Foster Parent Guide
Adoption & Permanency
When reunification isn't the plan, the system shifts gears. Here's what that actually looks like from where you're standing.
A word upfront: Most foster care placements are reunification cases. The goal is to get kids back home safely. But some aren't. When a court determines that reunification isn't possible or safe, the case pivots toward permanency, which usually means adoption. If you're a foster parent in that situation, this guide is for you.
🏠 What "Permanency" Actually Means
Federal law (the Adoption and Safe Families Act, or ASFA) requires that courts pursue a permanency plan for every child in foster care. That plan can be one of several things:
- •Reunification: returning home to a parent or guardian
- •Adoption: parental rights are terminated, child is adopted
- •Legal Guardianship: a relative or other adult becomes legal guardian without full adoption
- •Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA): for older youth when the others aren't realistic
Under ASFA, states must file a petition for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) if a child has been in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months. There are exceptions, but that's the general rule. Courts hold permanency hearings every 12 months (sometimes more often) to evaluate progress.
⚖️ Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)
TPR is the legal process that permanently severs a parent's rights to their child. After TPR, the child is legally free to be adopted. It does not happen quickly. In Pennsylvania, TPR cases typically take months to over a year from petition to final order, and parents have the right to contest it.
Grounds for TPR in Pennsylvania
Courts can terminate parental rights when a parent has:
- •Abandoned the child (no contact for 6+ months)
- •Failed to remedy conditions that caused removal despite reasonable efforts from the agency
- •Been incapable of caring for the child, and this condition is unlikely to change
- •Been convicted of certain serious crimes against a child
What no one tells you: the TPR process is often unpredictable and stressful for foster parents. Appeals happen. Hearings get continued. Cases that seemed headed toward adoption get reversed. Try to stay in the moment with the child rather than anchoring your emotions to a particular legal outcome.
❤️ Foster-to-Adopt: What It Really Looks Like
Some families enter foster care specifically hoping to adopt. This is valid, but it comes with real tension. You're caring for a child whose legal future is genuinely uncertain, and that uncertainty can last a long time.
In most cases, you can't enter a placement knowing the child will be available for adoption. Parental rights almost always still exist when a child first comes into care. What happens is: a child is placed with you for foster care, the case works toward reunification, that effort stalls or fails, and eventually the case goal changes to adoption. By that point, you've been parenting this child for months or years.
What to Know If You're Hoping to Adopt
- •Be honest with your agency about your intent: it affects placement decisions
- •Some agencies have specific foster-to-adopt programs or "legal risk" placements where TPR is already in progress
- •Foster parents have no legal right to adopt their foster child, but current caregivers are given strong preference in most states, including PA
- •If you can't parent a child who might go home, be honest about that. It's better than disrupting a placement later
📋 After TPR: The Adoption Process
Once parental rights are terminated, the child is legally free to be adopted. If you're the foster parent and want to adopt, here's roughly what happens next:
1. Adoptive Home Study
Your existing foster home study usually counts, but it will need to be updated for adoption purposes. This involves updated background checks, home visits, and paperwork.
2. Adoption Matching & Staffing
The agency formally documents that you're the adoptive family for the child. For foster parents already caring for the child, this is usually more of a formality.
3. Adoption Petition & Hearing
Your attorney (or the agency attorney) files a petition with the court. A hearing is scheduled, often a joyful event where a judge finalizes the adoption. In PA, this is called "Adoption Day." Some families celebrate it.
4. New Birth Certificate
After finalization, you can apply for a new birth certificate with your family's name. The child is legally your child in every sense.
Adopting from foster care is typically free or very low cost in Pennsylvania. You won't pay agency fees. You may have some legal fees, which can often be reimbursed through state adoption assistance programs.
💛 Adoption Assistance (The Subsidy)
Many children adopted from foster care qualify for ongoing adoption assistance, a monthly payment that continues after finalization. In Pennsylvania, this is called the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP).
What the Subsidy Can Include
- ✓Monthly cash assistance (amount negotiated before finalization)
- ✓Medicaid coverage that continues after adoption
- ✓One-time reimbursement for nonrecurring adoption expenses (legal fees, court costs)
- ✓Ongoing support services in some cases
The subsidy is based on the child's needs, not your income. Negotiate before you sign. You can't easily increase the amount after finalization, so ask for what you need upfront. Children with higher needs qualify for higher monthly amounts.
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (2008) also extended adoption assistance eligibility for older youth and made Medicaid continuous through age 21 for many adopted kids.
💙 The Emotional Weight of This
Adoption from foster care is beautiful. And it's also built on loss. Your child lost their first family. That's real, even if reunification wasn't safe.
Some adoptive parents feel pressure to act like adoption is pure joy and gratitude. And parts of it are. But kids who are adopted from care often carry grief, trauma, and confusing feelings about their birth family. Those feelings don't go away because a judge signed a piece of paper.
You'll probably feel some complicated things too. Relief that the legal uncertainty is over. Guilt about the child's birth parents. Joy mixed with sadness at an "Adoption Day" that represents something a child had to lose before they could gain.
Things That Help Long-Term
- •Ongoing access to a therapist who specializes in adoption and trauma (especially for the child)
- •Being honest with your child about their story in age-appropriate ways
- •Not erasing birth family: photos, stories, and connection where it's safe
- •Post-adoption support groups (DHS, your agency, or community-based)
- •Reading resources on adoptee identity and transracial adoption if applicable
❓ Common Questions
Can I adopt if I'm only a licensed foster parent?
Yes. In most cases, your existing foster license is the starting point. The process adds adoption-specific steps (updated home study, paperwork), but you're not starting from scratch.
What if the birth parent appeals the TPR?
Appeals happen and can add months or years to the process. The child stays in your home during the appeal. It's one of the hardest parts of foster care, waiting through legal uncertainty while you're already attached.
Are we required to allow contact with birth family after adoption?
It depends on whether there's a post-adoption contact agreement (PACA, also called an 'open adoption' agreement). These can be voluntary and enforceable in some states. Pennsylvania does recognize them. What's best varies by situation.
Can we adopt a child we haven't fostered?
Yes, you can be matched with a child already free for adoption through state photolistings like AdoptUSKids or the PA Statewide Adoption Network (SWAN). These are children waiting for families.
What if our foster child's relative wants to adopt them instead?
Relative (kinship) placements are given legal preference in most states. If a qualified relative comes forward and wants to adopt, the court may place the child with them instead. That's a genuine loss for foster families and it happens.
✅ The Bottom Line
Adoption from foster care is one of the most meaningful things a family can do. And it comes with real complexity, legally, emotionally, and practically.
Know what you're signing up for. Ask your agency hard questions. Get an attorney who specializes in adoption. Negotiate the subsidy before finalization. And find a therapist your child can see long-term, not because something is wrong, but because they've been through something.
The legal process is the easy part. Being a good adoptive parent is the work that never stops, and it's worth it.
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