Adoption awareness is a focus of many family focused organizations during the month of November. The children in need of adoption are often placed in foster homes after being removed from their parents by children’s services departments. Becoming a foster parent is a great first step towards adoption. When you apply and qualify as a foster parent you may have a child placed with for a temporary or more permanent living situation. When you have a foster child that has been with you for a long enough time to build a good foundation, you may be able to adopt your foster child.
Children in need of adoption
When mothers give birth to babies under the influence of drugs and alcohol, local child protection agencies may have the authority to remove the baby from the mother and place the baby in foster care. In some cases, a pregnant mother does not want to keep and raise the baby and she surrenders her baby to be raised and hopefully adopted into a loving family through the foster care and adoption systems.
Especially among children born from drug abusing mothers, there is a chance the child experiences developmental challenges and requires additional love and support.
Fostering a child, you could later adopt
Foster parents may have one or more foster children and could be at various stages in being prepared to adopt one or more of their foster children. Families with dynamic personalities, being from a variety of backgrounds can experience challenges. Foster children could be any age and foster parents should be aware of the challenges with children of all ages.
In many cases foster parents and their foster children have all the same experiences as they would with natural born children.
Adopting foster children and building families
The first question to ask if considering adopting a foster child is whether the biological parent continues to have their parental rights or if their parental rights have been officially surrendered or terminated as a family attorney can explain. When you have the option to adopt a foster child you will participate in a family visit and report with a child protective agency representative. To qualify to adopt you should be able to demonstrate that your home is a good place to raise a child and you can support the child.
Once you are approved to adopt, you petition the court to order your adoption in a short court proceeding. New adopting parents have the support of local agencies helping parents with adopted children. During the month of November, you may notice National Adoption Day activities and events and it is always helpful to attend and share to raise awareness for the many children in need of forever families.