What is the difference between a foster parent and an adoptive parent?
An adoptive family has the same parental rights and obligations as a birth family does when the child is born to them. A foster family must defer many decisions about a child’s welfare to a county social worker. Although a child may remain in a foster home for years as a foster child, the state can (and has) removed foster children for a variety of reasons. An adopted child, however, can only be removed for the same reasons as a birth child.
