Currently there are over 125,000 children in America residing in foster care who are eligible and waiting to be adopted. This is out of over half a million children in foster care homes.
There are many reasons to adopt out of foster care, and arguably the most important one is to take a child out of a potentially detrimental situation. The truth is the majority of foster parents are decent people trying to create a stable environment for kids leaving bad situations. However they do not get to keep the kids long enough for them to grow up with any real stability The majority of foster children are in care for almost three years, which is quite a large portion of most of their lives up until the point of adoption since the average age is just under 11. Within those three years the average child is moved three times, once a year.
To adopt out of foster care is a relatively inexpensive and streamlined process. There are children available of all ages. This is very important since the majority of people adopting are married couple looking for younger children. First you will need to find an agency such as Department of Social Services or Department of Public Welfare. There are also a number of independent and private agencies to work with that adopt out of foster care. You will then complete an application and do a homestudy. Once through that step you will be matched with a child. The amount of time taken to match you with a child will depend on the restrictions you have for the child you want. For instance it may take longer for you to be paired with an African-American girl between the ages of 2-6, as opposed to allowing for a wider racial or age range. Once matched with a child you then welcome them into your home and wait for the childs birthparents rights to be terminated. You should be aware that there is a small risk that the birth family decide they want the child, however this is very unlikely because most children in foster care are placed there due to having parents deemed by the government as unfit. After the parental rights have been terminated, you will finalize your adoption, which normally takes less than six months and you will already have your child in your home for the duration of that time.
So for any potential parents looking into adoption, do yourself and thousands of kids a favor and look at adopting out of foster care as an option. Not only will you have the opportunity to fulfill your wants, you will also be doing a child a huge service.
