The Adoption Process (As We Understand It)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Jack is bloggin' in the house!

Thursday means another meeting at Covenant Kids. We had a great meal before and the class was our most interesting. Of course foster/adoptive parents need all these classes and all were happy to take them, but this night's topic was specifically "Adoption."

We normally get packets of information, but also this time we got another 19-question "Adoption Readiness Assessment." See Friday for questions.

What made this so interesting is that this is the only time you get to see the actual timeline of what happens to get you certified, then a child(ren) placed and then adopted. You can read all the books you want and none of them can tell you this because the exact process is unique to your agency (in our case Covenant Kids), unique to your state and unique to even your region. This let us see all the parts together. The one slide that summarized everything was, "Wait!"

Here is the official process as I understand it.

AFTER we have submitted every bit of paperwork and AFTER we finish classes and we have our "home study" done (which is after the fingerprint FBI checks, the health inspection, the safety inspection, the TB test, the doctor's verification of health....) THEN the real process of waiting really hits.

A. We wait for a call that a child(ren) is available whether an emergency placement at 3:00 in the morning or a planned removal from the home for confirmed reports of abuse or neglect.

OR

B. We get our name submitted for possible adoptions where either the parental rights have been terminated or termination is imminent and the judge wants to move the child into a foster-to-adopt home (yea!). It is very important to understand that even though these are called "low-risk" foster-to-adopt placements (because of the probability of that the reunification with parents will NOT happen -- thus open it up for adoption) the process is not final until the courts declare that the child is officially open for adoption. (Wait!)

If "B" occurs then our name, "home study" and "profile," along with up to 150 others or more (although usually much less) are reviewed by a panel consisting of Child Protection Agency (CPS) workers and others who decide who the final three picks are. (Wait!)

THEN, if we made the cut for the final three, our Covenant Kids (CK) Case Manager goes in and advocates for us. Basically they pitch our story and why we are the perfect match for this child(ren). (Wait!)

THEN if we get picked, we get to see the case file on the child(ren) and discuss it. There is a 50% chance that we will not even get to see a picture of the child at this point -- everything is decided from just the records. The ball is our court at this time and there is a 48 hour window (I think) where you either accept or decline the placement.

THEN you make at least two separate visits to the child in the current foster home (Wait!)

THEN the child comes home with you for one night (Wait!)

THEN if everything went well, the child is adoptively placed in your home for a minimum of six months while they are still legally in the custody of the state (Wait!)

Once we have a child, the first goal of foster care process is reunification of the child with the parents (so we wait to see if that goes smoothly). This is for Plan A only. If adoptively placed, then reunification efforts would have already been over!

IF "A" occurs (way up there at the top) then you immediately become foster parents AND get "dibs" on the kids when they come open for adoption. However, here is the sticky part with foster-care...

The parent gets a minimum of 12 months to make sufficient progress on his or her plans with the idea of reunification with the child. (Wait!)

THEN if the parent is making sufficient progress, but needs more time to meet all the demands of the court, he or she gets ANOTHER six months (Wait!)

IF "A" or "B" above happens:

THEN if 12 months go by (or 18 months if an extension was granted) and the judge decides to terminate the rights of the child, the parents still get ANOTHER 30 days to appeal the decision and any relative of the child gets 90 days to appeal the decision. (Wait! Wait!)

ALMOST THERE, after all that, the child is completely cleared for adoption. We would set a court date (which would likely be National Adoption Day which is VERY, VERY cool - thank you Karen Robinson for introducing us to that last year) and the adoption would be finalized.

FINALLY the child is ours, the birth certificate is actually changed (which seems a bit odd), the child's name is legally changed to ours and he and/or she is part of Team Nelson!

That is called "homecoming day" and will be celebrated!