There are many misunderstandings about Foster Care, Foster to Adopt, and Adopting from Foster Care in Florida. As a licensed child placing agency, we are contacted daily by hopeful adoptive parents who want to better understand foster care and adoption.

Foster Care in Florida

There is ALWAYS a need for more Foster Parents! The Florida Department of Children and Families is responsible for protecting vulnerable children, promoting self-sufficient families, and supporting families through difficult times. When children are removed from their homes, they need a safe loving home with caregivers who are in alignment with the goal of helping biological families thrive. Every effort is made for children in care to be reunited with their biological families. Foster Parents have a vital role in helping children and families make their way back to each other.

Foster to Adopt

This is a misleading phrase that confuses many people, and often leads to negative outcomes. While some children are adopted from Foster Care, the primary goal of Foster Care is to help biological families recover and reunite. When Hopeful Adoptive Parents become Foster parents, it can be extremely difficult for them to be a contributing member of the team needed to help the biological family thrive.

Adopting from Foster Care

For a multitude of reasons, not every child in foster care is able to be reunited with their biological family. When it is determined a child is not able to return to their biological family, their case plan changes from Reunification to Adoption.

There is a common misconception in Florida, that in order to adopt a child from Foster Care you must be a Licensed Foster Parent. While some Licensed Foster Parents do adopt children that were in their care before their case plan changed to adoption, there are many children in foster care waiting to be adopted. In the past, it was difficult for Hopeful Adoptive Families to be matched with these children waiting to be adopted if they were not licensed foster care providers. Now, with the help of technology and coordination between Licensed Agencies, predictive analytics are being utilized to efficiently and appropriately match waiting children with hopeful adoptive parents.

Adoption Authority is able to work with Hopeful Adoptive Families who are interested in adopting children from Foster Care. If you would like to learn more about adopting children from foster care, you can schedule an information phone call by clicking here https://calendly.com/linda-45/30min?back=1&month=2021-07