Foster to adopt stories

Hi Dora,The children on heart gallery sites, etc. are legally freed or CLOSE to being legally freed for adoption so adopting these children may be relatively short and simple. By short, I mean 9 months. Once you're matched with them and they're placed in your home, a birth parent or relative my come forward. Again, by this time the children are close to legally freed so reunification is very unlikely at this point.I have been fostering by 2 year old son since he was 3 days old. We STILL haven't finalized adoption. His case is complicated in that his birth father came forward when my son was 6 months old. DCFS denied him reunification but before they could terminate rights, birth father committed a major crime and was incarcerated in a different county. This led to delaying the termination of parental rights hearing for over 6 months. Once rights were terminated, birth father appealed which cause ANOTHER 9 month delay. This was a risk we were willing to take since we wanted to care for newborns. Ultimately we'll get to add our son to our permanent family but it was quite the emotional journey to get there.For that last 3 months we've been fostering a newborn baby girl. Our worker told us this will likely lead to adoption (Yay) but DCFS and the courts need to give the birth father a chance at reunifying. This could take 3 months to 2 years. Again, we know this is a major risk but it's one we're willing to take. I hope this helps. Think about the family you want to create and decide if foster to adopt care is the best method to help you reach that goal. Best of luck!