Your "Foster parents always have the option to adopt" statement is absolutely not true.
Of the ~408,000 children in foster care in the United States,
only an estimated 107,000 are eligible for adoption[1].
At the same time, there are also about 600,000[2] women in the United States who are actively seeking to adopt.
Of course, the vast majority of those parents looking to adopt are looking for a newborn or infant, and only 6% of the children in the foster care system are under 1-year old[3].
The foster system is designed to get children back to their birth families, not adopted out. If it becomes clear that's not an option, then the system works to get the child adopted by a close relative.
Only after it becomes clear those two options aren't, in fact, options, does an unrelated foster-parent have the potential option to adopt. Even then, it's a challenging process fraught with bureaucracy and serious difficulties for the potential adoptive parents.
I'm not railing against the system, I'm just addressing your specific comment. We have several close friends and family members who have have tried, and failed to adopt a child through the foster care system in the United States.
Of the ~408,000 children in foster care in the United States, only an estimated 107,000 are eligible for adoption[1].
At the same time, there are also about 600,000[2] women in the United States who are actively seeking to adopt.
Of course, the vast majority of those parents looking to adopt are looking for a newborn or infant, and only 6% of the children in the foster care system are under 1-year old[3].
The foster system is designed to get children back to their birth families, not adopted out. If it becomes clear that's not an option, then the system works to get the child adopted by a close relative.
Only after it becomes clear those two options aren't, in fact, options, does an unrelated foster-parent have the potential option to adopt. Even then, it's a challenging process fraught with bureaucracy and serious difficulties for the potential adoptive parents.
I'm not railing against the system, I'm just addressing your specific comment. We have several close friends and family members who have have tried, and failed to adopt a child through the foster care system in the United States.
[1] https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/f_fospar.pdf
[2] https://adoption.com/the-challenges-of-adopting-a-foster-chi...
[3] http://childrensactionnetwork.org/resources.html