How do children in foster care become available for adoption?
When a family in crisis cannot care for their children, those children are then put into the foster care system. When a child enters foster care in California, creating a safe, permanent home (“permanency”) for the child is the ultimate goal. This is usually achieved one of two ways: providing services to the birth family so the child can eventually return home, or by finding an alternative permanent family, either through placement with extended family or through adoption. Often, working towards birth family reunification and identifying other options for permanency are worked on at the same time. When it comes to children entering foster care, roughly one-third return to their birth families, one-third are placed with extended family, and one-third go to an adoptive family.
When a child enters foster care in California, ensuring that the child has a stable, safe, permanent home as early as possible becomes the fundamental goal. This is usually achieved one of two ways: providing services to the birth family so the child can return to an adequate home or finding an alternative permanent family, usually through adoption. Working on both of these options for permanency at the same time is the goal.
