1. Foster Care & Adoption 33.1

2. Neglected or abused children may be removed from the family home, placed in a foster home, or made available for adoption It is estimated that over 500,000 children in the U.S. are in foster care. The length of stay is usually 4-6 years. Federal and state laws require that the state make reasonable efforts to prevent the removal of children from homes, and if removed, to eventually return them.

3. A. Foster Care Foster parents are people who, at the direction of the court or a gov. agency, care for minors that aren't their birth children. Q: When and how are children placed in foster care? – A: Birth parents or the court still have full legal guardianship and custody rights Foster parents are usually paid for child care, and children can be removed from foster homes at any time

4. While in the foster care system, every child must have a hearing every 6 months to check that the child is safe and to see if there is progress being made toward family reunification. In some cases, the state may seek to terminate parental rights. Usually there has to be pretty severe circumstances-serious bodily injury, sexual violence, or if rights have been terminated with respect to another child

5. The state must seek termination of parental rights if the child has been in placement for 15 of the previous 22 months or if parents have killed or seriously injured another child in the family. Why? – A:

6. B. Adoption Adoption is the legal process by which an adult becomes the legal parents of another person. Most states permit adults to adopt other adults Anyone is eligible to adopt. However, in practice adoption agencies try to match a child's new family with their birth family Most adoptions are set up through public or private agencies. You apply to an agency and pay a fee Agency investigates you to determine whether you will be a suitable parent

7. Some people will use go betweens-arrange for pregnant women to turn over their babies without going through an agency. Some states makes this illegal-considered a black market adoption Must then apply to a court to have the adoption legally approved A child over a certain age (often 12 or 14) must also consent to the adoption

8. In most states, when the court approves an adoption, a temporary order is issued. Agency or birth parents remain the legal guardian for a certain waiting period (6 months-1 yr). Then, a new birth certificate will be issued showing adopting parents as parents of the child.

9. Traditionally, adoption records have been sealed, meaning that children couldn't find the names and addresses of their birth parents. Today, a few states have opened adoption records Some people use a surrogate parent. This is a woman, other than the wife, who agrees to be artificially inseminated with the husband's sperm.