Can I Keep My Baby Out of Foster Care?

What is Foster Care?

It’s a terrifying feeling to be out of control, especially when it comes to your kids. State Foster Care is designed to be temporary and lead to reunification with biological parents. It’s also, by definition, a removal of children from their parent(s) by the state against a parent’s wishes for the safety and stability of the children. Parents then have little to no control or input over the placement of their child(ren), whether siblings remain together, or the type of home where they place the child.

Difficulties of Foster Care

Sometimes, foster care works out how it is designed. Parents work their case plan in a reasonable amount of time, connections are maintained, and children are safely reunited with their parents. However, the story often doesn’t play out that way. Some parents’ struggles that led to a child entering foster care are so complex (addiction, mental illness, legal troubles) that the road to stability is incredibly long. That can lead to children lingering in foster care without permanency. Other times, children end up in homes far outside the parent’s community, making maintaining contact with the child nearly impossible.

Another Option

If your baby may be removed from you and placed in foster care, you have another option. You can put the power of choice back into your hands with a plan of adoption. With private adoption, YOU get to choose:

• From a list of vetted families your child will be placed with (read about their application process here)

• If you want to meet the family

• How to communicate with the family and child (in-person visits, texts, pictures, and letters)

Most of all, you guarantee your child the security of knowing they won’t be moved to a different home or separated again. You’ll gift them permanency, stability, and maintained contact with you!

What if your baby is already in foster care? As long as your parental rights haven’t been terminated, you have every right to look into the option of adoption. Call us (1-478-475-4990), and we can help you think through the next steps.