Straight Adoption

by Melissa J | More from this Blogger

11 Aug 2006 10:53 PM

This is a continuation from my Foster to Adopt blog.

Probably one of the more secure ways to adopt is by going the straight adoption route. This is also referred to as legally free or legal risk adoption. Legally free adoptions happen when the child's birth parent's rights have been terminated by the courts, a process called TPR. These cases tend to move much more quickly as a result.

Parents who adopt this route usually end up with children over age one. The reason for this is that the state usually takes about a year to work with the parents before coming up with a permanency plan for the child. Each case is so different though. There are some cases where TPR happens very quickly. Our older son's case was deemed legally free when he was only 3 months old because he was the 6th baby to come into state custody with no change in the birth parent's lifestyle. On the other hand, our younger son's case didn't become legally freed until he was over 2 years old. He was the first child of his birth mother's to come into care. It's important to know every case is truly unique!

A legal risk adoptive placement is when the courts have agreed to move toward terminating the birth parent's rights, and the state has chosen a family, by whatever means, to be the adoptive parent(s) to them. In most legal risk cases, TPR does happen. There is still that risk of the birth parents appealing and having the case plan changed.

Though a family is less likely to get a tiny baby this route, I recommend it especially to people with no children yet in the home. We've adopted the straight adoption route and the foster to adopt route. There was so much less stress with straight adoption.

(Melissa is a Families.com Christian Blogger. Read her blogs at: http://members.families.com/mj7/blog)

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