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Hello Julie,
We are foster parents and can fill in some of the blanks here for you, things may vary slightly in different states but probably not much.
We got into fostering because my step-daughter abandoned her baby with us and DHS was notified when she tested positive for drugs. They asked us as family to foster him while her & bio dad go through their treatment plan. Well that was over 2 yrs ago and they have finally failed their treatment plan enough times for the court to terminate their rights so we can start adoption. Woohoo that has been a long time coming.
We have since been approved as a regular foster and we have talked to several case workers that we know & asked them to keep an eye out for babies that we could potentially adopt. I would recommend that you go through your local DHS or Childwelfare office. Tell them that you would be interested in fostering &/or adopting. Keep in mind there are usually siblings involved with babies and they aren't always abandoned they, a lot of the times are taken by DHS for various reasons. They tend to give parents lots of chances to work towards getting their child back so that can be frustrating but you have to be willing to go through that process in order to get babies. You can also adopt from them but they will be older & usually have siblings or disabilities. The babies don't usually come up for adoption because the foster families fall in love and want to adopt and have first right to that if family members aren't willing.
You will have to go through some fostering classes & the normal home study & background checks. They are the same as a regular adoption but the state pays for it, not you. You do also get a monthly check, once you have completed the above, but I seriously doubt it is anywhere near $1,500 unless you have several children. We get a little over $300 a month for one. He gets medicare and the great thing is that he will now be covered until he is 18 even after we adopt. The adoption will be free for us as well.
The larger, inner city counties tend to have a lot more babies. We have been told at different times that the hospital in our inner city had as many as 4 or 5 babies waiting for foster homes for weeks because the parents were not allowed to take the baby home and DHS has taken over. You can get children pretty quickly usually. They don't have near enough foster homes to take in all of the children in need so the overflow stay in the hospital or go to shelters until space opens up.
I hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions or PM me. I am happy to help if I can. Our little one has really opened our heart for the foster kids. Our hope is that we can have one of our own and adopt another from foster care.
Staci
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