For couples who find that they cannot have their own children, both fostering and adopting can be vital lifelines, offering the potential to enjoy all the joys and rewards that children can bring into your life. However, it is important to understand the differences between fostering a child and adopting one, as one may be more suitable than the other. In this article, we bring light to any mysteries surrounding foster care vs adoption and discuss all aspects of each in the hopes that we can help you reach the decision that is best for you.
Foster care is a court-monitored temporary arrangement with the aim of providing a safe, stable, and nurturing environment for children when their birth families are unable to care for them. The placement can be for a varying length of time, from days to weeks, months, or even years, depending on the particular circumstances of each child. While in foster care, children may live with relatives, foster families or in group facilities.
These caregivers welcome children into their homes – often at short notice – and care for their emotional, physical, social, and mental needs, but don’t have full legal rights over the children. Ultimately, the goal of fostering is always to reunite the children with their birth parents when they are in a better position to care for their child.
In contrast with foster care, adoption is a formal legal process by which an adult assumes full parental rights and responsibilities for a child, resulting in the termination of the biological parents’ legal rights. This intricate procedure establishes a lifelong, legally binding family bond with the child in which parents commit to provide them with security, permanency, and love. Through the transfer of rights and responsibilities, the adoptive parents become the child’s legal guardians, tasked with ensuring the child’s well-being and development within a supportive and secure family setting.
We can distinguish between foster care vs adoption due to a number of important disparities, with legal responsibility being at the top of the list.
The legal responsibility between a child being fostered and a child being adopted differs mainly because of the nature and permanence of the relationships between the child and his caregivers.
As we mentioned, in foster care, the foster parents are ‘temporary guardians’ and don’t have full legal custody of the child. Although the biological parents remain as such, with their rights throughout, the state – through the child welfare agency – retains both legal custody and responsibility for the child until the process is over.
Foster parents also have limited decision-making authority, and any major welfare decisions, such as medical treatment, schooling, or which church to attend, will need approval from the child’s caseworker or the court.
Conversely, when a child is adopted, the adoptive parents get all legal rights as though the child is biologically theirs. In most cases, once this is done, all ties with the child’s biological parents are severed. This lifelong commitment establishes a new legal parent-child relationship and allows adoptive parents to have full responsibility for the child, including their medical care and educational and spiritual development.
In the context of foster care vs adoption, at the core, the differences in permanency and commitment are quite simple. When a child is adopted, the placement is permanent, whereas when they are fostered, the placement is temporary.
Adopted children have a family for life, with which they can form deep and lasting loving bonds. These bonds can even prove to be stronger than those found in a biological family. The parent’s commitment is perpetual and encompasses the full well-being of their adopted child.
Now, when a child is placed in foster care, their temporary arrangement aims for them to be returned to their biological family. They may form bonds with the foster family, yet these bonds are not intended to replace the relationship with their biological parents. Foster parents are also committed to caring for and supporting the child, but they know that their role is temporary and the day will come when they will have to part with the child.
Understanding the disparities between adoption vs foster care is essential because the experiences and expectations associated with each can profoundly impact both the children and their caregivers. For example, when a child is adopted, they are given stability and permanence with their adoptive parents and can form secure and lasting relationships as well as develop a strong sense of belonging.
As opposed to adoption, however, fostering involves an element of uncertainty and the potential for numerous transitions, something that can prove very challenging for foster children who may have already dealt with trauma and instability. What’s more? Foster parents must be well prepared to accept a child needing care at short notice and help them deal with the many emotions stemming from their situation.
Another area where foster care and adoption varies is financial assistance. Foster carers are given an allowance that covers their fee as a carer and the costs associated with caring for their foster child. However, this amount varies, depending on the individual needs of the child. For example, a foster parent taking care of a child with special needs might receive a monthly amount of $500 to $1,000 more than parents fostering other children due to the level of care given.
On the other hand, adoptive parents are responsible for all the financial costs of their adopted child, from the adoption process to their long-term care. Adopting a child can be very expensive, but thankfully, parents may be eligible for several grants from foundations dedicated to providing financial assistance to families looking to adopt. A Child Waits Foundation, The Gift of Adoption Fund, and Show Hope are just a few examples that offer anywhere from $4,000 to $15,000 to aid with the adoption process. Prospective adoptive parents might also benefit from federal or state tax credits as well as employer-provided adoption assistance to make their dream of starting or expanding a family a little easier on the pocket.
When it comes to training, support, and resources, there are some notable differences between foster and adoptive parents that those interested must take into account.
Foster parents are required to complete a mandatory training program before their first foster child is placed with them. An example of such a course is the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP). The training focuses on dealing with trauma, behavior management, and the specific needs of foster children.
Once they are registered foster carers and receive a placement, they have easy access to a team of professionals who can help and support them on a range of issues whenever required. Information about them can be found at your state’s foster care agency. Foster parents collaborate with this team almost daily as they strive to solve whatever problems caused the child to be placed in a foster home so that the child can return to his biological parents.
Adoptive parents are also required to take pre-service training, like the Texas NTDC training, spanning several sessions that aim to help them prepare to receive a child. Foster parents have more yearly requirements than adoptive parents, such as maintaining a CPR certification and attending annual training sessions, but the basic ones apply to both sets of parents. Some of the training can even be taken together.
Nevertheless, the main difference is the level of support received, given that adoptive parents often don’t have a whole team of professionals aiding them, nor do they have access to all the same resources as foster parents. Those who adopt from the foster care system have a bit more of an upper hand as they can receive state support differently from parents of private adoptions.
In the United States, the public demand for foster care vs adoption varies a lot. Foster care is usually driven by the immediate need to provide a temporary, safe home for a child or siblings away from their biological family because of adverse circumstances in the household, such as abuse, neglect, sickness, imprisonment, etc. The demand fluctuates, but with approximately 400,000 children in the foster care system, they often have a greater and more urgent need for families willing to provide temporary care than they have for families that want to adopt.
The reality is that -even though prospective adoptive parents want to build or expand their current family – many are only interested in adopting newborn babies or young children that don’t have any disabilities, which is why the demand for adoption is much higher than the supply. With the number of children being placed for adoption being much lower these days, prospective adoptive parents often have to be very patient and wait a long time for a suitable child to become available.
In regards to the application process for both parenting roads, they share similar requirements, such as having a minimum of 21 years old, completing a background check and a home study, and participating in training. Yet, whereas foster parents need to work everything through an agency, adoptive parents can choose to go forward with the process without any agency as an intermediary.
In the world of foster care vs adoption, each path offers unique challenges and rewards, which is why understanding the differences between the two is key to making an informed decision. Whether you are considering the temporary nature of foster care or the lifelong commitment of adoption, you can embark on a meaningful journey toward providing a safe and loving home for a child in need. This significant and personal decision is filled with the potential for transformation and growth, both for the child and for you. So take the time to study both paths and make the choice that will best suit you and your family. At Therapeutic Family Life, we can help you take the steps to become a foster or adoptive parent. Contact us today or give us a call at (800)- 394-4939 to see how you can change the life of a child in need.
Chrissie Stephen has dedicated much of her life to working with children, serving as a playschool leader for over a decade and as a housemother, and managing an international boarding house with more than 40 teenagers. Additionally, for a long time, she was actively involved in the Girl Guide movement. In her spare time, she has followed her passion for writing, contributing to numerous airlines and leisure magazines and websites. More recently, she has written a series of successful blogs for parents and several eBooks on parenting. She has a keen interest in fostering and adoption.
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