How were you proactive in foster adopt in PA?

I too want to be proactive. I asked my agency to do an adoption homestudy so that I can also have that as an option. I am hoping that helps keep me motivated and feeling less helpless.

I've been waiting 11 months now.I have tried being proactive,calling workers with children,watching the PAE and other web site and still I am coming up empty handed. Recently I was in contact with a caseworker who had a child that she was having a problem placing. WE were both happy to have connected with each other and I was 99.7% sure I would end up getting this child. Four months later,the county chose another family. Other children I have put in for and reason after reason they have found to place the child or children elesewhere. Last week I contacted my worker for a monthly update and learned of almost 10 children whom she had placed with other families. I am beginning to feel it will never happen for me at this point because I am almost at a year in March. If anyone has any ideas please post to this forum.

For the OP, first let me say, the age range and ethnicities you have chosen have provided you the smallest pool of children. You need to keep in mind that parents get at least 2 years to work a case before their rights will be terminated...and if you are fost to adopt, if a baby comes into care, there is a high risk they will be reunified...and you are looking for cases that have a high risk of not being unified. Additionally, most young ones are coming in with siblings groups and you didn't say you'd be willing to take a sibling group (and of course, some of those siblings may be over 4). Not to mention, that most counties are providing EXTRA amounts of services to bio families before bringing kids into care and with new laws, kids that are possibly coming into care are going to remote family members now that they have to notify to the 5th degree, not just the 3rd. I know birth order can be important to some...but it isn't an absolute. Kids online (SWAN, PAE, US websites) are children that have been tried to be placed through other means, so they are the hardest to place children - ie, their ages, ethnicities, behaviors, medical, disabilities, size of sibling group. When we started this journey, I was told it could take 1 - 1 1/2 years for a placement (and we were willing to take a small sibling group, anywhere from 6-15, several ethnicities, and moderate behaviors). Good luck in your journey!!

Well if what you were told is true,then me being at almost 11 months should finally be getting a placement soon :clap:

Realistically, you are looking for a 'dream child'.... very young, light skin, healthy, etc. These kids would not be in foster care to begin with if they haven't had a rough start, and often kids aren't placed into care as infants, sometimes much older. If you want exactly what you describe, plan on a very long wait, maybe years.Friends that went through foster training with us (we are all in PA by the way) have been waiting nearly 2 years for exactly the same type of child that you are waiting for. My husband and I opted for teenagers, and we had case workers beating down our door trying to hand us a kid. There was virtually no wait at all, other than reading through all the profiles and finding a good match with our home. They are chomping at the bit now waiting for our newly adopted son's clearances to get back so that they can start the matching process for a second child (also a teen).Only 7% of teenagers available for adoption get adopted. How sad is that?

I thought I would have an easier time too because of the kids I am willing to take. I said yes to every behavior problem in the world (except extreme cruelty to animals as I have two small dogs). I said yes to siblings, boys, older kids, special needs, etc. I also want to adopt at some point so I am open to kids whose plan might change to adoption. I think that is incredibly sad about teenagers. I had an emergency placement of a 16 year old girl for 6 days and could have easily kept her if it came to that. However, she was returned to her home. I think it worked out for the best because I am young and don't really fit the part of mom to teenager yet. I do plan to foster and hopefully adopt several teens when I am older, maybe in about 10 years. I am only 28 so think it it is more realistic for me to take in kids under 13 that have adoption as a long term goal. For short term or emergency placements, I said teenagers would be fine. I keep telling my parents that they should adopt a teenager and I wish more older people would. There was a couple in my first training that had older kids, and teenaged grandkids. I was surprised when they said they only want a child under 4. They seem like they are the perfect type of people to take in teenagers.

We also said no to 'cruelty to animals' but were open to everything else. We have a houseful of rescued critters that have their own mental issues from years of abuse. We're 35 and 36, so teenagers aren't a stretch for us at all. For us, we looked at adoptpakids.org and our agency's web site (they are a Wendy's Wonderful Kids provider, so representing 60+ older kids available for adoption). I would give my case worker a list of kids I wanted to read profiles on, she'd get me the profiles, I read every one of them, the kids that had potential as matches, I got even more information on, giving priority to the WWKs just because I could get more of that 'what are they like as people' kind of information from their CSRs that worked with our agency. When I read our son's profile, every fiber of my being screamed that 'he's the one'... and he was :-) Of course the county lost him for 3 months, but once they found him again (paperwork not getting transferred from one case worker to the next, so he was only lost on paper, not really missing for real), the road to adoption wasn't all that bumpy. And he's a wonderful kid that I wouldn't trade for anything, even if his 'typical teenager' moments are a PITA sometimes!

Not sure who you are talking about " Dream child,light skin and healthy" ,but I KNOW its not ME!!! I have put in for several children,all ages and races and with or without medical conditions. In fact I have adopted 4 children, 2 dark skin with ADHD,ODD,Bi polar ect. Also 1 very light skin with ADHD,and sexual abuse and a fair skin child with ALL of the above plus asthma,learning disabilities and behavioral issues. We are VERY open to teens but I would prefer a younger child or sibling group. We must also be careful not to take a child who has been sexually abuse because of a prior issues with my other child.We would never refuse a child because they are not light skinned, I am not even light skinned.Nor would we refuse a child who is not "perfect". I have 3 biological children and although I love them very much they are not perfect, neither am I for that matter. There is only One that is. In fact we recently took a very dark skinned 16 year old dominican princess. It is not, least in our case that we are exclusive in the children we will except because we have opened up a wide margin.

I think she was talking to the OP when she made that comment.

I'm not sure why you're jumping down my throat. I was responding to the original question. The OP was the person looking for information, not you. Relax.

I am relaxed..................................................... ....

OP here. Because we have a young son, we want children close in age to him. My agency told me we had a good chance of finding a child around his age of 4. That is what works for us. From what everyone is saying, it looks like no chance. It is good to know the reality of the situation. Anyhow, foster-adopt is not the only thing that we are trying. We are also working with various private agencies to adopt privately and also have a dossier overseas. Thanks for the insight though.

It's definitely not impossible, just that it takes time. Finding the right match for you home is not like going to a grocery story and picking out the right can of soup. It takes time, months, years, whatever. You may have better luck dealing directly with the county and being licensed through them than through an agency, when you are looking for a very young child like this. Agencies can tell you all kinds of things and then not necessarily follow through.

We requested a cc female infant. We received 2 within the first few months that went with relatives. Then we got a call for a hispanic one month old baby girl, we said yes and have never been been sorry one single day. Five years later, she is the heart and soul of our family...I couldn't imagine another that would be a more perfect fit. Don't get discouraged, but also be open. Hope this helps.

Thanks Brookeer...its stories like yours that give the rest of us that are waiting...waiting and waiting more hope. Best of everything with your precious little girl!!!