Sometimes the lingo used by caseworkers can be confusing! The Child Welfare Information Gateway has an updated version of its glossary of child welfare terms which might be helpful to you. The glossary now includes definitions for more than 230 child welfare terms and common acronyms, as well as links to related terms and information on significant Federal legislation. The glossary is available online at: www.childwelfare.gov/admin/glossary . Check it out. If you still have questions about the information you are receiving from your agency or the child's caseworker, call us at 1-888-200-4005.
Monday, March 3, 2008
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11 comments:
Hi Kate,
This is a great idea for a blog. We have adopted 3 kids through the foster to adopt program here in Nevada. We then found sibling boys on AdoptUsKids.org and met the case worker in South Carolina.. I knew we would have been the perfect family for these kids and their needs. However, our state does not "share" the homestudy with other states, even though we are current and just had our last adoption homestudy in Oct. 2007.. Do you see that in the future that the 50 states could someday have a common set of rules for finding forever homes for these beautiful children? We technically have to forster them for 6 months before we can adopt the anyways, so why would our foster license not work also???? Thanks for your time. =) Jennifer
We have tried on several occasions to adopt thru our state of Texas. I find that the kids are removed from the TARE internet site, our inquiry is NEVER even acknowledged and the kids go back up after about 6 months. Not sure why Texas would have TARE if they are not going to follow thru with an inquiry.
Also, what is up with Nevada not sharing homestudies. There should be federal laws prohibiting such action. The main objective of all states should be to cooperate in any way possible to get these kids placed in adoptive homes. The federal government should be able to pass this law since they subsidise every state.
To the family who commented about the TARE in Texas. Thank you for stepping out into the journey of adoption!!!!
First, I am very sorry you have waited so long for a child. Second, the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange is used as a recruitment tool to find families for children and the staff receives hundreds of inquiries each day. Often times there are hundreds of inquiries for one child or sibling group. The workers are not able to answer every inquiry, but ARE reviewing each inquiry that comes in. The adoption staff WILL contact your worker if they need more information from you or have chosen your family.
As far as children who are on TARE one day and not the next, the caseworkers are working very hard to prepare children for adoption and the recruitment for their adoptive families. Sometimes things may happen with the child behind the scene that makes that child not ready for the process and they are placed on hold on taken off TARE. I promise you, TARE was not set up to tease families in any way, but sometimes things work beyond our control and it is in the best interest of the children to remove them from TARE. We would never want to set the children or you the families, up for failure. Also, families have been chosen, placements have begun and then the placement will break down and the recruitment process begins all over again.
Lastly, I want you to also know that Texas place A LOT of children out of state, so please don't get discouraged. Hang on, hang in there and please continue to inquire about the children you see listed on TARE or any of the adoption sites.
Thank you and please let us know if you any additional questions or concerns we can answer.
Texas RRT
Hi Kate. Is there any way to view the comments in a format showing the most recent to oldest? Sorry if there is and I just can't figure it out. It's a little confusing trying to see which subject has new postings and to view the most recent without scrolling down to the bottom. Thank you!
There is no way to reorganize these comments on the blog (that I know of!) but if you have ideas about making the comments easier to follow or understand, let me know!
I have seen several children on Adoptuskids that the summary will say not legal free for adoption.
Why would they put the child on the web site if they are not legal free to be adopted yet?
Jennifer -
Thank you for sharing your comment regarding the issue between Nevada and South Carolina. New Jersey has the same policy as Nevada. It would be nice if we could have a federal system to help find these children permanent homes.
-MMEW
Hello Kate,
Just a quick question......how does it work if you see a child that is available for adoption and they are listed under like...Catholic Family services? How does it work with the state? Are you adopting the children through the state or is it through Catholic Family services? They are on a state website..... Is there extra fees if you are adopting through CFS?
Thanks for your time,
Shelley
Thank you for your interest in adopting a child from foster care! Did you see the child’s photolisting on adoptuskids.org? If you did, then the child is in the care of his or her local social services. Only children who are in the care of their local social services can be photolisted on adoptuskids.org.
However, sometimes social services will contract with local agencies to serve more children. That is why some children’s case workers are employed by nonprofit agencies. It sounds like social services has contracted with Catholic Charities in the case of the child whose photolisting you saw - if you saw the child on adoptuskids.org. (Unfortunately, I wouldn’t know the answer if you saw a child on a different website.)
The important thing to know is that, whether the child’s case worker is employed by a nonprofit agency or social services, the child is in the care of social services, so this is adopting from foster care. If the child is photolisted on adoptuskids.org, this is not adopting from a private agency. While the child’s agency probably receives funding from the child’s state, the child’s agency will not charge you for anything.
You will want to ask your agency (that’s the people who wrote your homestudy and assigned a case worker to you) if they will charge you any fees. They might not but, if anyone might charge you fees, it would be your agency.
If you have any other questions, you can also contact me at 1-888-200-4005 x24, email me at info@adoptuskids.org, or post on the blog again.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Brescia
AdoptUsKids
Hi Kate, What is POS mean on the children's profiles? Does it have to do with the services ie... counciling etc for the children after placement? Thanks!
POS, or Purchase of Services, often seen on adoption photo listings or in child profiles, refers to the state, or county who has custody of the child being able to pay a fee to a private adoption agency for the supervision of the placement once the child is in his or her adoptive home. This type of fee for service agreement has been a part of social work for many years, but it is not yet standardized in the field of adoption.
POS is separate and different from any Adoption Subsidy that may be available for the child, which is paid to the adoptive parent to assist with the child's expenses related to their special needs. The POS rate would be negotiated by the private agency and the state agency who has custody of the child. When states are able to pay POS the pool of families they are able to consider for a child they may be recruiting a home for often expands, as they are able to consider families from other states who are working with a private agency towards an adoption. This increases the child's chance for permanency.
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