Adoption and Foster Care
Adoption and Foster Care
Adoption differs from foster care, a situation in which a child is temporarily placed with a foster family. An adopted child becomes a permanent member of the adoptive family, with all the rights and privileges of a biological child, including the right of inheritance. Adoptive parents gain the right to make decisions in the child’s best interests regarding such issues as medical treatment and education.
Foster care, on the other hand, is designed to provide temporary care for children. Children generally are placed in foster care by child welfare agencies. Some of these children are voluntarily placed in foster care when circumstances, such as a serious illness, prevent their parents from caring for them. In cases of child abuse or neglect, social service agencies may remove children involuntarily and place them with foster parents. Most foster placements are made with the intention of reuniting the biological family at a later time. Agencies also place children in foster care while searching for adoptive parents. Families wishing to adopt a child sometimes serve as foster parents for the child until the adoption can be completed. (1)
In this Section: Adoption, Adoption and Foster Care, Adoption Contents (including Adoptions by Relatives or Stepparents, Agency and Private-Placement Adoptions, Adoptions: Intermediaries and Materially Assisting Persons and Open and Closed Adoptions), Adoption Legal Issues, International Adoption, Psychological Stress and Adoption Support Groups, Telling Adopted Children About Their Adoption, Searching for Biological Parents and Transracial Adoptions.
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