Did you know that there are thousands of children in foster care who are looking for permanent homes? Adopting a child from the Kansas foster care system is a way to welcome one or more children into your family, and for many parents, it is an excellent way to find the child or children that they are seeking. There are all kinds of children in foster care, from only children to sibling groups, infants, toddlers, school-age children, preteens, and teenagers. They come from all kinds of families, and they are all looking for parents to love them. Children who have been declared available for adoption through the foster care system are children whose biological parents have already voluntarily relinquished their parental rights or who have had their parental rights terminated.
Adoption from foster care is much less costly than other avenues of adoption, and it often takes less time than many other options. Also, if you adopt from foster care, there is a good chance that the child or children that may join your family were born right here in your home state. You will not have to arrange for international travel to bring them home. All of these things make the foster care adoption process appealing to many families, which is wonderful for the children who are in foster care waiting to go to their permanent homes.
If you plan to adopt from foster care, you will experience periods of waiting during your journey. Fortunately, as you wait to locate your child, there are plenty of things that you can do to prepare yourself for their arrival even before you know who they are. Since adoption is a process, a healthy dose of patience will help you as you work your way towards your goal of locating a child and welcoming them into your family.
One of the first things that you will do as part of the foster care adoption process is to get a home study. A social worker conducts a home study by spending time with you and your family at your home, and they will assess all of you as well as the overall home environment. Home assessments serve the purpose of ensuring that you have the ability to provide for the educational, medical, physical, and financial needs of the child or children that you plan to adopt. Home assessments also provide information about whether a particular home and family are likely to be a good match for an individual child or group of siblings.
Other components of the foster care adoption approval process include background checks, training courses, and licensing. Once you have welcomed your child into your home, you may receive continuing support through parent support groups for parents of children adopted through foster care. These groups are an excellent way to connect with other families and learn more about how you and your child can grow together as a family.
If you have questions about adoption from foster care, please call McDowell Chartered today, at (316) 633-4322 to schedule an initial consultation with Adoption Attorney Thomas McDowell.