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I'm looking for info on adopting from the foster system in a suburb of Austin, TX.
I'm Interested in absolutely anything anyone is willing to share (experience/advice). In particular, I am wondering:
1. How long to expect it to take from start to finish to adopt. Our "ideal" would be Caucasian siblings in the age range of about 5 to 11 years old.
2. Does it cost money to adopt from the foster system through a private agency? I saw on here that adopting from Foster in TX is "going private." Has that happened in Austin?
Our situation:
We live in CA but want to move to TX. The main thing holding us back is that we have been waiting over a year since getting licensed (they said to expect 1 to 2 years for foster-adopt). If we get kids placed with us it will be 18 months to a few years before an adoption would likely be finalized.
My concerns with staying here are:
1) The children may be attached to friends/family here and it could be traumatic to move them and
2) that once we get the kids we legally can't move until the adoption is final, which I hear is taking longer and longer in our area (possibly years now...) due to judges giving extra opportunities to birth parents.
BUT the idea of starting over completely is daunting. How long would that likely take to get through the system and have adoptable children placed with us? We are open to what they call "concurrent planning" in CA -- it's a foster placement but the intention is that you want to adopt so they only place kids with you where they strongly expect the birth parents will not stay in the picture and there's no other bio family coming forward to take them.
I'm in my late 40's so getting worried that I'll be retirement age before I'm ever a mom!
Many thanks for any info you can share.
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[QUOTE=CA111]
2. Does it cost money to adopt from the foster system through a private agency? I saw on here that adopting from Foster in TX is "going private." Has that happened in Austin?
QUOTE]
I believe what they mean by "going private" is that Texas is working towards making all families be with an agency as opposed to going with striaght CPS for adoption/fostering. The cost will still be the same as if you adopted straight from CPS (I beleive?). We are working through an agency and if we get the chance to adopt - I believe they said it would be around $1,500 give or take. We started the process in Feb. of this year and we should have our license by the end of this month!
Yes, all of Texas is going to private agencies. It should only take a few months to get licensed, but you might be able to transfer some of your requirements and it will not take very long.
As far as how long it depends upon if you are willing to foster or if you are only wanting those legally free.
I have taken two emergency placements, the first went straight to adoption, but took 15 months from placement to adoption - including TPR (but she was only three days at placement)
The next placement (my current one), I've only had her two weeks, but TPR has already happened. We'll see what is going to happen, it's looking like she will be here for a while, possibly forever.
For the adoption, it cost me $1200 - $1500 but that was mostly for the lawyer, including about $100 for a fire-safety inspection required by the county, not all counties require this. There was no cost to the agency.
I called the agency January 3, 2011.We were licensed March 3rd.We moved April 3rd (taking first placements with us).We got the call for our forever kids April 6th and they moved in April 11th.We had TPR in November and adopted July 2012. So 16 months from licensed to adoption.But it works differently for every situation. It didn't cost us anything past the FBI fingerprinting and seeing doctor for TB tests and medical clearance. The state picked up the cost of our lawyer and their lawyer and all that good stuff.
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I called the agency January 3, 2011.
We were licensed March 3rd.
We moved April 3rd (taking first placements with us).
We got the call for our forever kids April 6th and they moved in April 11th.
We had TPR in November and adopted July 2012.
So 16 months from licensed to adoption.
But it works differently for every situation.
It didn't cost us anything past the FBI fingerprinting and seeing doctor for TB tests and medical clearance. The state picked up the cost of our lawyer and their lawyer and all that good stuff.
thanks so much everyone. What concerns me most is the time between starting and getting a "potential forever kid" placement. It seems much faster than where I live now. Of course some of that could have to do with which background items we're open to.MamaT - is that $1,500 court fees for adopting? It sounds like the agency itself is not charging you? The reason I asked about cost is I know some people pay upwards of $20,000 to adopt through an adoption agency in the private sector.
thanks so much everyone. What concerns me most is the time between starting and getting a "potential forever kid" placement. It seems much faster than where I live now. Of course some of that could have to do with which background items we're open to.
MamaT - is that $1,500 court fees for adopting? It sounds like the agency itself is not charging you? The reason I asked about cost is I know some people pay upwards of $20,000 to adopt through an adoption agency in the private sector.
From what I understand, agencies that work with or for the state handling children who have to be taken from bad situations do not charge for their services (at least not the ones I'm familiar with), they are more like an extension of CPS to make the fostering & adoption process more efficient for those children and parents. Adoption agencies that are not affiliated with the state in order to place those children are the ones who can charge whatever they want and find matches for children who are voluntarily given up for adoption or outside of the U.S. I guess they are both called private but are completely different. Adopting children from the state using an agency is the more affordable route and very rewarding and much needed, but since you are taking in a child that has experienced abuse or neglect they are usually more challenging. The 34 hours of training to get licensed prepares you for all of that though and teaches you how to handle it. We are incredibly happy with our agency and can give you more info if you want.
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Yes, FDWife is correct. The agency itself cannot charge if they are working with the state of Texas. Now, if you wanted to do a private adoption with an agency for a child that is not in state custody - you could be charged that crazy high amount as they are adopting out children who were voluntarily given up. As FDWife stated - they can charge whatever they feel like (which is really sad!).
We are in the Dallas area and are going through Covenant Kids.