Fost-Adopt in Florida

From my experience, I don't know that any of them would be likely to tell you that they get a lot of young children or infants. Most agencies want you to be open to all ages and they especially like those who will take in teenagers. Having said that, we have specified 0-5 but initially wanted 0-3 and were told we would probably not get many placements that way. They indicated that they did not have trouble placing infants or young children (ie "we have plenty of people willing to take 0-3") The rationale for 0-5 was that if there was a 1 month old and a 4 yr old sibling set we'd be able to keep them together. There is a definite change in focus from fost/adopt to concurrent planning right now. In fact our agency flat out said there is no such thing as foster to adopt. In Florida you cannot work directly with the county or state since DCF contracts various agencies throughout the state who then contract other agencies for licensing. You may have a choice of more than one though since you live in Tampa. You can go to the state's adoption site to find out who are the agencies in your area. They are all different but I wouldn't be surprised if they told you they had no babies or very few. I think they're just trying really hard to deter people from using foster to adopt a healthy infant. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen though. It just seems like it happens less often in Florida, presumably because the state is more lenient on birth parents. Lots of changes are coming though in terms of the length of time things are dragged out so at the very least I think we'll hear less and less about children being in care for 3 or more years and then being RU'd.

Thanks for your input, Junebug. What what part of Florida do you live in? I ask because I've been chatting with a mom on this forum in the Tampa area (like me) who didn't think I'd have a problem getting little ones placed as I'm considering limiting to 0-2. She did say, however, that this will be discouraged in the classes we have to take. They'll tell me it almost never happens. But, she feels like it can and does. Her babies are both adopted fosters children taken in as newborns. I can't take teens for sure. I have 5 year olds that I need to protect first. Honestly, I feel uncomfortable taking anyone older than them at all. Just my opinion, of course. So you started this thread in June as you were just beginning your foster care journey and now it looks like you're waiting for licsensing. How are you feeling about the program as a whole? You seem sort of discouraged in your post. How about the class and homestudy. Was it easier or harder than you thought it'd be? I faxed my packet in to the lead agency for my county just yesterday so I have a long ways to go still and would love to learn more about what to expect. I also see you're saving for private adoption. Can I ask how much you plan on needing? The cost seems staggering, yet, my husband has a person he works with that claims they did it for $10,000. It seems like a low figure to me. I haven't researched too much about private adoption as I believe my husband will not agree to spend the money. What agency will you use when you've saved enough? Sorry for all the questions. I appreciate your input and hope your licsensing comes through soon!

One other quick question... what is concurrent planning? That's not a term I heard in our orientation.

Hey Three, sorry didn't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer but just sort of relaying what our agency and a local foster mom has told me. Also we don't have any kids so it's a little different. So many people on here say it's a lot harder getting your hopes up when you don't have any children of your own and a foster child goes home. As others have said yes it can happen that you get a newborn as a first placement that stays, anything is possible! I have been encouraged to continue with our plan to adopt domestically. Adoptions can be done privately for $10-15k if you go straight through an attorney and don't need to be matched. Ours will probably be about 19 k including legal fees. Concurrent planning has to do with the permanency goals for the child. Basically as a concurrent home you are saying that you would be open to adoption as a concurrent goal with reunification. As you may have heard reunification is the goal 100% of the time but they can set the concurrent goal of adoption so that if it comes to TPR they already have a plan in place and arent scrambling As for the classes and the process I felt like we had a good experience. We did 30 hrs of PRIDE. Our homestudy consisted of two visits (one "interview" and the other to take pictures of the home). I would encourage you to ask for specifics on what's expected at the health and home inspections so that you can be prepared. Call the county dept of health or whoever will do your inspection and ask the agency what they expect to see in the home. I felt we were well prepared so we didn't have to redo anything except move the twin bed away from the window (something even our licensing worker didn't know). All said and done we should be licensed in about a week and the whole process took roughly 5 months. You are right to try to stick with children younger than your own. I would do the same if we had biokids. You are also in a larger county so it is entirely likely that you will get plenty of calls even for your younger age range.It's good that you found someone local to chat with. I think it's helpful since it seems like every area is a little different in terms of what they expect and require. Good luck!

Just want to throw in my 2 cents.. Concurrent planning is simply having a back up plan. When we create case plans for parents, we have to pick a permanency goal, the vast majority of the time this is reunification. We then have to pick a concurrent goal, which is usually adoption. We're going for permanency and those are the two most permanent goals. Adoption is the concurrent goal even in cases where we are pretty sure the parent will be able to get their child back. As an adoption social worker, I don't want to discourage you, but adopting a healthy infant from foster care isn't something that will happen quickly. You pretty much have to foster first and you have to realize that the majority of the babies placed with you will end up being reunified. We really don't have any problem finding people who are jumping at the chance to take babies. Generally, if they go to adoption, either a family member or their foster parent adopts them. A willingness to take sibling groups, children with special needs, and children of any race will increase your chances.

Thanks for your reply. I'm not discouraged. I know the only way to get a little one is by fostering first as those available for adoption are much older by the time they're available. We are okay with any race and would have to think about sibling groups. We've said we'd accept one who has been exposed to drugs, but prefer no fetal-alcohol syndrome. For now, we're waiting to find out when a MAPP class will be held so we can even get started! I get the impression because of the RX drug abuse epidemic here in SW Florida that the need for homes, including those for little ones, is higher than what the rest of the country might be experiencing. Your opinion?

I can't really say how things are in the rest of the country, but you're correct in saying that the Rx drug epidemic in SW FL is bad and is having a huge effect on our kids. It is extremely sad how often I see parents choose pills over their children. How these pill mill doctors can sleep at night is beyond me. This definitely creates a larger amount of cases coming in and eventually going to adoptions. Fortunately for the kids, we quite often can find family members who are willing and able to take them, especially if they are young/don't have serious issues/aren't a large sibling group. That definitely isn't always the case though! I was holding the cutest little baby girl a couple of weeks ago who was born to a pill addicted mom, but managed to have no issues so far. Her foster parents are adopting her.

I live in Pinellas County-I believe you're in Hillsborough? ECA is the lead agency for our two counties (as well as Pasco). I know there are other licensing agencies, but Eckerd is the biggest I think. I've only been fostering for 9 months or so, and I still have my first placement, she just turned 3 in November. They changed the goal to adoption back in November and did the petition to TPR right after that. The pre-trial hearing is in February and the TPR Trial is in March. I'm not adopting her, but I do care for her a great deal and I think she will make an adoptive family very happy (and vice-verca). Everyone is telling me, because the process is so slow, that she will likely be with me at least another 6 months. I think she's very adoptable, young, cute, and smart, no major issues, other than behavioral issues that come and go. There is a huge need for babies to be placed here. My good friend has been fostering for about 6 years now, and I have watched and learned through her. She adopted one of hers out of foster care. She has had her since the day she was born, went to the hospital to pick her up. I think she was about 2 when the adoption was final. But they have had her since day one, so they are happy. I know of several other foster parents that it happened the same way. You may not be able to adopt them as a baby, but you can foster them from day one and then if it happens it happens. You just have to be prepared for it to go either way. In MAPP class they definitely discourage you from wanting to adopt a baby out of foster care.

Thanks for your encouraging reply! We are actually in Pasco county currently, but will be moving before summer. We'll likely stay in Pasco, but may end up in Pinellas or Hillsborough. That didn't seem to be a problem when we mentioned it to the Eckard folks at orientation. Just will require a home study/inspection. Where are you located? We're considering moving to Palm Harbor or Tarpon Springs, but in the very early stages of looking at homes. We only moved to the TB area in July (from Utah) so it's all new to us. Our MAPP classes started on Saturday, but we missed it as we were on a cruise that had been planned way before the class was scheduled. The instructor said she'll catch us up next week. Thank goodness! We didn't want to have to wait 3 more months for another to begin(our orientation was way back in October and this was the first class available). Now that you've been fostering for a few months, how would you describe "the system"? Frustrating? I worry about the red tape and hoop jumping making me want to quit. Did you feel like you were easily matched with a child (age, gender etc) who was a good fit for your family? Do you get many calls still? Are you foster only? I'm sure your 3 year old girl will get snatched right up by a family! I'm curious how you keep from getting attached though. That's another fear I have. Well, thanks again for chiming in on this thread and letting me ask a bunch of questions. I'm hoping by learing all I can before I start, the unpleasant surprises will be few and far between. :flower:

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond ThreeNThree, I haven't been back to the Florida board in a while. We get alot of kids from Pasco here in Pinellas, they must have a shortage of foster homes in Pasco. The system can be frustrating, but not really enough to make me want to quit. What makes me want to quit sometimes is the freedom that I have lost, don't have my own personal life anymore, and then sometimes her behavioral issues. She is sweet 75% of the time but the other 25% she is a rage-aholic (for lack of a better word!). They called it temper tantrums, I call it ranging. She turns red everywhere, her face and all over her body, and screams really really loud, and kicks her feet. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but trust me, it gets old! Plus being a single parent, I have no help when trying to deal with her raging. So that happens often enough, that it doesn't really allow me to attach to her. I think she has attachment issues too. Not that she doesn't attach to people, but I think she attaches to them too easily, and makes me think its a false attachment, more like manipulation. I believe a family that has two parents, and knows what they have to deal with, and are willing to do the work, will be happy in the end. Myself, after she leaves, I'm looking forward to a nice, long break!!

Thanks Single. I can see how your situation is frustrating. Our life is crazy right now so we postponed MAPP class until the end of March. The first one we signed up for was 5 Saturdays in a row and we just ended up having too many conflicts with our own kids' Saturday schedules. I think an evening class will be better even though it's 10 weeks instead of 5. Plus, we're moving in May/June and I didn't see any point in doing a home study here only to have to do one again in a few months. I rent now and was hesitant to start putting locks and stuff on doors and cabinets that aren't my own too. Good luck with your break. I only attended one MAPP class, but given my opinion of the system so far, I'm not sure it I'll even be able to stick it out as long as you have before I'm screaming for a break. I've been told the first few classes are to weed out the weaklings. I think it's working (on me). Trying to keep my glass half full until I go back for the next session of classes.

Hi... I am just starting this process as well and wanted to ask you if you know what will happen to your placement after the TRP in march? Has she already been matched to a family? I am just wondering what the process is of how a family will be matched with her. I am interested in adopting a little girl and was told if I found a child I was interested in that they would speed up my homestudy. There is a waiting list for homestudy's in Martin County. It is hard to find about available children since the website only lists children 100% free. I have other biochildren and likewise would like to find a child younger than mine. Anyway, I am still learning how this all works and any advice you have would be welcome.

Hi there-they will not start matching her up with families until TPR is done. I have heard through other experienced foster parents in this county that they are very slow moving as far as that is concerned. I just recently met a family that is interested in adopting her, but I can't officially "advertise" her until TPR is done. I have told her case worker and GAL that I do have a possible interested family if it comes to that. Although I can make the suggestion and let them know that they have formed a relationship with her (they have been doing respite for me), the agency makes the final decision on who gets her. I have also heard through the state attorney and GAL that the bio parents mentioned going through a private adoption agency when they were at the mediation last week. They have not surrendered yet and doesn't look like they're going to, so there will be a trial this Thursday. I don't think she will make it to the Heart Gallery either way, because she is so adoptable (young, cute, no medical issues). That's all I know for now. Good luck to you!

Thanks for the info! I am learning so much about this whole process! Good luck with the court case on Thursday! Keep in touch!

Thank you! I am learning the whole process as well, this is my first placement. I will let you know how it all turns out! I actually have some questions about it myself that I'm going to start a new thread on.