Young woman with adopted African American boy outdoors
If you ever decide to adopt a child in foster are, first know that you are doing a good thing. There are nearly half a million children in the US foster care system. This number appears may be decreasing, but we still have a long way to go.
While adopting a child from foster care is an amazing thing to do, it’s not something to enter into lightly. It can be a very complicated process, and there are a lot of important things to know about the foster system.
We’ll talk about some of these things in the paragraphs below.
1. How to Adopt
The foster care system was built to place children in loving, stable homes after their original home has been determined to be unsuitable. Because of this, the system has been built to be as streamlined as possible.
That being said, there are several requirements you need to meet before you can adopt a child from foster care. Usually, there is an age requirement. In most cases, you’ll need to be at least 21 and a certain number of years older than the child you’re looking to adopt.
Some states require you to be a resident for several years before you can adopt. This helps to ensure that the child has a healthy upbringing, and can, in a sense, put down roots.
2. Training
Training is among the most important parts of foster care and adoption. In addition to passing various background checks to prove you’re fit to take care of the child, you must also take classes on trauma and trauma management.
It’s important to remember that these children come from circumstances that may have involved addiction, neglect, and even abuse. These types of events leave scars, sometimes physical and almost always mental and emotional. You’ll need to learn how trauma affects people and how you can help them cope.
3. Experience
Experience is one of the best qualities you can have when adopting from the foster care system. Ideally, being a foster household before adopting a foster child will let you get to know a child before you adopt them.
It’s possible to adopt a child without first fostering them, but we’d recommend being a foster household first.
You can put your trauma training into practice and slowly learn how to parent a child dealing with trauma before you make the decision to adopt one. Perhaps fostering a child isn’t for you. Isn’t it better that you learn that before you commit to anything?
Adopt a Child from Foster Care: What to Know
There are many things to learn before you adopt a child from foster care. Due to their circumstances, foster children present a unique set of challenges. Caring for them may require a different parenting style.
We’ve discussed a few of the realities of foster care and adopting from it in this article, but there’s more to know. It’s best to ask your adoption agency any questions you have during the process.
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