What does “adoption” mean to older children in foster care?
Technically, it is the legal transfer of parental rights from one set of parents to another. Those who have been adopted however tell us it is much more. Adopting an older child with special needs is not merely transferring the rights and responsibilities from one set of parents to another. It is, in fact, the creation of a “new kinship” network that forever links those two families together through the child who is shared by both. What does “special needs” mean? The state defines “special needs” as those children who have, or who are at high risk of having, physical, emotional, educational, metal and/or behavioral disabilities. Those needs can make it hard for them to be adopted. It also refers to children who are siblings who need to be placed together in the same adoptive home. Who are “waiting kids” and where are they living now? The children we place for adoption have been legally separated from their birth families and are under state guardianship. They are currently living in co
