How Long Do Infants Spend In Foster Care Prior To Adoption?
Particularly in the 1960s, how long would an infant have spent in foster care after being relinquished, assuming there were no medical or social reasons to delay adoption. I understand that today an infant can spend up to a year in foster care if not more. Are there any cases (UK) when an infant would be adopted immediately and by pass foster care or spend only a week or two in foster care?
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:29 AM
It was about 6 weeks.
I was coreced into surrendering in 1981 and depite it already being increasingly more difficult to adopt an infant and paps already chosen to adopt my son he was still in foster for 6 weeks which is fairly standard. It takes about 5 – 6 months for an adoption to be finalized, with older child adoption it can take longer. I have never heard of an infant being adopted immediately in the UK as it’s proceedure for it to take 6 months to be finalized.
I do know a mother cannot give consent for her baby to be adopted until he or she is 6 weeks old.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:32 AM
Yes the process is quite different today–I was a foster parent in the early 70’s—still active today in the field otherwise. Back then a child spent a lot of time in foster care before he moved on—be it adoption by others or adoption by foster parents. He would have spent close to a year in foster care following relinquishment.: at least a year. Now I would say a time frame would be, after relinquishment in foster care he would spend 8 months—a year and a half.When a child is placed in foster care and down the road rights are terminated–there is a 2 month waiting period and then the foster parents Begin the process of adoption. 98% of all foster parents adopt the children in their home IF RIGHTS ARE TERMINATED.There are no short-cuts here; and that is appropriate. Some take a longer time to finalize as the child may have special needs and that involves more paperwork. These are not exact time frames but the format is correct.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:07 PM
I’m a foster carer and things were very different in the 60s but I can’t comment because I wasn’t around!
Today, yes, there are circumstances now when a baby can instantly go for adoption (although these are rare) and social services are trying very hard to reduce the amount of time an infant spends in foster care before adoption becomes a certainty. Usually they will try to reconcile mother and baby but obviously there are situations where that simply isn’t possible.
In the US the situation is far speedier, in my opinion that’s much better for everyone concerned.
Any questions, please email me.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 PM
In many states, there’s a difference between actually adopting, and having a baby (or even an older child) placed into the home with basically a guardianship.
For instance, in the case where a set of parents have done something horribly wrong, and they sign consent to adopt forms through foster care, then the child can potentially be placed into a home, and then the adoption process started immediately.
Even though our adoption was private, and I was even allowed to room in with him at his last night in the hospital (first mom had been discharged) and took him straight home, however, his actual adoption paperwork ended up taking almost 9 months, and went in stages, where for the first 10 days, we had authority placed in a guardianship by the first mom to sign for medical care, then after the 10th day, we went to the first visit in court, got legal guardianship, then several months later, the adoption was finalized. Foster care has even more steps involved, and I’ve heard of it taking up to 3 years.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:40 PM
The average was 3 months in the ’60’s/70s
Currently in the UK the infant spends 6 weeks in ‘care’ with unlimited visitation of the natural parents whilst they contemplate their final decision free from the interference, influence or persuasiveness of potential adopters hovering over them (unlike the USA where a baby is handed straight over)
No, the 6 weeks free of interference or influence is mandatory.
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:10 PM
In the 1960’s, without my knowledge, my baby was in foster care for 6 weeks. I was told while I was in the hospital, that the apars were coming to the hospital to pick my baby up…and I believed what the agency worker told me!! Hell, when my baby was born…the agency hadn’t even yet picked out her apars. I would learn of these facts when I reunited (34 yrs later)…straight from the amom’s mouth, and from my adult child’s non-id….which at that point I was still being refused non-id from the agency. Reunion answers a lot of questions….not just the questions that adult adoptees have, but questions that nmothers have also.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:46 PM
I am not really sure…maybe each case is different. I was fostered at 3wks old in 1962 and stayed with my foster parents until Jan 1966 when I was adopted by them. I can’t imagine how my adopted parents must have felt for four years knowing my biological mother could have taken me away from them..
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:09 AM
I surrendered in the early 80’s and my baby never went to foster care. The adoptive family took her home from the hospital as a newborn.
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:04 AM
In the United States they don’t spend anytime in foster care. Unless they are being removed from the birth parents.