Anyone do foster care while adopting from a private agency?

You are referring to an adoption agency that does strictly adoption only? I'd ask each adoption agency directly, if just in general (not just for baby's safety)---- they prefer that you not simultanously have a fostercare homestudy commitment. I've never known anyone to be permitted to do both simultaneously, so ask.

Our agency does both foster care and private adoption but you are not allowed to do both at the same time. If you wish to have a private adoption homestudy then you need to stop fostering. It has nothing to do with the safety of the kids as far as I know. I do know families that were waiting for private adoptions that switched to a foster- adopt home for a child specific placement and I also know families that waited for their foster child to RU before switching to private adoption. Our agency has a high placement rate of newborns though so that is the way we went. I ended up adopting my 12th and 14th placements. One was a newborn and one was almost 3.

yes we were able to foster and do a private adoption at the same time, we are in NC, We originally turned in our foster license after adopting our first son, but after a failed domestic private adoption (had baby in hotel for a week) we went back to CPS and they said it was fine, so we reinstated our license and still tried for a private adoption, 3 months later we were matched with a one year old private adoption and 6 months later picked up our now adopted, 3rd son from the hospital as a foster placement. I think it really depends on the private agency, ours was very small and we did all of our own seeking of a match and getting our names out to prospective referral sites.

We have gaps between placements and was frustrated. There is a large national agency I had been emailing on and off for the last few years. They weren't excited about the idea because our home study would continually need to be updated as we gained and lost fosters, but he didn't say it was impossible.

Not trying to hijack your thread- but this has been on my mind as well. I really didn't research agency or private adoption before we decided to do the state foster/adopt program. I was scared off by the expense- where there is still a risk you lose the placement AND whatever you've put into birth parent expenses. I just requested info from a private agency in my state, (which will go un-named as this forum requests)- and I found some of their FAQs confusing. It sounds like you still have to be a foster parent, but only having gone through 24 hours of training. You still get a placement and have to wait for TPR- so what is the advantage? It also sounds like you could wait longer- a year or two before a match. I guess I am trying to figure out the advantage of going with a private agency if you are adopting within the state. I get it if you are branching out to other states...but it still all sounds very daunting to me.

We looked into this for a time. If you want to proceed with private adoption and continue fostering the best thing to do is to go through an adoption attorney instead of an agency. Depending on who you use it can be cheaper than an adoption agency. Just make sure you get lots of references. Unfortunately there are quite a few unethical attorneys in this field. We were blessed enough to find a great one although in the end we decided against private adoption. Best of luck!

TPR is different in the case of private adoption. Bparents have voluntarily relinquished their rights, but there is still a TPR hearing because a judge needs to sign off. Depending on the state, there may or may not be a time after parents sign the relinquishment papers in which they can change their minds; the TPR hearing would come after that is over. There is also, at least in most states, a post-placement period in which you have visits from the private agency social worker (in my state this is 6 months) before the adoption is finalized. Until finalization you would not be the legal parents, and generally the agency has legal custody, but you have far more rights/ say than as a foster parent. There is some legal risk after placement, until the period of time bparents have to change their minds is up. In terms of whether you can foster and adopt simultaneously, I have a friend who was told by the state that she would have to stop fostering if she were to pursue private adoption, so you will want to check that out as well. You would also need permission to share information about the kids in the home for the homestudy, they would need to interview all the kids, and if the kids were old enough they would need to run a background check. I can see an agency not wanting to deal with all that, especially with needing to update every time a placement came or went (which would also cost you more money, as you would need to pay for a homestudy update with each change of placement).

Eeyore and Buggy were both adopted using a facilitator in CA. It was a great experience. I recommend her all the time :D If you want contact info, just send me a message. You can foster while adopting as long as it is okay with your foster agency.

We just started the process of a domestic infant adoption through our agency. Our agency does both Foster care and private adoptions, and we can do them at the same time. We are excited but know it could take some time.

Thanks everyone for your candid responses. I decided to keep calling agencies. I have found two that are fine with me continuing to foster while registered through their agency. The only thing they asked is that during the six month guardianship before adoption is finalized that I do not take any new placements. I thought that was more than fair considering I would need time for bonding with my new little one. Now its just about the money. Adopting through the state is pretty low cost. These private adoptions are horrendously high cost!!!!!:grr: