Do you think adoption agencies should be REQUIRED to mention foster care as an option of PAP?

oh gosh, looney- i think foster care parenting should be an absolute requirement, before anyone can adopt. if everyone was required to foster, we'd see a heck of a lot less kids floating around in the system.

I don't think thats a viable solution. It would be like McDonalds being required to mention Subway as an option when someone comes in looking for lunch. I didn't know until just this past weekend that there are three foster care agencies in my area. One run by the Govt, one run by Catholic Social Services and one run by a private adoption agency. All have children in foster care and all are in need of homes so which foster care agency would be promoted? If adoption agencies were required to do this then in 10 years we would be here asking if Foster Care agencies should be required to mention adoption agencies as an option. People are entitled to make their own choices which avenue to proceed with.

I don't think it would accomplish what you expect that it will. Randy has a good analogy: McDonalds must recommend Subway before you can order a Big Mac. PAPs should research every avenue of adoption before deciding which is the best fit for their family and their unique circumstances. And though I think there's nothing wrong with foster care adoption, it does have its own challenges and not everyone who adopts is willing or able to meet those challenges. If a person needs to be convinced to adopt from foster care, are you sure they should be adopting from foster care? When we started our adoption journey, we researched every avenue thoroughly. At that time in our lives, we did not feel foster adoption was right for our family. If we could not have adopted internationally, we most likely would not have adopted until we were at a different stage in our lives. Down the road, we may adopt again, or foster. But my point is, we were well aware that foster adoption was an option, without an agency telling us that. And we understood our own family circumstances well enough to know what would be the best fit for our family at that time.

YES!!! Absolutely, it should be a legal requirement that they are told about foster-adoption.

i don't think it should be required that they foster first, but definately should be given the options of adopting through fostering. it sure would be a nice concept, but a lot of people want to adopt kids with no baggage attached to them or they don't want to foster children only to get attached to them and have them go back home.

I think it should be part of the training process, which is why private adoption agencies should be banned and it should all be through the state, or province as it is here in Canada. I do disrepsectfully disagree with the poster who stated anyone who wants to adopt should foster first. They are very different roles, and not everyone is fit to be a foster parent. I actually think anyone who is wanting to adopt should NOT foster until they have resolved their issues with adoption. Foster children require someone committed to seeing if they can be reunited, not to be first considered to be an option for adoption. ETA, is offended by the analogy of McDonald's and Subway. Adoption should not be a capitalist enterprise and yes all options should be presented, with an emphasis on foster care adoption.

I dont think everyone should be required to foster first as mentioned by others because some people would not make good foster parents. There is idealized view of foster care on here that is a pure fallicy. It is an extremely difficult job that is not right for everyone. Add to that the fact that many children are returned home and some people just are not emotionally strong enough to go through that over and over. (regardless if they have other kids or not) ETA: but to answer your question yes they should be told. They should sit down with a counselor to discuss attachment and bonding, adoption related concerns and all avenues of adopting/fostering. In my world thats how it would happen:)

Yes

I asked a question the other day about adoption statistics. It seems like there are less than 20,000 international adoptions each year and even fewer private adoptions than that. If a portion of those people were to switch to foster care adoption it seems like it would only be a drop in the bucket to the 140,000 children waiting in foster care. I don't know if the requirement to discuss foster care would fly legally, but I think it's a good idea. I think they should more than just mention it. I think everyone should have to go to the foster to adopt classes I took, they really educated us about adoption in general. Still, it seems to me that to concentrate only on redirecting those families who already want to adopt isn't enough. How do we get more people interested in adoption? Is it even right to try? People who have to be talked into adoption wouldn't be the best parents, would they? My caseworker said that they rely on recruiting foster parents, and that foster parents often turn into adoptive parents.