Foster Brother

[SamSpade]

My son has been asking lately if he will have a brother. My wife and I have often discussed the idea of foster children when they get a little older.

I have two questions -

1. Has your experience with the fostering program been good for you? As in, does the state of Maryland do their job well?

and

2. Is there often - or rarely - a path to adoption? I'm good either way really, as I will have a full house but I'm just curious if it happens much.

[Serenity40]

You can choose to only foster children whose parents have relinquished all rights to them. They give you options now. It is a very noble thing to do, to even consider. I plan on enrolling in the foster care training program for 2012. I wasn't able to get in this Fall because they had custodial family members who needed to get certified first.

[ArkRescue (Premo)]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

My son has been asking lately if he will have a brother. My wife and I have often discussed the idea of foster children when they get a little older.

I have two questions -

1. Has your experience with the fostering program been good for you? As in, does the state of Maryland do their job well?

and

2. Is there often - or rarely - a path to adoption? I'm good either way really, as I will have a full house but I'm just curious if it happens much.

You and your wife have such big hearts

[SoMDGirl42]

One of my best friends is the President of the Maryland Foster Parent Association. If you would like, you can PM me your info, or I could PM you her info and she can answer all of your questions.

and yes, she has adopted from foster parenting and I know of at least 7 others that have adopted from foster parenting in St. Mary's alone.

[molly_21]

Originally Posted by Serenity40

You can choose to only foster children whose parents have relinquished all rights to them. They give you options now. It is a very noble thing to do, to even consider. I plan on enrolling in the foster care training program for 2012. I wasn't able to get in this Fall because they had custodial family members who needed to get certified first.

Not true. Fostering is for children who are in danger or for some other reason for their own safety placed in foster care. You can adopt foster children once the parent had given up rights to the child or if they were involuntary (proven abuse or neglect, etc).

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by SoMDGirl42

One of my best friends is the President of the Maryland Foster Parent Association. If you would like, you can PM me your info, or I could PM you her info and she can answer all of your questions.

and yes, she has adopted from foster parenting and I know of at least 7 others that have adopted from foster parenting in St. Mary's alone.

It's still a very long way off - we were thinking about fostering in several years when our kids are both in grade school, because we'd probably foster a school age child.

I was just curious if people had had a good experience with it, and with the state. I had foster brothers growing up and thanks to Facebook, I found one of them.

[FromTexas]

I always wanted a banana's foster brother. I could light him on fire and then eat him.









Sorry, Sam... couldn't help it. Back to the regular scheduled programming.

[foxxynhounds]

Originally Posted by molly_21

Not true. Fostering is for children who are in danger or for some other reason for their own safety placed in foster care. You can adopt foster children once the parent had given up rights to the child or if they were involuntary (proven abuse or neglect, etc).

Someone said that you can only foster children who are being removed from their families NOW and may be given the opportunity to adopt them later if the case goes to that...but what the above poster said IS correct. There ARE legally free children in MD, and you have to have a foster license, be matched with them, and foster them for 6mos before you'd be legally able to adopt them. However, most of the children who are "more adoptable" (ie, have fewer medical or mental/behavioral problems) are adopted by the foster parents who care for them while the case is still in reunification mode and then get the first chance at adoption if if comes to that.

SMC is desperately in need of foster parents. We are sending our children to other MD counties b/c our homes are full. That being said, this is not *easy* at all. While it *is* worth it, it is also incredibly stressful. Make sure you go into it with your eyes (and hearts) wide open.

[puggymom]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

My son has been asking lately if he will have a brother. My wife and I have often discussed the idea of foster children when they get a little older.

I have two questions -

1. Has your experience with the fostering program been good for you? As in, does the state of Maryland do their job well?

and

2. Is there often - or rarely - a path to adoption? I'm good either way really, as I will have a full house but I'm just curious if it happens much.

I have a friend (in Texas) who just officially adopted twins (about 18 months now) that they have fostered since the babies were able to come home from the hospital. I think what someone else said was correct. In her case once the birth mom finally relinquished her rights the adoption process went smoothly.

[daylily]

Originally Posted by foxxynhounds

Someone said that you can only foster children who are being removed from their families NOW and may be given the opportunity to adopt them later if the case goes to that...but what the above poster said IS correct. There ARE legally free children in MD, and you have to have a foster license, be matched with them, and foster them for 6mos before you'd be legally able to adopt them. However, most of the children who are "more adoptable" (ie, have fewer medical or mental/behavioral problems) are adopted by the foster parents who care for them while the case is still in reunification mode and then get the first chance at adoption if if comes to that.

SMC is desperately in need of foster parents. We are sending our children to other MD counties b/c our homes are full. That being said, this is not *easy* at all. While it *is* worth it, it is also incredibly stressful. Make sure you go into it with your eyes (and hearts) wide open.

You seem to know a lot about this so I have a question for you. How long does it typically take to actually bring a foster chid into your home after beginning the process? We're not ready yet, I want my son to be a little older before possibly bringing in another child, but hubby & I have been thinking of fostering in the future and/or possibly adopting. I guess I'm just trying to figure out when we should start the process.