WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION?
A. Foster care provides a safe, temporary home for children who are unable to remain in their own homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. Foster families are the bridge for the relationship between children and their birth or extended family until they’re reunited or become legally available for adoption. They also serve as members of a professional team in planning for the child’s future. Adoption provide children with a permanent family. Both foster families and adoptive families protect and nurture children in their care, meeting their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter as well as their emotional and developmental needs.
Foster care is the temporary placement of a child with a foster family. Children may be in a foster home for one day or until they reach 18 years of age. Adoption is the permanent placement of a child with a family after the biological parents’ rights have been severed. The adoptive parents assume all the rights and responsibilities of a biological parent.
