How to place child in foster care

Foster Care | NYCOURTS.GOV

What Is Foster Care?
How Does a Child Enter Foster Care?
Where Is the Child Placed?
How Long Does the Child Stay in Foster Care?
Do the Parents Need to Have a Lawyer Represent Them?
What Happens While the Child Is in Foster Care?
What Happens When Parents Do Not Wish to Have Their Children Return Home, or Cannot Provide Proper Care for Their Children?

What is Foster Care?

A "foster child" is a child who has been placed in the care and custody of the Child Protective Agency, or an authorized child-care agency for either short-term or long-term care. This care is often with a "foster family", or with a group home or other facility to meet other needs of the child. The agency has physical custody of the child, but the parent continues to have legal rights to the child.

How Does a Child Enter Foster Care?

A child may be placed in foster care voluntarily, at the request of his or her parents or legal guardian. A child may also enter foster care by order of the court. The court may order that the child be placed in the care of an agency if it finds that the child has been abused or neglected or is at risk of such harm, or when a child's behavior is beyond the control of those responsible for his or her care. A child may also be removed from his or her home by a child-protective agency because of an emergency in the home.

Where is the Child Placed?

The child may be placed with foster parents in their home, in a group home, or in an institution, depending upon the child's needs and the available foster care settings. Instead of foster care, a child may be placed in the care of a relative or another suitable person.

How Long Does the Child Stay in Foster Care?

Placement may be temporary, with the child eventually returning to his or her parents or legal guardian, or may result in the child being adopted by another family.

When a child is voluntarily placed into foster care by a parent or guardian, that person signs a "Voluntary Placement Agreement" transferring the care and custody of the child to an agency. If the child is expected to remain in foster care for more than 30 days, the Child Protective Agency must file a petition asking the court to approve the placement and the agency's plan for the child's future. The agreement may specify how long the child is to remain in foster care, or the period of time may be left open. The court then hears testimony from the persons who signed the agreement and from the agency, and decides whether the agreement is valid, whether foster care is appropriate for the child, and how long the child should remain in foster care.

Do the Parents Need to Have a Lawyer Represent Them?

The parents or guardian of the child may represent themselves without a lawyer, or may hire a lawyer to represent them. If the parents or guardian cannot afford to hire lawyers, they have the right to have the court appoint lawyers for them at no cost.

What Happens While the Child Is in Foster Care?

The court may order the child-protective agency or child-care agency to provide services or assistance to the child and the child's family, including visitation with the child and counseling for the family, while the child is in foster care.

After a child has been in placement for the time period ordered, the parents may file a petition asking the court to review the child's placement. After a court hearing, the court may return the child to his or her home or extend the placement period.

If the child remains in foster care for a year, the agency must file a petition asking the court to review the child's situation, and extend the placement if appropriate.

What Happens When Parents Do Not Wish to Have Their Children Return Home, or Cannot Provide Proper Care for Their Children?

Parents may voluntarily agree to have their children adopted by signing a document called a "Surrender", giving up their rights as parents. Or the agency may file a petition asking the court to hold a hearing to determine if the court should "terminate" (end) the parents' rights. If the court finds that the child has been abandoned, permanently neglected, or severely or repeatedly abused, or that the parents are unable to properly care for the child because of mental illness or retardation, the court may permanently end the parents' rights to the child and give custody and guardianship of the child to the Child Protective Agency. A child may then be adopted by the foster parents, or the agency may seek another suitable permanent home for the child.

Placement Decisions - Child Welfare Information Gateway

When placement decisions are made, it is important for the child’s safety to be at the forefront. Beyond safety, professionals should consider factors such as family preference, cultural backgrounds, strengths and needs of the child, caretaker’s ability to meet their needs, location of their school, continued connection to their community, and other issues as appropriate. Considering these factors, and completing preplacement visits whenever possible, are important to long-term placement stability. The resources on this page provide information for child welfare professionals about how to make placement decisions, how to promote stability, and how to minimize the number of placements a child lives in while in out-of-home care.

Emergency out-of-home care placements

30 Days to Family®
Foster & Adopt Care Coalition
Explores children’s relatives and kin placement options and supports.

Achieving Placement Stability [Learning Experience]
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
Helps States and territories build their capacity to provide a child or youth in foster care with a stable, secure, and long-term family environment in which to live. This learning experience includes seven interactive modules. Free registration is required to access this resource.

Beyond the Search: Supporting Potential Families After Family-Finding Efforts
AdoptUSKids (2021)
Offers key considerations to be mindful of when child welfare systems use a family finding approach to identify a safe, stable, and permanent placement for a child or youth.

The Child Welfare Placement Continuum: What's Best for Children?
National Conference of State Legislatures (2019)
Discusses the importance of keeping children with their families when possible and placing them in the least restrictive, family-like environment when that is not possible. The webpage explores kinship care, foster care, and residential or group homes.

Court Hearings for the Permanent Placement of Children

Series Title

State Statutes

Author(s)

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Availability

View
Download (PDF - 345KB)

Year Published

2020

Summarizes State laws that mandate the type and frequency of court hearings that must be held to review the status of children placed in out-of-home care. At these hearings, the court reviews the efforts that have been made to address the family issues that necessitated the out-of-home placement as well as efforts to achieve permanency for the child. This document also lists the persons who may attend the hearings and describes permanency options.

Determining the Best Interests of the Child

Series Title

State Statutes

Author(s)

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Availability

View
Download (PDF - 393KB)

Year Published

2020

Discusses State laws that present the factors that courts need to consider when making decisions about a child's appropriate custody and care. Factors to be considered include parental capacity to provide adequate care, sibling and other family relationships, and the child's wishes. The publication also addresses the definition of best interests and guiding principles of best interests determinations.

Kinnect to Family
Identifies strategies for children and families engaging in the child welfare system to connect and engage with family.

Placement of Children With Relatives

Series Title

State Statutes

Author(s)

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Availability

View
Download (PDF - 755KB)

Year Published

2018

Presents an overview of State laws that give priority or preference to relatives when children are in need of out-of-home care. The issues addressed include locating relatives, determining the fitness of a relative to provide care, and requirements for licensure. Requirements for placing siblings together whenever possible and adoption by relatives also are addressed. Summaries of laws for all 50 States are included.

Placement Process Resource Guide (PDF - 708 KB)
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (2020)
Provides child welfare professionals with guidance, recommendations, and procedures regarding placing children in out-of-home care in Texas.

Trauma-Informed Care in Child Welfare Part 1: Introduction to TIC [Video]
The Center for Child Welfare (2021)
Details a two-part training on how to apply a trauma-informed care approach in child welfare settings by teaching participants to view child behavior problems and parental abusive behavior through a trauma-informed lens.

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How to talk to a child about biological parents?

Many adoptive parents find that the hardest step is deciding whether or not to tell a child that they are adopted. But often foster parents take a child into the family at a conscious age, when he is already aware of the presence of his mother and father. The child wants to know why the stars are burning and why planes fly. And even more interesting to him is his own destiny. At some point, talking about biological parents and children is unavoidable. What to say in this case?

What can not be said about biological parents?

You can't talk bad about foster parents. Moreover, if a foster family took a child at a conscious age and he himself talks about the negative actions of his relatives, you should not encourage these conversations.

It often happens that a child ended up in an orphanage at a conscious age - most likely, his mother and father were deprived of parental rights. The main reasons for such a decision are alcohol or drug addiction, an asocial lifestyle. Perhaps the child saw his parents in a state of intoxication, showing aggression.

However, all this does not give the adoptive parents the right to speak badly and criticize these people in front of the child. By speaking negatively about the birth parents, the foster family is traumatizing the child himself, not the adults who left him.

The child needs to be explained that the parents were wrong when they left him. But they still just wanted a better life for their son or daughter. They could not provide this life and asked for help from the state.

Tell the child that he has "two pairs" of parents - one was with him when he was born, and the other is near now that he is growing up.

How to answer a child's question about biological parents?

The frequent reaction of adoptive parents to the request of children to help with the search for their own mother or father is a deep hurt. The child is declared ungrateful, unable to appreciate the care and attention of foster parents. Such a reaction is unacceptable for adults. First you need to find out as accurately as possible the reason why the child wants to see the biological mom and dad. The most common reasons are:

the child wants to look into the eyes of people who have betrayed a loved one;
the child strives to show his mother and father how good it is without them;
the child wants to know who is better - a foster family or birth parents;
the child wonders why his parents did not want to raise him.

As you can see, in most cases, children are driven by simple curiosity, so you should not be afraid of these questions. It is unlikely that the child is going to leave those who raised him.

Younger children want to know what their mother was like and what their father was like. These are the little details that make their picture of the world more complete. So before discussing this topic, it is better to find out what is interesting for the child and what he wants to get from meeting with his relatives.

The simplest way is to invite the child to play this meeting "for fun" with you as a real parent:

what would he ask his mother? What about dad?
what will he do if mom or dad is not the same as he imagined?
How will he behave if he does not like the words and stories of his biological parents?
what will happen after this meeting?

If there is more and more talk about finding biological parents, it is really worth trying to find them. The very first steps in the search are a visit to the orphanage, a conversation with the teachers. The child can be nearby, see and hear everything that adults say. Most often, finding biological parents is very difficult - for example, if the father is in prison, and the mother suffers from alcohol addiction. If the parents are found, the foster family should discuss the possibility of meeting with them. People who abandoned the child may not want this meeting. If the biological parents lead an asocial lifestyle, it is also better to avoid meetings.

One should not be afraid that the child will find his or her parents. The registry office or the orphanage will not issue archival certificates to an adopted child, even an adult, since the secrecy of adoption is protected by law.

How to respond when a child demands to be given to his relatives, mother and father?

Adopted children tend to idealize their birth family. The bad, if there was a place to be, is quickly forgotten. In the current family, the child constantly has to deal with minor domestic problems. For example, foster parents ask him for help when he plays, or disapproves of some of his undertakings, or do not buy the thing they like. Any situation can leave a negative aftertaste. While somewhere far away there is his own family. They don't ask him for anything, they don't force him to. In moments of anger or resentment, the child may demand that he be returned to his biological mother and father.

When asked to return to one's own parents, it is not enough to simply answer: "No, this will not happen." It is necessary to speak with the child in accordance with his age. Explain that once mom and dad could not raise him, and now you can’t just take and refuse this decision. After all, the problems of native parents have not gone away. Even a first grader can be asked honest questions. Is he prepared for the fact that his mother may not have the money to feed him? Will he be able to help her around the house if she is unable to do so?

After the first child's tantrum, you should not start looking for biological parents, trying to negotiate with them, showering the baby with gifts or, on the contrary, thinking about whether to return him to the orphanage. In most cases, a temporary desire to find relatives is an obstacle to full adaptation in a new family. This is one of those moments that a child outgrows.

It is absolutely normal for a child to want to see mom and dad. To facilitate the conversation, experts advise getting as much information as possible from the orphanage upon adoption. Documents, photographs, things in which he was sent to an orphanage - everything that will help a growing person understand that he has a past, has his own roots.

Are you ready to become foster parents?
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Elena Kononova

When can blood parents take an adopted child

I recently read that in one city a biological mother regained her parental rights and took her child from a foster family.

I am raising an adopted daughter and now I am afraid that one day she too will be taken away. Does this really happen?

Tamara Skokova

guardianship authority specialist

Author profile

In short: yes, the law allows situations where this is possible. But in life, such cases are extremely rare.

For a foster family, biological parents are always a risk factor. A natural mother or father can be released from prison or recover from alcoholism and try to restore parental rights in order to return the child.

But this does not mean at all that the child will definitely be taken away from foster parents. The outcome of such disputes depends on the form of placement of the child in the family - guardianship, guardianship, foster family or adoption, - the opinion of the minor, as well as the behavior and lifestyle of the adoptive parents.

I will tell you in detail and with real life examples in which cases adoptive parents risk losing a child, and in which cases they have nothing to fear.

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Who is safer to take into a family - an orphan or a child left without parental care

The law divides minors who can get into a foster family into orphans and children left without parental care.

A child is recognized as an orphan, if his only or both biological parents have died. Often, foster mothers and fathers want to take just such a child into the family. They usually reason like this: "Since he is an orphan, he will be able to avoid communication with his blood relatives."

Part 1 Art. 1 of Law No. 159-FZ

But the fact is that even if a child’s biological parents died, close relatives could remain: brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They have priority right to pick up the child. If they don’t want or can’t, then they write a refusal. In this case, the guardianship authorities begin to look for foster parents for the minor.

Relatives cannot change their mind. They have already signed refusal documents - no one will give them a second chance. If they wish, they will have the opportunity to communicate with the child, but only if someone has taken the minor under guardianship, guardianship or in a foster family. But if a child is adopted, blood relatives will be forbidden to even approach him.

A child left without parental care has parents. But they cannot educate him for various reasons:

Parents have been deprived or restricted in their parental rights.
The court declared the parents absent, incompetent or declared dead.
Parents avoid raising children or do not protect their rights and interests.
Single parent or both unknown.
Parents are in custody due to suspicion or accusation of a crime, or are serving a sentence in prison.

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Why parental rights can be terminated

If a foster mother and father take a child left without care into the family, then, at first glance, it seems that they are at greater risk: the biological parents may be reinstated and demand the return of the child. But these are very rare cases: for 17 years of work in the guardianship and guardianship authorities, I have come across this only three times.

In fact, the question of security is not who to take - an orphan or a child left without parental care. And in what form of placing a child in a family to choose: guardianship, guardianship, foster family or adoption. I will talk about this further.

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How to adopt a child

Why sometimes blood parents still want to return the child

As I have already said, usually blood relatives do not remind of themselves in any way and even avoid communication with their children, who were taken by foster parents. But in very rare cases, a mother or father may suddenly appear in a child's life.

Sometimes this is dictated by the most sincere motives. I had such a case. The mother of six children took to drink, and the guardianship authorities, together with the prevention authorities, took the children to an orphanage. For six months, nothing has changed, and the woman was deprived of parental rights. Only then did the mother finally understand what was happening and reacted as it should: she stopped drinking, got a job, changed her housing to a more comfortable one. Thanks to this, within another six months, her parental rights were restored - and she returned the children.

Unfortunately, such cases are very rare. Another category of blood parents is much more common. They are deprived of parental rights because of an asocial lifestyle: they do not work, they drink, they treat children cruelly. They live on child benefits, rely on maternity capital, enjoy benefits for large families and do not want to lose this money and privileges.

/guide/troubled-family/

Which families are considered dysfunctional

My experience is that if a natural mother or father has not regained parental rights within six months, without good reason, then in the future it will be exclusively mercenary motives.

For example, I came across this situation. The woman was deprived of parental rights. The foster family took custody of her 12-year-old daughter. The woman regularly called the girl - the guardians were not opposed - she promised to restore her rights and take her away.

Later it turned out that the mother, under various pretexts, asked her daughter to lure money from her guardians and give it to her. If the amounts were small, then she insisted that the girl steal valuable things and equipment from the house and give it to her while the foster parents were not at home. All this under the pretext that she needs money to restore her parental rights.

As a result, the guardians refused custody - they referred to the complete lack of understanding between them and the child. The girl returned to the orphanage. Her own mother never took her away.

In some cases, adoptive parents have nothing to fear

If they have adopted a child. Only adoption makes it possible to protect the interests of both the child and the adoptive parents as effectively as possible. Adoptive parents completely replace the child's parents: their rights become identical to the rights of blood parents.

And if one day the natural mother or father goes to court to restore their rights and return the adopted child, they will be denied.

Section 4, Art. 72 SK RF

Adopted children are under serious protection: from the moment of a court decision, under the threat of criminal liability, no one has the right to say where and by whom the child was adopted. The secret of adoption was written in detail in another article in Tinkoff Magazine.

If a child older than ten says that he does not want to return to his family. In cases where the interests of a ten-year-old child are affected, the court or guardianship and guardianship authorities cannot make a decision that contradicts his opinion.

Art. 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

So, without the consent of a child who has reached the age of ten, it is impossible:

Restore the birth parents in parental rights.
Adopt a child.
Change his last name, first name and patronymic.
Place the child under guardianship and guardianship.

Art. 57 SK RF

However, you need to understand: the child does not take the side of the adoptive parents just like that. The basis of this choice is warm, trusting, friendly relations between the minor and his new family.

I'll tell you right away about younger children. If the child is not yet ten years old, the court may take into account the opinion of the minor and, for example, refuse to restore parental rights to the mother if this is contrary to the interests of the child.

Section 4, Art. 72 SK RF

However, sometimes the court may ignore the opinion of a child under ten years of age. For example, he may love his own mother very much and wish to return to her. But if she does not work, drinks, begs and does not have a permanent home, then the court will leave the child in an orphanage or with guardians / trustees, because she believes that this will be better for the child.

In what cases are foster parents at risk of losing a child?

Usually, the child's relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles) provide guardianship or guardianship.

Therefore, as a rule, there are no problems with the return of the child to the family: he is already in the family.

If strangers to the child become guardians and trustees, then they usually do this with the goal of adopting a minor in six months - then there will be nothing to be afraid of.

The fact is that the law allows the adoption of a child whose parents were deprived of parental rights, not immediately, but only six months after the court decision was made to deprive the natural parents of parental rights. Most likely, this is how legislators tried to give unlucky parents a chance to have time to fix everything.

para. 6 art. 71 SK RF

This is an exciting time for guardians or trustees: blood relatives can really show up and try to pick up the child. This risk will persist until the child is 18 years of age unless the guardians or trustees in principle plan to adopt the child.

In addition to such forms of arrangement as guardianship, guardianship and adoption, there is also a foster family. Usually this is a large family, which can have up to eight children. Parents receive remuneration for their work and allowance for children.

/guide/big-family-bonuses/

What state awards can a large family receive

There are also risks from blood relatives, but adoptive parents have their own motives. Often they believe that this form of placement is in the interests of children, since upon reaching the age of majority, each child will receive housing from the state.

If the adoptive parents do not perform their duties well. In the family of adoptive parents, as in any other, trouble can happen. And the mother or father, who initially performed their parental duties well, will stop caring for children. In such a case, the adoption may be cancelled.

This is possible if the child's blood relatives, guardianship and guardianship authorities or the prosecutor prove that the adoptive parents:

Avoid fulfilling their duties, for example, do not provide housing, food, do not create safe conditions for life.
Abuse parental rights, for example, induce children to beg, vagrancy, prostitution.
A child is being abused.
Abuse alcohol or take drugs.

What if the biological parents of a child are unknown

Sometimes the birth mother or father is not known. This happens, for example, when a screaming newborn is found in a box on the street. Or when a woman who has just given birth runs away from the hospital without leaving any information about herself.

In such cases, the birth of a child is registered by the health or guardianship authorities. On their instructions, information about the child's last name, first name and patronymic is entered in the birth certificate record - that is, doctors or guardianship employees decide what to name the baby. In the birth certificate in the column "Parents" there will be a dash.

Art. 19.1 of the Law "On acts of civil status"

As a rule, children with a dash in the certificate are adopted very quickly. I came across candidates who flew over 5,000 kilometers in a matter of days, adopted a baby and immediately flew away with him. Even if the birth parents come to their senses and return after a short time, there will be no chance of returning the child: in such situations, adoptive parents often change the date and place of the child’s birth, so it will no longer be possible to find him.

But if adoptive parents choose another form of arrangement - guardianship, guardianship or foster family, then the risks will still remain.

Doctors of maternity hospitals fill out such an act every time when unknown mothers run away and leave newborn babies

Biological parents take a child from a foster family: as it happens

The procedure for transferring a child from an orphanage to a foster family is clearly standardized: collecting documents, issuing an order, transferring a minor adoptive parents. But the reverse process - when a child is removed from a foster family and returned to his own - is not regulated by law. This makes it difficult for both parties.

It is difficult for biological parents to prove to guardianship that they can raise a child. There are no clear requirements for what documents a mother or father must bring to the guardianship authorities, except for an application for the child to be returned to them. Usually, child care officers simply go to the place where the biological parent lives and assess whether the housing is suitable for the child. That's all.

For guardians, trustees and adoptive parents, this is also an incomprehensible situation. They are the official legal representatives of the child, responsible for him. And if the law is not on their side, then they want to at least understand:

where they return a daughter or son they have fallen in love with;
how safe the child will be there;
will it not turn out that today the child returns to his relatives, and tomorrow they will again become unnecessary.

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What rights do guardians have

Unfortunately, the procedure for transferring a child from one family to another is not regulated step by step in any document. The only clarification on this score is in the law on enforcement proceedings. It says that if bailiffs take a child from one family in order to transfer it to another, then a representative of the guardianship authority must be with them, and if necessary, a psychologist. But usually this does not play a special role, because the child has already become close to the adoptive parents and the separation will definitely be painful.

Foster families very rarely assist and help return the child to the birth parents. So, the case that happened in Samara five years ago, when foster parents helped a blood mother who returned from prison and took her daughter, is rather an exception to the rule.

Often this is a psychological trauma for foster parents and especially for children. In order to somehow level it, it is advisable to gradually prepare the child for the transition to the previous family. Perhaps, thanks to regular conversations and meetings with blood parents, he will endure these changes a little more calmly.

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How to take a child into custody

Tips for adoptive parents

If you want to protect yourself from any intersection with the child's blood relatives, then the only possible and safe option is to adopt him. If someday the biological parents try to return a child who has already been adopted, then they will not succeed.

Build a warm and trusting relationship with your adopted child. If someday blood relatives suddenly appear, and a child under ten years of age is under guardianship, guardianship or in a foster family, then the court may take into account the opinion of the minor about who and why he wants to stay. And if the child is already ten, his opinion will be decisive.