Foster Care and Adoption: What's the Difference?

To many people the terms foster care and adoption are synonymous. They are not the same. Foster care is intended to be a temporary placement for children who are unable to live with their birth parents. Many children in foster care will be reunited with their birth parents once the birth parents complete a case plan. The parent's case plan may include finding housing, securing employment, completing drug and alcohol treatment and/or taking parenting classes. While these children are in foster care the public child welfare agency holds temporary custody. Medical care, permission to travel, approval of educational plans and most parental responsibilities are held by the public child welfare agency. The agency works closely with the children and parents to achieve reunification.
Some families cannot be reunified. The public agency takes legal action to obtain permanent custody of these children and if the court agrees, the birth parents rights are permanently severed. These children become available for adoption. The children may still be living in foster care, but adoption now becomes the goal. When an adoptive family is identified, the child is placed with them. After a period of time (usually six months or longer), the adoptive family petitions the court to adopt the child. If the public agency which holds custody of the child consents the hearing is scheduled. This hearing is called an adoption finalization hearing, or sometimes an adoption legalization. Once a child is adopted, the adoptive parent becomes the legal custodian. The child is no longer in the custody of the public child welfare agency. For all legal purposes, it is as if the child who was adopted was born to the adoptive parents.
In the United States, there are 114,000 in foster care with the plan of adoption. These children are waiting for an adoptive family to come forward and make a lifelong commitment to them.