Many children qualify for an adoption subsidy. Adoption subsidy is based on the needs of the child and the level of subsidy assistance is negotiated prior to finalization of the adoption. You pay no fee to foster or adopt a child. Children come into the care of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services due to abuse or neglect. Therefore, families who foster or adopt children through the agencyshould have an understanding or be willing to learn the dynamics of neglect, physical and sexual abuse.
Many families are interested in both fostering and adopting.
They agree with the agency that the children's needs come first. In most cases, this means helping prepare children for reunification with their birth family, mentoring the birth parents, or working toward a relative or kinship placement. When termination of parental rights is in the child's best interest and adoption is their plan, then foster parents who have cared for the child will be given the opportunity to apply to adopt. Dual certification of parents to both foster and adopt speeds up the placement process, reduces the number of moves a child has to make and allows relationships to evolve with the initial placement process. Thirty-three percent of the adoptions of children in DHS foster care are by their foster families.