and are certified to adopt most states require that you look within your home state for a minimum of 6 months before the will submit your homestudy to another state for consideration. This is generally due to the fact that your home state is the one who has paid for the homestudy to be completed. After your state's waiting requirement you can request that your homestudy be forwarded to another state for a particular child(ren). Good luck. Welcome to the forums. This is a wonderful place to come for answers and/or support.

[FONT="Georgia"]Thank you Withay, all of that information was very helpful. When my homestudy is forwarded and children are placed with me, will they be considered in Louisiana foster system or will their case stay with Texas? [/FONT].

Before the child(ren) would be placed in your home an ICPC (Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children) would have to be completed. The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) is a binding and enforceable contract between two states when a child has the approval to be placed with a family or facility in another state. Whether or not the case would become a Louisiana case, or a Texas case would depend on the agreement between the two states.

[FONT="Georgia"]Wow Withay, your reply was so informative. And I follow and understand you well. I have been considering moving to Texas for a year now.

If I did my training here in Louisiana and moved to Texas can I finish my homestudy in Texas or will I have to redo my training there?[/FONT]

Thru my experience each states requirements are different regarding the ICPC process. The ICPC process is done so both state laws regarding moving the child are followed....and it can become a lengthy process (ours took 7 months) as the child won't be moved until the ICPC is approved. When we were placed with our daughter our requirements were from the state she was coming from (sending state) and not the state we were being licensed in (receiving state). I'm not sure why that was but that was the case...We did have to do what our state required to become licensed as foster parents (MAPP classes, homestudy, background checks, etc...) however the sending state stipulated what extent of the process we needed (IE: relative caregiver or foster parent). Some state have MAPP classes, some states have PRIDE classes, etc...if you move to another state you'll have to do their particular process since they all vary from state to state And we did foster to adopt also and she was moved prior to TPR (which was pretty much 100% certain though in our case).

[FONT="Georgia"]Thank you hkolln for your reply.

I think moving to Texas is the easiest solution. I find the education system to be better and basic quality of life to be nicer (more opportunities) than Louisiana. But I did wonder if I could at least start my classes here. My state has MAPP classes and Texas has PRIDE. =[

I am just busying myself narrowing down which city I would like to start my family in. And of course soaking up more information on the process in general. [/FONT]

I would guess that LA's MAPP and TX's PRIDE classes are very similar. Where I am they are called FOUNDATION classes. It mostly depends on where you are as to what they are called.

I moved from Louisiana as well. The process is pretty much the same except depending on where you move in Texas. When I was in San Antonio I did everything throught CPS. When I moved to Dallas I had to chose an agency to go through and was able to take all six classes within a two week period. If you plan to move anyway I would suggest taking the classes after you move here. According to my friend 'the social worker' in LA, she states that it would be much easier on you to begin the process in the area that you are going to live in because any transferring of information (i.e. paperwork) from state to state is subject to human error. (basically someone losing it). Just FYI... Where in LA are you?

[FONT="Georgia"]I have a great deal of time and yet it will probably fly by (2008 has been a flash for me) until I will start the process although I wonder if its okay to just take the classes here anyway. And repeat them when I move. Three Saturdays from 8am to 4pm they complete the MAPP classes.

What are the requirements to start taking MAPP classes? Cost ... paperwork?

Would this be helpful to familiarize myself with the information. Or are the classes not nearly that informative to voluntarily take them twice?

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I would suggest talking with someone at your local DHS office in LA and asking if it would be ok to 'sit in' during the classes, but not have the homestudy, fingerprints, references, etc done. Explain that you will be relocating to TX and don't want LA to have to go to the expense of licensing you, but would like the opportunity to take the classes. It can't hurt and all they can say is no. Good luck.