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Do you need to know the long term permanency plan for a foster child in order to accept placement into your home? If you do, it will limit the number of placements you receive as a foster parent. The long term plan is not typically known for at least a month when children first come into foster care. Even then, the plan can change. The caseworker never knows when a suitable relative might come forward asking for the children. While the caseworker might have doubts about certain parents complying with the case plan to have their children returned, sometimes parents surprise everyone. A case may look like it is going to termination for an entire year and suddenly turn around. Many parents, when they hear the word termination, kick their efforts into high gear before the permanency hearing.
Why doesn’t anyone know the long term plan for children when they come into foster care? Because when children are removed from a bad situation, an immediate foster home is needed for them. The child protective service (CPS) worker who removed the children from the parents’ home may have never met them before. The CPS worker probably received a call from the police, or a concerned individual, went to investigate, and decided that removal was warranted.
At that point, the CPS worker really knows nothing about the family or the children, except their genders, race (maybe), and approximate ages.
If you are not willing to accept a placement with that type of limited information then you will need to wait for a foster parent to ask to have a child moved. Another type of placement you might receive is a pre-adoptive placement. When you are willing to adopt and the foster parents are not.
These children are usually older or have more needs. Occasionally, older foster parents take infants but cannot adopt because they are in their 60s or 70s. These are the occasional infants that become available through foster care. If you are waiting in line for one, you might have a very long wait.
The Permanency Planning Meeting for Your Foster Child
The Adjudication Hearing Placing a Child in Foster Care
The Review Hearing for Your Foster Child
The Parents’ Reunification Goals When Their Children Are in Foster Care
Foster Child Goals for Reunification
Photo Credit: 2007 Julia Fuller.
The “concurrent planning” process in Northern California is a bit different. We generally have a sense of what the risk looks like when we are accepting a fost-adopt placement from an ESH or Emergency home. The goal right up to the termination hearing is always to return the child to their family and we as foster parents are expected to help in that area. It can be a bit difficult for foster families.
Occasionally we have a “safely surrendered” or relinquished baby come into the foster system. Those children are immediately placed in adoptive homes and are as close to a sure thing as you can get. Otherwise, we tend to start with ESH (Emergency) placements for 2 months which gives everyone some time to collect information before searching for just the right adoptive or concurrent home.