So, why foster to adopt? I get asked that a lot actually,
now that friends and family know our plans. Jess and I have come to this
decision after a lot of discussions about how to go about adopting a child. Our
decision to adopt through the foster care system and the state is quite simple.
We feel that the children that have been removed from their homes need love and
a safe place to call home. There is a
huge need in our state for foster parents, and for foster parents that are
willing to keep a child long term. We must fight the notion that foster children
are broken; because they are not. These children are resilient and brave and
have so much to offer us all. Children do not get to choose their parents, or
the situation they are born into. We
feel a calling to be a safe place for a special child, that will hopefully one
day be a part of our forever family.
So far we are planning to go through Tacoma Youth for Christ
which is a faith based organization that places children that enter the foster
care system with families that are certified though YFC. This may change in the
next month depending on a few more details that we have to find out still.
Heading into fostering a child, we realize that we may not
be able to adopt our first placement. While it will be very hard, this is a
risk we are willing to take. YFC has told us that if we intend to adopt, they
can try to place us with a child that is either legally free for adoption
(parental rights have been completely forfeited) or a child that is from a
parent that has never gotten a child back from the foster care system. If the child does not enter the system
legally free for adoption, we will still have to go through the fostering
process such as visits with the parents, and allow the parents the proper
amount of time to try to get in a better place so that the child may return
home.
We are hoping to be placed with a child by Christmas. There
are several factors that come into play with the timeline for placement, so it
really is just a hope at this point that we will have a baby by Christmas. We still have some official training to do,
which will take place in October. Once training is complete then we will have
our home study done. Once that is complete then we can be placed with a child.
There are so many unknowns when fostering. We can literally get a phone call in
the middle of the night asking us if we would like to take in a 3 month old,
Caucasian female, and can we come get them now? Or it could be a phone call
that says, we will have a 2 week old, Hispanic male ready for adoption once
they get out of the NICU, do you want them?
We can say yes or no to any placement.
We also get the question “Do you care what race the baby
is?” The answer is a huge NO, Not one
bit. We don’t care if it’s a boy or girl or what color their skin is. We will
love this baby. It’s a little human in need of a family, and we can do that for
them. We are requesting to be placed with an infant rather than an older child.
As of right now the window is set at 0-2 years, however I am hoping for much
closer to the 0 year mark.
We are so excited to become parents and to be able to take
in a sweet babe that is in need of love and a safe place to call home. Favorite this blog, I will be keeping a
journal so to speak of our journey to become parents. Comments and
questions are welcomed!!
