Foster care is a temporary arrangement, with the goal usually being to reunite the child with their biological family. While there are no guarantees of adopting a foster child through CCR, it does happen. By approaching foster parenting with the right mindset and being open to the challenges and realities it presents, your family may have the opportunity to adopt a child from Wisconsin foster care.
The good news is that adoption from foster care is an option for nearly any person looking to grow their family, including those who are single, married, LGBTQ, partnered, working, or at home at any stage in life. Many CCR foster families have successfully adopted. For some, it was their goal and they accepted the risks inherent in adopting from foster care. For others, the opportunity to adopt their foster children happened unexpectedly.
CCR foster parents with the desire to adopt a foster child are encouraged to keep reunification at the forefront of their minds. As a qualified CCR foster parent, your role is to support the child in your care and their biological family throughout the reunification process. This is a meaningful opportunity to expand the child’s support network by supporting them and their family however needed.
Being a CCR foster parent means you must always be prepared for the very real possibility that the children you hoped to adopt may be returned to their birth parents or placed with other relatives. That reality can be challenging for foster parents hoping to adopt.
If reunification does not happen, only then, are CCR foster parents considered as an adoptive resource.
Listen to our podcast: Can I adopt from foster care?
Becoming a foster parent with the hope of adoption is welcomed at CCR. When a child, youth, or siblings are referred to CCR, the permanency plan is known: most often, that goal is reunification. If reunification is not possible, TPR, termination of parental rights, will be pursued. Of course, the goal can change and often does, but it's important to know for purposes of initial placement.
CCR uses a thorough matching process that considers the needs of the child or siblings and the desires, strengths, and experience level of the foster family.
If we know TPR is anticipated or in process, we aim to place the child with a family interested in adoption, otherwise referred to as a “pre-adopt” home, to avoid disrupting the placement at a later date.
In other words, we want to avoid placing a child in a home NOT interested in adoption to avoid having to move the child to a pre-adopt home at a later date.
There is often a dual role for foster parents referred to as “concurrent planning,” meaning that while a plan to reunify children with their biological family is being actively pursued, work is also being done to achieve an alternate permanency plan quickly—often adoption by the foster parents—should the reunification plan not be successful.
Adoption from foster care can be joyful, meaningful, and life-changing — but families should also expect complexities and challenges. From the emotional trauma, a child experiences before entering foster care, and the additional traumas of being separated from their family, a child’s mental, emotional, and behavioral health are deeply affected.
Many CCR foster families have successfully adopted. Although the percentages are low, less than 20%, it does happen, and we have witnessed many families grow through adoption.
While we welcome anyone wishing to grow their family through foster care, CCR does not offer a direct path to adoption. We are a foster care license and placement agency. Thus an adoption will only occur after reunification has been deemed impossible and the process of termination of parental rights has taken place.
Listen to our podcast: Can I adopt from foster care?
If you are interested in adopting a child that is legally free, we encourage you to explore Adopt Us Kids or contact a local adoption agency. The cost to adopt from Wisconsin foster care is nominal. In most cases there are very few fees.
The good news is, adoption has been a beautiful journey for many CCR foster parents, and it can be the same for you, too. We would love to discuss the possibilities and what adopting a foster child may look like for you and your family. Please contact us to discuss becoming a foster parent.
