While many adoptions are private, involving private attorneys and Florida adoption agencies, some adoptive parents choose to adopt from the child welfare system. Oftentimes, these hopeful adoptive parents will first become foster parents or caregivers to children who are in the system. If the children cannot be reunified with their birth families, then they are able to adopt them through Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF).
If you’re interested in becoming a foster parent, or simply adopting a child from the foster care system, you should first contact your local DCF office or a community-based care organization to start the process. The first step is generally to undergo the training and home study to become an approved caregiver for the child welfare system. After receiving an approved home study, the prospective adoptive parents work with DCF or their community-based care provider to match with a child that is available for adoption and looking for their forever family. Generally, the child or children are placed in the homes of prospective adoptive parents and then undergo a period of post-placement supervision to ensure that the placement is going well and that the family is a good match for the child or children.
There are many advantages to growing your family through public adoption. In most cases, a child adopted from the child welfare system will receive free in-state college tuition, Medicare, and the family will receive an adoption subsidy. As part of the adoption subsidy, the prospective adoptive parents will receive a stipend to pay a private Florida adoption attorney to finalize the adoption.
The staff at the Adoption Law Offices of Madonna Finney are happy to assist in finalizing public adoption and assisting Florida’s children to find their forever families. If you are adopting from Foster Care, why not go to the Panhandle’s only Board Certified Florida Adoption Lawyer to finalize your adoption. The cost is the same as with other practitioners.
Call us Monday – Friday at (850) 577-3077 or email Madonna at [email protected].