I don't doubt you are doing this for the right reasons but i have heard nothing but bad things about foster care. Why be a foster parent instead of adopting right away? I don't know much about either one.
Because there are lots of kids who don't get adopted at birth, but end up needing to go to new families. So far our experience with the foster care system has been pretty positive.
I wasn't necessarily talking about adopting at birth but the difference between adopting or being a foster parent in general. So the idea is to be able to take care of multiple kids or kids that may not otherwise be adopted? Basically, what would be different if you had instead adopted your foster child.
Well, in most cases kids that come into foster care are not available for adoption for quite a while after they enter the system. Usually, the plan is to reunite the child with his/her biological family. So the family has to follow a plan to get their kids back. If they can't follow the plan (get their lives back on track), then their parental rights can be terminated, but that process can take a very long time. Sometimes a foster family will have one kid for years and never adopt. Sometimes, they will have many kids over the years. Sometimes they will adopt the first kid that is placed with them. It really varies. In our case, there is very good chance we will be able to adopt this little girl fairly soon.
That's because the media is all most people know about foster care. There are many fantastic foster parents, not nearly enough, but they are out there. The foster parents you hear about in the media are the ones doing it for a paycheck. But most are not like that. It's the exception not the rule. And if you have ever looked into adoption you would know it's an EXTREMELY difficult thing to do. If you adopt domestically or internationally there are a lot of hoops to jump through and it's very very expensive. I have several friends who have gone both routes. One ended up adopting internationally and spent literally over 100,000 for her two boys. Another did open adoption domestically and are also looking into being foster parents.
gifford seems to have really good intentions so i'm happy for him and his family and the world needs more people who are willing to take care of children, despite where they come from, as their own. I agree alot of my suspicions come from the media but i've heard a couple bad examples people that skewed my views.
That may be some people's experience, but it was not mine. My wife and I decided to adopt in the summer of 2005, and our daughter was born in March 2006. We started taking care of her when she was less than 24 hours old. And everything with the adoption went smoothly. It cost about $14,000. I realize that not everyone has the same experience, but I think it's important to recognize that adopting is not always extremely difficult.
I think that being a foster parent is one of the most noble things you can do. Here is a child with no place else to go -- that you are taking into your home and loving and caring for even though that same child could be removed from your home at any time (if the state feels the family is ready to give them back). While there are some people that become foster parents for the money the majority do it because they want to give love/shelter to a child in need . They are truly heroes making a real difference in the lives of children.
Nothing wrong with that. I think that's average (just around 10 months). At what age did yours ? Mine at 10 months and 13 months respectively. That's not anything good to say at all, yo. Please give an explanation as to why you're saying this... please. You've lost points with so many peeps here. I didn't like it either, but I didn't have to say anything mean like that. Seriously, Mr. Gifford, are you completely OK with that name? I would think there's a way to change it, if you weren't. I'd change it, though, so it would be something my wife and I would agree on and became OURS. Just my opinion, though... now that I think about it, it might not be bad at all. It's just not common and that's why I didn't like it at first. Congratulations on your NEW BUNDLE OF JOY!
very human of you gifford, congrats. as for the name, i have no problem with it-------> we need to raise more individuals in this country.
I just wanted to say thanks again for all of the congratulations. Our first weekend went great and Whisper has quickly fallen into a routine of two naps a day and sleeping all night. She seems to be bonding with us really well, especially my wife. As for her name, we, of course, can't change it as foster parents. If we are able to adopt Whisper, we would consider making Whisper her middle name and giving her a new first name. That way she would still have a connection to her past, but wouldn't be forced to use an unconventional name. When she got older, she would even have the choice of going by her first or middle name. Personally, I like the name Whisper, but you definitely don't want to set your kid up for catching any more flak than necessary. I don't know. We're thinking about it.
