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Good morning,
On this bumpy road of locating an agency to work with, we have been told, by an agency, that they can work with us in regards to "foster to adopt" but not with "legal risk"....I think I understand what "legal risk" is but what confuses me is I thought all "foster to adopt" was legal risk? Can someone help me to understand?
Thank you,
Tiff
Here's how the entire system works in Texas:
A call is made for CPS to take a child into custody.. that can either be because a call was made concerning the welfare of the child and an investigator find probable cause and asks a judge for removal or a child is in a home during a police drug raid or some other type circumstance. Once the child(ren) is in custody, the info that CPS has about the child is placed into the database with Central Placing(this is actually an dept of CPS). Bulletins go out many times a day from Central Placing(CP)with the info on children needing a home. Sometimes the case worker(CW) at CPS knows a family that they would like the child to be placed with and they can request that CP contact that family or the agency representing the family, before broadcasting the placement as available. This is how we ended up with one of our daughters when she was 18 months old.
Once a home is need and the bulletin goes out, agencies/CPS are looking at those bulletins for possible placements for the families they have licensed and then calling prospective homes and asking if they are interested. Unless a child has been in the system before, there is usually very little info on the child at that time. Sometimes the bio family does not want to give any information either on the child and it can be a best guess about age or medical condition etc.
Now the explanation of terms. Foster to adopt means that a family takes a child as a foster placement and if that placement goes to TPR, the family would be the one to decide if they want to adopt. This would happen only after all relatives have been excluded as a possible foster placement/adoptive home and that can take a very long time. Sometimes it may only take a year before the state will move to terminate parental rights(TPR) and sometimes it can take 2 or more because judges/CPS somehow find a way to ignore the federal laws concerning children in foster care and permanency.
Foster to adopt legal risk is a designation given by CPS to a child because CPS knows that the chances of reunification(RU) with the parent is very slim based on different factors which include but or not limited to previous history of losing children through TPR which were then adopted, severe abuse that required hospitalization, and possible or current incarceration of parent in prison for an extended period.
So legal risk placements are noted by CPS and are frequently placed in homes that are not interested in adopting, but only fostering until a suitable possible adoptive home is found. This usually happens quickly and a legal risk child may only be in a temp home for a month or so. Sometimes it is only weeks or less. Each agency has their own rules about what types of placements they will work with and some don't do legal risk because the placement can quickly turn to adoption. They are in the foster care business,not the adoption business. And it is a business. The agencies are licensed and overseen by the state and they in turn license and oversee foster families.
In my region I know of a young woman who has had at least 2 babies taken by CPS within the first 6 weeks because she does not have the mental ability to care for a child(She has Borderline Personality Disorder and other things). Both times the children were placed as legal risk because CPS knew that no one in her family was interested, but they had to exclude the potential bio father and those families as well. Both times the children ended up being adopted by the families they were placed with.
I hope this answers some of your questions. It is a very convoluted system and what happens in my county may be completely different form what happens two counties over.
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CaddoRose
Now the explanation of terms. Foster to adopt means that a family takes a child as a foster placement and if that placement goes to TPR, the family would be the one to decide if they want to adopt. This would happen only after all relatives have been excluded as a possible foster placement/adoptive home and that can take a very long time. Sometimes it may only take a year before the state will move to terminate parental rights(TPR) and sometimes it can take 2 or more because judges/CPS somehow find a way to ignore the federal laws concerning children in foster care and permanency.
Ok. I understand this and THOUGHT this is what we were getting into with foster-adopt...
Foster to adopt legal risk is a designation given by CPS to a child because CPS knows that the chances of reunification(RU) with the parent is very slim based on different factors which include but or not limited to previous history of losing children through TPR which were then adopted, severe abuse that required hospitalization, and possible or current incarceration of parent in prison for an extended period.
Now that I understand THIS, I think we should really be looking into this kind of placement. Our ultimate goal is to adopt.
So legal risk placements are noted by CPS and are frequently placed in homes that are not interested in adopting, but only fostering until a suitable possible adoptive home is found. This usually happens quickly and a legal risk child may only be in a temp home for a month or so. Sometimes it is only weeks or less. Each agency has their own rules about what types of placements they will work with and some don't do legal risk because the placement can quickly turn to adoption. They are in the foster care business,not the adoption business. And it is a business. The agencies are licensed and overseen by the state and they in turn license and oversee foster families.
Ok so that last agency I spoke with (Pathways) will not do legal risk because they have too many on their waiting list already, so I was told
In my region I know of a young woman who has had at least 2 babies taken by CPS within the first 6 weeks because she does not have the mental ability to care for a child(She has Borderline Personality Disorder and other things). Both times the children were placed as legal risk because CPS knew that no one in her family was interested, but they had to exclude the potential bio father and those families as well. Both times the children ended up being adopted by the families they were placed with.
I hope this answers some of your questions. It is a very convoluted system and what happens in my county may be completely different form what happens two counties over.
Thank you so much for explaining this. I do not know why, in the info meeting, they did not go over this. We went to the info meeting at Pathways...
Now we have to decide if we want to do foster-adopt, since our ultimate goal is to adopt...maybe we should keep looking for an agency that will do legal risk. Or is foster - adopt better since the child might be in our home before adoption...good way to see if we all "fit" as a family. On the other hand with foster - adopt WITHOUT legal risk there is a bigger chance to have children in and out of our home for years. So much to think over.
Thanks again for all the info...
Tiff
It's a roll of the dice with foster care and there are no absolutes under any heading. The main thing is that if you are open to fostering then you would probably get placements more quickly because you would be open any child that matches your age criteria.
When we first started out our ages were from 0-about 7 or so and within a few weeks of being licensed we got our first placement of a 2 yr old girl and then within another month, her 1 yr old brother came(he was in hospital). We had them 6 months and they went to relatives. The kids were fantastic and we would have gladly kept them. During that time, the CW at CPS got to know us and liked us, so when she called a few weeks later asking us to take an 18 month old girl, she was also working with Central Placing to get them to place her with us. She knew that the probability was not Mom was not going to get her back and that she would be free for adoption. So she was legal risk without CPS saying that to us.
Some months later we were asked about taking placement of a two yr old boy who was free for adoption. We said no because we did not want two kids the same age, but funny how that worked out because we later adopted a teen and now have twin teen girls who were born 3 days apart same year.(we have a bio daughter also) We put our name in the hat for our now 16 yr old when she came free for adoption at the age of 14.
We have been extremely lucky with our placements in that we have not been in the situation of having a child for a year or more waiting for either RU or TPR. All of our kids have been here 6 months or less or they stayed forever.
Thanks again for so much useful info. They should have you lead these info meetings...
Now I have another question...
If we are fostering a child and it comes time for her to be available for adoption, do they then place her with a family that is classified as "foster-adopt w/ legal risk"? Or will she stay with us since we are also open to adopt her?
I talked to my husband and he thinks we should just jump in as foster-adopt. This is what we had planned and didnt even know there was another classification of "legal risk".... We got to joking tonight (how we deal with stressful things) and said I might get what I want...a baby in the house for many years...just not the same baby. I am afraid my husband is thinking of this, like when I was a nanny, taking care of other peoples children. Which is can be but when I was a nanny the parents were caring, capable people...and their children were not taken out of their home for a number of reasons. We were discussing how we would handle getting attached and having to say good bye. If the parents cacn care for the child, great...I would much rather the family stay together...but there will be a part of me that will think about how the child is doing...
I am just rambling now...thanks again for so much info.
Tiff
We are working with Pathways as well. It's been about a month since our home study visit but they are so busy we were told not to expect our home study to be completed any time soon. I'm really anxious to get licensed and to get a placement. Is this typical?
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dtigerdonna
We are working with Pathways as well. It's been about a month since our home study visit but they are so busy we were told not to expect our home study to be completed any time soon. I'm really anxious to get licensed and to get a placement. Is this typical?
We decided to go with another agency, we really thought about Pathways but it did not work out. I was pretty down about that but reading this makes me grateful that it didnt work out... What kind of business gets away with telling clients to "not expect it anytime soon?" I am so sorry they are holding you up.
Just for an update, we start our classes next Thursday and will be with Texas Mentor. I am so thankful for those who PMed with the reccomendation...I would never have called them otherwise. I just did not understand their website but after looking again and talking with someone from there, I feel comfortable with them.
Thanks again,
Tiff
girliegirldfw
Thank you so much for explaining this. I do not know why, in the info meeting, they did not go over this. We went to the info meeting at Pathways...
Now we have to decide if we want to do foster-adopt, since our ultimate goal is to adopt...maybe we should keep looking for an agency that will do legal risk. Or is foster - adopt better since the child might be in our home before adoption...good way to see if we all "fit" as a family. On the other hand with foster - adopt WITHOUT legal risk there is a bigger chance to have children in and out of our home for years. So much to think over.
Thanks again for all the info...
Tiff
We had a meeting with Pathways recently as well, and they said that they basically would not train us unless we were willing to ONLY foster and at that take sibling groups of at LEAST 2 preferably more. The woman we spoke with was not very nice at all, and really discouraged us!
girliegirldfw
We decided to go with another agency, we really thought about Pathways but it did not work out. I was pretty down about that but reading this makes me grateful that it didnt work out... What kind of business gets away with telling clients to "not expect it anytime soon?" I am so sorry they are holding you up.
Just for an update, we start our classes next Thursday and will be with Texas Mentor. I am so thankful for those who PMed with the reccomendation...I would never have called them otherwise. I just did not understand their website but after looking again and talking with someone from there, I feel comfortable with them.
Thanks again,
Tiff
We have decided to go with Texas Mentor as well :) They called me and were SO nice and SO helpful. I'm very glad we found them. How is your training going with them?
newadoptionfam
We have decided to go with Texas Mentor as well :) They called me and were SO nice and SO helpful. I'm very glad we found them. How is your training going with them?
I am really enjoying the training. I was dreading being in the same room for 3 to 4 hours but it is interesting and the time flies. I enjoy child dev (being a preschool teacher I should enjoy it, right?) so that might help. The trainers are very upbeat and helpful. They seem to WANT us to get thru the process quickly and be available to foster. My Aunt has even signed up to be a respite for us.
I am in in DFW going thru the office here (not arlington, a man in the class said that is a different office).
We are on our 3rd week of classes.
Good luck.
Tiff
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