Adopt a child
from foster care

If you go through the Resource Family Approval (RFA) process with San Mateo County, you will not incur expenses for your home study or background clearances. You may have to pay for medical clearances through your provider, however these expenses can be reimbursed after the adoption is finalized.

This will depend on the individual case of the child you are adopting. The timeline is extended if the parent is engaged in efforts to reunify/ plan contested in court.

There are some children whose birth parents’ parental rights have been terminated and these children can be adopted more readily.

For children whose birth parents still retain parental rights, every effort has to be made to reunify a child with their birth parents before a child could be adopted. There is a need for the child to be placed in foster care in the interim while the social workers work with birth parents to engage them in reunification efforts. The social worker is also focused on identifying a permanent home for the child if reunification does not happen. As a Resource Family with San Mateo County, you can expect to be the foster caregiver of a child who may return to live with their parent or with a family member. You can also expect to be the foster caregiver of a child you may adopt.

As a Resource Family with San Mateo County, you will be able to adopt children in the San Mateo county foster care system or a child from another county’s foster care system.