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Hi everyone. This is my first post here and I'm trying to learn anything and everything about adoption. DH and I have been TTC for 6 years. The reason we've started looking into adoption is because my sister in law's niece may be placed for adoption. They have a court date on Friday and my SIL is thinking that they will not give custody to her brother (the child's father). Right now the little girl is in foster care with her grandmother (the mother's mom). The grandmother is ill and the child has been staying with someone else during the week and her other grandmother (the father's mom) on the weekends to be with family. This past weekend my SIL was asked if she could adopt her. My SIL and brother already have 3 boys and they just can't handle any more kids. My SIL is going to mention DH and me to her mom as potential parents.
Is there anything more we can/should do right now?
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After reading what I wrote again, I think I should clarify.
The mother of the child is a drug addict. I believe she's in jail or something. I have not met the child or anyone on the mother's side, but the father (SIL's brother) has met me. We know the grandmother (father's mom) and my SIL's family. My SIL is going to mention to her mother (not the little girls) that DH and I would be willing to care for/adopt the little girl.
I hope this makes more sense and someone can lead us in the right direction. We're trying not to get too wrapped up in this because so much is unknown, but we'd like to have our ducks in a row incase it works out.
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You will need to have a home study completed, letters of reference. If ther eis a court date looming, the clock is ticking and you will need move quickly to accomplish all of these things. Good luck!
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I'm also wondering if there's a way for me to contact the social worker or if I should just let my SIL speak to the family. Neither my SIL or her mom know what this court date is for on Friday. My SIL just knows that her mom is going and taking her brother (the child's father). I don't want to push too much because I don't really know what's going on. I'm just hearing it from my SIL and she doesn't know much about it.
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Is there is an agency involved I'd contact the SW on the case to see what you should be doing. Consulting an attorney may be a good idea too.
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There may be an agency involved. That's the biggest problem. I don't know who the SW is and neither does my SIL. I'm going to try to contact someone in NC and see what I can do as far as try to reach out to the SW. I know there are privacy laws, etc. but I'd like to do this without getting too much information for them. I just want to let the SW know that we're interested in adopting her if she needs a family.
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I was able to call the social services department in the county near where I believe she's located. All I could give them was her first name, what I think the last name might be (if it's the father's last name), that she's between 2-3 years old, and that there's a court date tomorrow. The lady said she'd try to locate the child and have the SW call me. I guess we just have to wait now.
I'm wondering if I should start the home study process, just to be proactive. I'm just not sure. We don't really have the upfront money to pay for the home study out of pocket and from what I'm reading, we might not need a home study if it's a kinship adoption.
Any advice on this?
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When we found out about our niece being in FC we only knew the county and her name. What we did was called the police department because they normally would be the ones to take the child into custody. They knew what detective was involved so they made my husband do a background check over the phone before they would refer us to the agency involved. That was how we got the ball rolling. We had no idea what agency she was out of either.
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jendubz
I'm wondering if I should start the home study process, just to be proactive. I'm just not sure. We don't really have the upfront money to pay for the home study out of pocket and from what I'm reading, we might not need a home study if it's a kinship adoption.
Any advice on this?
They may not require a home study. Ours did and we had to become licensed as any other foster home here except our license stated for one specific child.
We also wanted to speed up the process and were going to do a private home study but when we spoke to CPS they said the SW may or may not accept it. They preferred we do a homestudy thru them instead. I wasn't going to dish out $$ if they didn't accept it so we took the accelerated MAPP classes and became licensed in like 3 months!
Best bet is to sit and wait and follow up with agency. See if you can contact the sheriff to determine what agency has custody of her like we did. They may require a full blown foster care licensing or they may just consider you kinship with less hurdles.
Good luck!
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I sent an email to the local Children's Services Supervisor and this is the response that I received this morning...
At this time, the child is in a safe and stable placement with a relative. The plan is reunification with the parents. I am unsure why anyone would say that the plan for this child is adoption. If you will give us your name and address, we can send you a letter regarding your interest in the child. You would need to complete a form and return it. We would like to have your information in the event that this placement disrupts and we are looking for placement.
I sent the requested info so we'll be there for her if she needs us. :) I'm good with it.
Now to start looking into fostering/adoption in general.
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