Foster Care vs. Adoption in Iowa

Bringing a child into your life through foster care or adoption can be beautiful, but there are major differences between fostering and adopting.

Read on to learn more about foster care vs. adoption in Iowa or fill out our simple form if you are interested in adopting.

What is Foster Care vs. Adoption?

Both adoption and foster care involve adopting a child from their birth family. The main difference between foster care and adoption is that adoption is permanent and foster care is meant to be temporary. In foster care, reunifying children with their biological families is a priority, while in adoption, non-biological parents become permanent parents through a legal process.

Comparing Foster Care vs. Adoption in Iowa

Similarities

• You will need to complete a home study
• There will be wait times
• You will be a full-time parent at the end of it
• You will need to work with a professional

Differences

• The purpose of foster care is to eventually reunify the child with their biological parents, whereas with domestic adoption, the goal is to find an adoptive family who will raise them.
• Foster care placements are meant to be temporary, adoption placements are permanent.
• With adoption, you’ll be given an honest wait time estimate. With foster care, your wait times will be uncertain.
• When you work with a private adoption agency, you’ll have a professional by your side every step of the way to lend guidance and answer your questions. Adoption agencies can provide a variety of services to ensure you have everything you need for a successful adoption before, during and after the process is over.

What is Foster Care?

Foster care is a government program that is designed to provide temporary homes to children who do not have a safe and stable home environment. In the foster care system, families choose to become foster parents and parent children temporarily.

What is Adoption?

Adoption is the process of creating a legal relationship and establishing a family between two people who are not genetically related, usually parents adopting children. Adoption is permanent.

Private Adoption vs. Foster Care Adoption in Iowa

What is Foster Care Adoption?

While foster care prioritizes reunifying biological families, in some cases, biological families are unable to be unified with a safe environment for a child. When reunification is not possible, children can be adopted through the government-run foster care system.

What is Private Adoption?

Private adoption is adoption that takes place with a private adoption agency instead of a state run foster care program. This generally occurs because a pregnant woman or parent is unable to parent their child and seeks out adoption agency for assistance finding a family who wants to adopt. Fill out our online form to get help with private adoption.

Things to Know About Private Adoption vs. Foster Care Adoption

When comparing private adoption vs. foster care statistics for adoption, here are some common things that people want to know:

Adoptee Age

Private adoptions generally involve newborn babies, but in some cases children can be adopted through private adoption through around age 3-4. In foster care adoption, the average age of a child ready for adoption is 7, and adopting older children is the most common situation available.

Wait Times

There are children who are ready for adoption right now if you choose foster care adoption. When you choose private adoption, you are likely to wait longer.

If you only want to adopt a baby or toddler, you are likely to wait whether you choose foster care adoption or private adoption.

Cost

Foster care adoption is handled by government agencies, so the costs of adoption are subsidized by government funds. That means foster care adoption tends to have lower costs to adoptive families out of pocket. In some cases, families may also receive a government stipend to help offset the costs of raising a child adopted through foster care.

In private adoptions, adoptive families will often cover some of the expenses of the birth mother, as well as costs of emergency pregnancy support, legal and professional expenses, advertising expenses, administrative costs, etc. Since these costs are not covered by government funds, private adoptions usually cost adoptive families significantly more than foster care adoptions.

Possibility of Adoption Disruption

In private adoptions, a pregnant woman or new parent who chooses you as an adoptive family for their child can change their mind until the adoption is finalized, but not after. This means there is a possibility your adoption could be disrupted until finalization. But in private adoptions, a child’s birth parents are always making the voluntary choice of placing their child for adoption.

In foster care adoptions, biological parents do not choose adoption for their child voluntarily, and the foster care system prioritizes reuniting children with their biological family. That means that as long as biological parents have parental rights, there is a possibility that the child will return to their biological parents. And when biological parents are unable to parent, the foster care system prioritizes placing children with other biological family members first.

Some foster care adoptions can have more certainty if the child’s biological parents have had their parental rights terminated and there are no other biological relatives who are prepared to parent.

Biological Parent Involvement

In private adoption, parents who choose to place their baby for adoption are almost always making the choice out of an abundance of love, and most parents who choose adoption want to maintain a connection with their child after adoption. This doesn’t mean the biological parents will be co-parents. Instead, it means that you may keep up with letters and pictures, calls, video chats, emails, or sometimes in-person visits. This can help adoptive children develop and understand their adoption, and give them confidence that they were placed out of love.

In foster care adoption, biological family involvement can vary widely. Biological parents and family may be absent, in and out of the child’s life, or may be involved in their child’s life in small or large ways. This is highly dependent on the children and the dynamics of the child’s biological family.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do people foster rather than adopt?

People may be drawn to foster rather than adopt for many reasons including the long-term commitment of adopting, a desire to help children who are in high-need circumstances, the subsidized costs of fostering vs. adoption, and the ability to parent on a faster timeline.

Is foster the same as adopted?

Being in foster care is not the same as being adopted because fostering is intended as a temporary placement until a child can be reunited with biological family members.

Is foster care better for children than an orphanage?

In the United States orphanages are no longer used, but when orphanages did exist in the United States, there were many problems associated with them.

Can newborns be fostered?

Newborns can be fostered, however, babies and toddlers are not often adoptable from the foster care system.

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