Legal Risk Adoptions

Legal Risk Adoptions: This term refers to an adoption program that is only available in some states, where prospective adoptive parents are allowed to become foster parents to children before they become legally available for adoption. If the parental rights of the biological parents of these foster children are able to be terminated, then the foster parents are allowed to adopt the children. If the parental rights of the biological parents of the child are not terminated, then the foster parents are not allowed to adopt the child. This is the "legal risk" that the foster parents know about in advance, and which they are willing to assume in exchange for the possibility that they may ultimately be able to adopt the child. In some cases, a termination of parental rights will be intentionally delayed until a specific adoptive family has been identified that can meet the specialized needs of the child.

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The definition of this term has been taken from the "Adoption Glossary," which contains definitions of a wide variety of words that relate to adoption and infertility. The entire Adoption Glossary is located at http://glossary.adoption.com.

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