What avenues other than the foster care system are available to couples who want to adopt a school age child?

Around 5 years old. I know that adopting through foster care is one way. What are other possibilities? If you've done this yourself and have advice or experience to share it will be much appreciated. We live in NJ.What avenues other than the foster care system are available to couples who want to adopt a school age child?
What I want to ask you:





Why are you against adopting from foster care? Something must be bothering you if you state in your question ';other than the foster care system,'; but still want to adopt an older child...... What is it?











What avenues other than the foster care system are available to couples who want to adopt a school age child?
Just about any and all agencies adopt children of any age but I have to agree with what others have said about foster care. Please keep in mind that just because it's called a foster care adoption does not mean that you have to be a foster parent. You are just adopting children that are already in the foster care system and that have been legally cleared for adoption (their birth parents rights have been terminated for various reasons and they are permanent wards of the State awaiting adoption).





Before you rule it out, check into it more. It's free or very low cost and the children in the system are in need of homes. Friends of ours adopted a beautiful 6 year old girl a few months ago and it has been wonderful for them. Our youngest was also adopted through the foster care system and she is now just about 9 months old and doing wonderful. It was the best move we ever made.
In addition to foster care, it is possible to adopt school age children and sibling groups from overseas. We adopted two school age siblings (5 and 10 at the time of adoption) from Liberia. There are a lot of challenges when it comes to parenting an older child from another country and culture (though language was not a barrier, in our case). If you adopt an older child from a non-English speaking country, it's important to at least be vaguely familiar enough with the language.





My advice would be to do a LOT of research and soul searching if you are considering this route of adoption.





Best of luck.
well, i'll tell you the foster care way would be cheaper and you'd get to know the kid better before you make a decision. my mom adopted all her foster kids and half of them are big problems. if you can afford to, you can always put an ad in the paper, or just check out some adoption sites. even more rewarding but, way more expensive is oversee adoption
They have agency's in each state that does offer adoption of older children. most states still have what used to be called orphanages yet I can not remember what they call them now. I went to school with a guy who was adopted at age 16. Check with an attorney in your area they can be of more assistance to you then anyone on here.
you can show up at a hospital and offer to take in one of the dropped off kids.





pffffft.