We had court for Sprout this past week. It was her routine permanency hearing, which happens every 6 months. The issue of guardianship versus adoption came up in the midst of the court proceeding.
The attorney for the child brought up that we have been considering guardianship as opposed to adoption, and the judge nodded along and agreed that that was a good route. I had to interrupt the proceedings and state that we had consulted with an attorney who had informed us that it was not legally possible for us to pursue guardianship. I explained that there was a statute prohibiting us from filing a custody petition because we are foster parents. Then I explained that there is another statute that prevents us from being deemed kin because we met Sprout when she was placed with us as a foster child.
There was a bunch of murmuring and confusion. Then the county attorney chimed in that his understanding was the same as ours, and that it is not legally possible for us to pursue guardianship. I’m so glad someone else there was aware of the legal limitations!
It’s astonishing to me that this doesn’t come up more often such that everyone in the room would be aware of these legal limitations. I’ve read the statutes and they are absolutely clear and not confusing at all. It’s black and white.
I wish I could reform the system. If I ruled the world, it would be possible for foster parents to file a custody petition 1) after the child had been with them at least a year, 2) with the consent of the biological parents, and 3) with the consent of the attorney for the child. It seems to me like those are sufficient controls to prevent abuse in the form of foster parents filing custody petitions.
Alas. I do not run the world. I don’t even run my household. The spouse, kids, and cats do that! Ha!
If I ran the world I would also stop the revision of birth certificates at time of adoption, at least for kids who are coming out of foster care where the birth parents’ identities are already known by all involved. It should be that way for all kids honestly, if we start focusing on the rights and experiences of the adoptees instead of the adults. Which we should.
I know, once they’re 18 in New York they can apply for their original birth certificate if their parents have signed up for a registry that makes them findable. But for Sprout with her non-English speaking Mom who can’t navigate computers, how is she going to sign up for that registry? I’m so worried Sprout will lose her original birth certificate for good, even though ALL involved already know who her birth Mom and Dad are. It’s a bit absurd. Maybe Sprout will be one of those adoptees who doesn’t particularly care about her original birth certificate because she’ll already have a relationship with her Mom. But I can tell you that if I were an adoptee, I’d want that thing telling the truth in black and white in my possession.
Now that we are talking about my ruling the world, there would also be a ton more funding for foster care! We seriously need to pay caseworkers more and hire more caseworkers. If there were more money for caseworkers we could be more discriminating with regard to their quality. And if there were more caseworkers there would be less turnover and more experience among the working caseworkers. This seems like such simple math to me, but everyone here seems to want to cut the budget for foster care every succeeding year.
While I’m at it, foster families are paid a pittance – unless they are denying the child basic necessities they are not making money off of being foster parents. Foster parents should be paid enough to cover the basic expenses of raising a child.
Would that lead to more people being foster parents for the money? Maybe. This is where things get dicey and I need more data. I genuinely believe no one should be prohibited from being a foster parent because of the cost of raising the foster child. But I don’t want the system being abused more than it already is. I’m not sure what the solution is. If I ran the world, there would be some studies done about the quality of the foster care being provided to kids, correlated with the amount of money that is being paid to those foster homes. I haven’t been able to find any data on that. If there are any data out there, pop a link below in the comments! I’d love to know more.
sprinklesonachaoscupcake.com 