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Home > Adoption > Foster Care Adoption

Foster Care Adoption

 

 

Foster care adoption involves the adoption of children who are living in the U.S. foster care system. These adoptions are usually handled through local and regional public agencies; however some States contract with licensed private agencies to recruit, train, conduct home studies and license adoptive parents for these children. In some States prospective parents will be dually licensed as both foster and an adoptive parents.

While most children who are adopted from foster care are adopted by their foster parents and other children are adopted by their relatives, nationwide there are still many thousands of children in the U.S. foster care system waiting for permanent families (See the Trends in Foster Care Adoption from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System on the Children's Bureau website for the most recent years' numbers of children waiting: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm. Child welfare professionals must recruit potential adoptive families for these children who are waiting for adoption.

 

 

Selected Resources

AdoptUsKids
The only national, federally funded photolisting service for children in foster care waiting for permanent families.

Foster Parent Adoption: A Bulletin for Professionals
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2006)
Discusses issues related to the increasing importance of foster parents as permanency resources for children in foster care. Practice issues include assessment, adoption preparation and postadoption support, and facilitating ongoing connections with birth families. (PDF - 331 KB)

Foster Parents Considering Adoption: A Factsheet for Families
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2005)
Provides information on the differences between foster care and adoption and explores issues for foster parents to consider when deciding whether to adopt a child in their care.

Helping Your Foster Child Transition to Your Adopted Child: A Factsheet for Families
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2005)
Describes specific things families can say and do to help foster children make the transition.

 

 

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