Adopting a child can sometimes come with added layers of challenge, the sum of which may take you and your family in a direction no parent could ever truly anticipate. It can feel like your world is being turned upside down.
There may be times when children with significant needs are best served in an out-of-home care setting. This can be true of children in birth, foster, relative, and adoptive families. Such a placement is an opportunity for your child to receive treatment that is more intensive. It does not mean that your child will not return to your home. In fact, the expectation or plan will be that your child will return home. While your child is in an out-of-home care setting, your active participation is needed—if for no other reason than to assure your child that he or she is not “bad,” but rather to reinforce the message that they have some needs that go beyond what you alone can help with right now.
This tip sheet includes information to consider when you are given the recommendation that your child needs to leave your care for an out-of-home placement for a time.
