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My DH and I have been talking adoption for a while. Unfortunately we were, until recently, focused on international adoption. We decided against it based on the cost (I would rather invest 30k in my child's education than tie it all up in adoption fees).
So now I don't know where to start with Foster-Adoption. So I have many questions:
1. There are private and county agencies, right? Which is better? Which is more affordable? I looked into one private agency and the home study was $3,500.00. Is the county agency more affordable? What are the benefits of private vs county?
2. Has anyone adopted a child from the waiting child photo listing? I found a boy that I would love to get more information on.
3. Can I only adopt children from Pennsylvania, or would I qualify to adopt from nearby states (I am near MD, DE and NJ)?
4. How long did it take from starting your paperwork to placement? I am looking for probably a boy, 4-12 years old, or a boy or a girl 0-7.
5. If there was one thing you wish someone had told you about the process before you got involved, what would it be?
Thanks so much for the help!
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Hi.
If you contact SWAN, they will get you a list of agencies in your area. Then you should go to the information sessions they hold to decide who you feel most comfortable using.
We found in our area that if we want a child younger than 10, then we need to foster-to-adopt. The younger children who become adoptable are usually adopted by their foster parents. This is a big risk, as you take the chance the child will go home to the birth parents.
Our home study was free. We started the paperwork in April 2011 and got our first placement in Aug. 2011.
We have found that PA agencies want to keep adoptions within PA.
If you want to go outside of PA, some agencies will allow you to purchase your homestudy and then you are free to adopt wherever you choose.
There is nothing easy about the foster to adopt route. I wish someone had told us to join a support group before we even started down this road....it would have helped us to know what we were really getting into.
Good luck in your journey!!
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1. What part of PA are you located in? There are many private agencies in PA. If you do foster-to-adopt, the state pays for your homestudy in most cases. Usually private agencies are better to deal with than the state, but private agencies are at the mercy of whatever the state wants to do.2. You will find in most cases that kids in the adoption photolisting are really not available to you. You can contact the social worker listed, but in most cases you won't hear back. 3. You can adopt from other states, it will be way more involved. Most states only like to place foster kids within their state and close to where the social worker is since they have to make regular home visits and you have to take the kids to appointments, visits, and school where they currently are until they are adopted.4. It took us about 7 months.5. There is so much they don't tell you. One thing is the foster-to-adopt is not a certain process. You can have the kids for 2 years and the parents rights can be terminated and then they can take the kids and give them to some distant relative or friend of the birth parents and you have no recourse. They don't tell you how much heartache you will experience. They don't tell you that your opinion does not matter. They don't tell you that the kids' best interest doesn't matter in most cases. They don't tell you how rudely foster parents are treated by birth family and CWs. They don't tell you that they will force you to take the kids to regular visits with the people that severely abused them and will continue these visits even if they show up high and cussing at the kids. I could go on and on.