categories

when someone signs up for "foster-to-adopt" they are licensed as a foster parent and do all the adoption stuff to. Usually people do this in hopes of being matched faster or adopt a child that may be not likely to be available. Like a baby. As a licensed foster parent, you can have a child placed in your home before they are legally free to be adopted. This is where risk comes in... the higher the risk the greater the chance that the child will be reunified with a birth parent or other family member.

In the highest risk category, every child that is placed in the home is on track to reunified with their bio-parent or family member. They are on that track until they aren't. The foster parent has no control over this at all and in all ethical and moral ways needs to support that goal as best they can without jepardizing anyone's safety.

While the caseworker may tell the foster parent that the child will probably become available for adoption, I was told emphatically during my PRIDE classes that the same caseworker is telling the bio-parent they can work the case plan and get their child back and/or searching for other family members. That knowledge is always lurking in the background and has to be treated with respect before jumping in the pool.

FWIW, the lowest risk is basically a straight adoption, it just moves a little faster than the court system. Since the adoptive family is already a licensed foster parent, the child can be moved to the adoptive home a little quicker. Not being one of these, I really don't know how much of a difference it makes.

Also -> none of this applies to private agenies, states other than mine or cross-state adoptions.
Last -> I was told by a reader that my state will no longer do "foster-to-adopt", again, I'm NOT and expert, and each county sets it's own rules... probably each office. Who knows.

Take everything with a grain of salt