When deciding between a state and private adoption, the first thing many couples investigate is the cost. They look at the price tag of each option and see that while private adoption can become pricy, most state adoptions require very little money.

While there is very little financial investment, there are two major expenses required by foster care parents and adoptive parents hoping to adopt through the state: time and an emotional investment. Those who have plenty of each may find adopting through the State to be very attractive.


Time

The amount of time it takes to adopt through the state varies based on the state in which the adoptive family lives, the type of child the adoptive family wants to adopt, and other variables.

Children are placed in the state foster care system with the intent that they will be reintegrated into their homes once their biological parents correct the issues that caused their children’s removal. The biological parents are often given at least one or two years before the court moves from a reintegration plan to an adoption plan. Therefore, many foster children live with their foster parents for months or sometimes years and are then reintegrated with their biological families.

Each state has different laws and timetables for the rehabilitation of biological parents, which can also dramatically affect the amount of time a particular child spends in the state foster care system.

Because of the uncertainty of each foster child’s family situation, it is very difficult to predict how long any foster family will have to wait for their opportunity to adopt a child in foster care.

Something else for the adoptive family to consider is the age of the child they wish to adopt. Would they be happy with any aged child? Do they prefer an adolescent? Are they only interested in adopting an infant? The adoptive family’s answer to this question could single-handedly determine whether they choose a private or state adoption.

Generally, families adopting through the state will have the opportunity to adopt children who are at least two years of age or older, as only 14 percent of all children adopted in 2008 through the foster care system were 1-year-old or younger. Adoptive families hoping to adopt an infant or a 1-year-old may have to wait a while before the desired opportunity to adopt a child of this age presents itself.1

These factors often make adopting through the state a longer process than adopting privately, but the monetary savings are sometimes worth the wait for many families.
 

Emotional Investment

A cost that can easily be overlooked by families choosing to adopt through the state is the emotional investment the state foster care system can require.

The foster care system was not necessarily developed with the sole purpose of finding new parents for children. Again, it was developed with the intent of reintegrating the children with their biological parents, using the foster parents as substitute parents while the biological parents rehabilitate the issues that caused the removal of their children.

Therefore, it is very common for foster parents to take in children anywhere from one day to one year and longer, only to see that child go back to his original family. Most foster parents understand their roles to these children and they enter the foster care system emotionally prepared for these scenarios.

It is important for a family entering the foster care or state system with the goal of adoption to understand the purpose of this system and the inherent emotional investment the family may make in the lives of children that are not permanently placed with them.

Eventually, foster parents will receive an opportunity to adopt a child. However, the road leading to that opportunity can be emotionally difficult for those who are not prepared to lose the children they bond with.


Looking Within

Couples who are willing to raise a child of any age, are emotionally prepared to see their foster children reintegrated with their biological parents, and are in no hurry to become parents may find that adopting through the state is more attractive because it does not require a significant financial investment. In fact, the State paid 89 percent of these adoptive families an adoption subsidy in 2008.¹

On the other hand, couples who desire a newborn baby and hope to become parents within one year should strongly consider private adoption, as these wishes could be difficult to achieve through a state adoption.

For couples considering both state and private adoption, it’s essential for them to first determine their adoption goals and then research the pros and cons of each type of adoption. This will help the couple determine the characteristics that are most important to them in a child, and the best route to take to realize their dreams. Either road will offer an adoptive family the opportunity to provide love and care for a child who is in need.


¹ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report16.htm