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Waiting Children
Foster Care and Adoption Basics
By National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
Children are placed in adoptive homes if efforts to reunify them with their birth families are unsuccessful. Children whose parental rights have been legally terminated may be adopted by relatives, a foster family or an adoptive family.
Children are placed in foster homes because they have been removed from their own families due to abuse, neglect or other family problems that endanger their safety. The children may range from infancy through 18 years of age and may have special medical, physical or emotional needs. The children may belong to any ethnicity or race and be a part of a group of brothers and sisters who need to be placed together.
You will need to attend an informational meeting in your area where you can discuss the scope and requirements of being a foster or adoptive parent. You will get basic information, and questions are welcome. Your local Department of Social Services (DSS) office will furnish you with this information if there are no informational meetings in your area. The office may have another name in your state, such as Services to Children and Families.
Step 2: Preparation and Selection
If you can meet the basic requirements, you are invited to meet with DSS staff to decide if fostering or adopting is right for your family. You also will be assessed by DSS staff. This process furnishes you with information about DSS and the children who come into the foster care system.
Step 3: Training
You will attend training to learn more about the children available through DSS and to assess your strengths in parenting children. The classes also boost your knowledge and confidence to meet the challenge of taking children into your home and to be sure you are ready to follow through on the commitment.
Step 4: The Family Study
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