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We are in the early stages of deciding to foster/adopt. We are interested in the toddler to 6ish age group. Here is the question: Do you go through the county (Santa Clara) or an agency like Families for Children or others? What is the difference? I have been told county is best as it basically takes out the middle man...but reading agency websites seems like that route is better. Also if you go through county can you also get children from out of state like on the Heart Gallery?
Thanks for any information you can share.
BTMOM
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My husband and I are kinda wondering the same thing. We have heard of people who had great success through an agency, but then the same agency has been slow with other prospective parents. We were looking for 5 and under siblings, and were told by our agency that going through the county would be best for this, BUT we could have a long long wait and the county SW's are so over worked that any help post adoption is limited.
Our agency works state wide, which I guess is an advantage.
Not much help, sorry, but just thought I'd tell you what we have heard so far.
Good luck!
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I am going through the county and have found that they go by the book! I appreciate this because I know that nothing will be missed. I also feel confident that the child I will be matched with is the perfect match for me. I have been told that agencies match quickly but they don't always have the children or adoptive parents best interests in mind. They are more focused on the amount of placements rather than the quality. The social workers at the county are honest with the process and I am very happy so far!
Long story, but we currently have one of each in our home. I can't say that either have been very positive experiences, but I can say the county is easier to deal with than the FFA. Our FFA worker is very nice, but the agency requires much more in the way of paperwork, visits, etc. It really cuts into the time we can spend with FD. Plus, with a FFA, we still have a county worker overseeing the case, which sometimes leads to conflicting info.I can believe I'm actually typing this, but I would recommend county over FFA. I'm sure others may have a completely different experience. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Personally I'm all in favor of a quality FFA. The FFA has additional services that the county doesn't offer. In addition you can reach your SW easily. In fact, I can talk to anyone in the office and they all know us by name and know exactly what we are looking for. Also, they are weeding out matches that wouldn't work for us. With the county you get someone who has a maxed out case load (at least where we are). I want more attention and communication. I love our FFA! I've found they make everything much faster and easier.
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We chose the county for a few reasons. 1. A family friend has worked for both and recommended for our wants, county was better. 2. At least in my county, FFA is only called to place a child if all county homes are full or have said no. 3. We were looking to hopefully adopt an infant.
It depends on what your wants/needs are. An FFA will often have weekly visits vs. monthly. You aren't licensed by the state of California. You are certified, as in, you "work" for the agency.
I will say that at least in my county, I have always been able to reach my social worker easily. We have had like 5 total.
At least here, FFA usually (definitely not always) gets calls for harder to place.
It worked well for us. We had our first infant pre-adopt placement 10 days after being licensed. We had an emergency newborn placement, then our STBAS right after. Only a month total in between all 3.
Anyway. Sorry to be so long-winded. It's a lot about what you are looking for in foster care.
PP is right that it varies county to county. In our county the FFA gets babies ALL the time. They also get a lot of kids that don't have any special need. They get children daily. In a county like Los Angeles though I hear that FFA's are used mostly for hard to place and rarely for infants since the county has such a large pool or their own. I would also add that while we've chosen an FFA and were happy with the speed at which we finished everything, we haven't had a placement yet. So, I can't speak to how that will go once we have. We can start getting placement calls as early as this week.
PP is right that it varies county to county. In our county the FFA gets babies ALL the time. They also get a lot of kids that don't have any special need. They get children daily. In a county like Los Angeles though I hear that FFA's are used mostly for hard to place and rarely for infants since the county has such a large pool or their own. I would also add that while we've chosen an FFA and were happy with the speed at which we finished everything, we haven't had a placement yet. So, I can't speak to how that will go once we have. We can start getting placement calls as early as this week.
We had the same question when we started last year. We decided to go with county and have been happy with our choice (as happy as you can be about working with a government agency and the bureaucracy that goes with it) ;). Our social worker has always been available and we felt very supported by our worker and the foster parent advocate assigned to us. This isn't to say it's been perfect, but we are very happy with the child that was placed with us. We did our foster care homestudy and adoption home study at the same time and I felt like our adoption worker really listened to us about wanting a placement with low legal risk. She found a placement that was a great fit for us and we're just loving our little guy.BTW, we are in Santa clara county too.
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It sounds like it greatly depends on the county and the agencies. If you lived in our county I would *highly suggest our agency. It is small, they only allow one placement at a time, and they are really there for you. I could not do it without my agency worker!
I do know other families who have gone through other agencies in our county and I am floored at all the paperwork those agencies require...ours requires almost no paperwork.
I would research each agency you are interested in, ask a lot of questions, and then compare that to the county.
It definitely varies from county to county. When I was deciding, I made a lot of phone calls and asked a lot of questions. In San Joaquin County, you would want to go through the county because they get the kids first and the agency only gets the children that are harder to place. It took us a very long time to get a placement even through our county, as the county was placing with family wherever possible, due to the economy.In Calaveras County, there is no county agency and you must go through an FFA.I also found out that the agencies had MORE rules than the county. Some were idiotic (i.e: a toilet lock and childproof locks for a 17 year old NORMAL foster child). Best wishes on your journey.
ask around in your county....or talk to people that live in your county. I'm another county mama here (Riverside) and have always been happy with the county and they have always said, infants and children go through county families first before they go to FFA. My darling daughter is the perfect match for me and I never had problems reaching the sw's. In another county it may be totally different. Best of luck :cheer:
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