South Carolina is working towards streamlining foster care adoptions. A task force has been appointed to help address some problems and challenges that come with adopting from foster care. I always wonder when task forces or committees are formed if they place any foster parents on them since we are the ones that deal with a lot of the problems. This task force will include two longtime foster parents.

Anyone that has adopted for the state child welfare system can relate all kinds of problems. It is part of the government, and red tape comes along with the government. South Carolina’s average wait for adoption for foster care is 4 years. Whew! That is a large span of a child’s life.

They hope to cut down the wait time and cut down on the red tape. Also to have more children adopted while they are still in their childhood. Foster children are still spending sometimes years in foster care while the system gives the parents repeated chances to step up and be parents to their children. This allows more children to languish in foster care with each passing year it becomes harder to find adoptive homes for them.

Hopefully the task force can identify the problems and develop policies or laws that can help the foster children of South Carolina. Ways to get the general public to see foster adoption in a positive light also would be a great thought that would benefit finding more adoptive homes. Addressing the idea of foster children keeping their medical coverage and setting subsidies for children adopted out of the foster care system would also be a benefit for the children.

South Carolina is not the only state that should be addressing the needs and problems with the foster adoption. Most states struggle with the same types of issues.

More reading:

Foster Care Public or Private

Foster Care Public or Private - Can it Work?