WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - All the children featured in the Carolina kids reports are in foster care hoping to some day be adopted. The agency WECT works with is the Children's Home Society of North Carolina.
"We are looking for families who are interested in school age children, typically the average age is ten years of age, and they've been in the foster care system," said Jennifer Cobb, CHS Family Social Worker.
If you are interested in fostering or adoption a child the first step is filling out an application then a social worker will set up a meeting with you.
"A first interview is a meeting in the applicant's home and it usually takes about an hour. And we usually them a series of questions about what their life is like, we take a look at the home just to see how many children they could parent, what they have room for and then the next step would be we invite them to our adoptive and foster parent classes," said Jennifer Cobb, CHS Family Social Worker.
The classes help you understand what life is like for a child in foster care. Once you complete the classes you are also licensed to foster or adopt then your case worker will go over which children are up for adoption and you will have a chance to meet with a child face to face.
"There is a period of pre-placement visits. The family will usually choose to meet first at a park or a restaurant and from there if everybody is still on board with the placement then they have visits in the family's home until such a time the child is placed with the family," said Jennifer Cobb, CHS Family Social Worker.
There is no fee for adopting, there are some costs up front that you can get back.
"We do not have a charge for our adoption program, a family is going to have to pay for their criminal background check or their physical things like that but there is no fee for our program and there is something called nonrecurring expenses and a family can gain up to two thousand dollars that they spend on the adoption after it is finalized," said Jennifer Cobb, CHS Family Social Worker.
There is also monetary help from the state if you foster or adopt.
"Most children receive a monthly stipend until the adoption is finalized and after that most children receive a monthly stipend for adoption assistance and they also receive Medicaid until they are 18," said Jennifer Cobb, CHS Family Social Worker.
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