Fost to Adopt

I am currently in the adoption stage of the foster to adopt program with Luzerne County Children and Youth. As with any state agency they have their good and bad sides, but overall we have had a relativley good experience with them. It is by all means the cheapest way to adopt, but it is not always the easiest emotionally. There are no guarantees that in the end you will be able to adopt the child. And even in the most cut and dry situations it still takes a long time. My husband and I got our daughter right from the hospital 3 days after birth. The birth mom signed her rights off within a month. My daughter turned a year in May and the adoption will not be final until at least August. Part of our delay was because the baby's original case worker did not do anything she was supposed to do(the bad side of a state agency).
I would be more than happy to try to answer any of your questions.

M.

Foster to adopt is one of the greatest needs in Pennsylvania. The program costs you ZERO dollars to do. You get support $ to help you pay for the additional cost of having a child in your house. So it gives you an idea how to adjust your budget when you actually have the adoption finished. You can ask for a general age range or gender. If you are willing to go outside your skintone you will find many more wonderful children are available to you. The same with developmental delays, you can find many spectacular children who just need some love and a forever family to bloom into the full potential. These kids are extra special because they are longing to have a real family of their own. It is much more affordable to give these children homes because they are wards of the state. What a horrible way to live- as a ward of the state! But anyway you can look up the web page that PA has by entering your search and then you can look aty the children available to foster to adopt and it will have the contact number for the caseworker. It has small blurbs in it that tell you some basic info on each child. I have 4 adopted cousins and a 5th "comming soon". I think that if you desire to adopt this is a great way to do it! Good luck!

I have adopted twice through the fost/adopt program in California. I have three beautiful and wonderful children as a result. Even though there has been a lot of ups and downs emotionally, I would do it again.

I briefly looked into foster to adopt a couple of years ago, but as mentioned earlier there is no guarantee that you will be able to adopt the child. I know there are no guarantees for anything in life, it just was not something I thought I could emotionally handle. However, my husband & I adopted our daughter domestically (we also have a biological son) and it was a wonderful experience. We did not go through the traditional waiting with an adoption agency. We used adoption facilitators and would highly recommend it. I feel like it gave us more choices and control over things and the wait time was much less. Good luck building your family whichever way you do it and feel free to ask any questions you have regarding facilitation.

Hi S.,
I am a social Worker for Children's Choice a private agency through Delaware County and Philadelphia that does foster to adopt. We have a wonderful program. You can check out the website www.childrenschoice.org or call ###-###-#### for more information.

I have a friend who has 5 children she she adopted through the Foster Care system.
She lives in Cumberland County and thinks they have a good system.

Hi:
My husband and I adopted 2 wonderful children (ages 6 and almost 5) from Guatemala about 3 and a half years ago, so I am a big fan of international adoption. It is expensive up front (though you do get pretty generous adoption tax credits afterwards) and there is a mountain of paperwork. But it is well worth it. I personally found a lot of roadblocks put up for domestic adoption, which is very sad. That may have changed now. I hope so! I think it's wonderful you are considering fostering to adopt. I knew a woman from my daughter's preschool who works for a local agency who helps place children in foster care. I will try to find her contact info and let you know. I also found this web site which may give you a place to start: http://www.adoption.org/adopt/state-adoption-photolisting... Also, be sure to check with your or your husband's employee benefits: many companies give some sort of adoption benefit. Good luck! S.

I can't help with the foster to adopt, although, we have two beautiful adopted kids. My daughter is adopted internationally from Kazakhstan and my son (just three months old) is domestically born form Florida. If any questions about adoption I would be happy to help.