From Foster Parent to Adoptive Parent in Indiana: A Complete Guide

By: Grant Kirsh

You did not become a foster parent to stay a stranger. Somewhere along the way, between the school drop-offs and the court dates and the nights spent comforting a child who had every reason not to trust you, this stopped being a placement and started being your family. Now you want to make it permanent.

My name is Grant Kirsh. I am a second-generation adoption attorney and the owner and managing partner of Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. in Indianapolis, and I have personally handled nearly 3,000 foster care adoptions across Indiana. Our family firm has served Indiana families for nearly 50 years, with over 110 years of combined legal experience, in courts across Marion, Lake, Allen, Hamilton, Tippecanoe, St. Joseph, Hendricks, Elkhart, Johnson, Delaware, Vanderburgh, Porter, Madison, Vigo, and Monroe Counties and beyond. This guide walks you through the journey from foster parent to adoptive parent, start to finish.

Stage One: The CHINS Case and the Case Plan

Your foster child’s case lives inside a CHINS proceeding, which stands for Child in Need of Services. During this stage, the Indiana Department of Child Services works with the biological parents on a case plan aimed at reunification. As the foster parent, your job in this stage is to love the child, keep showing up, and stay engaged with the case. Reunification is the goal until the court says otherwise, and supporting the process, even when it is hard, builds your credibility with everyone involved.

Stage Two: The Permanency Plan Changes

The road to adoption formally begins when the child’s permanency plan changes to adoption, or when a concurrent plan of reunification and adoption is established. This happens when the biological parents have not completed the case plan or the underlying problems remain unresolved. If you are unsure where the plan stands, ask the family case manager directly. You are entitled to know.

Stage Three: Termination of Parental Rights

Before any adoption, the biological parents’ rights must be terminated. Under Indiana Code 31-35-2-4, a TPR petition can be filed by the attorney for DCS, the CASA, the GAL, or a placement that has intervened in the CHINS case, though in practice DCS almost always files. Foster parents do not typically intervene in CHINS or TPR cases, and you do not need to. TPR is involuntary in most cases and is decided at a formal court hearing.

Here is the single most important reassurance I can give you: a contested TPR does not mean a contested adoption. Biological parents often fight the TPR because it is their last proceeding, sometimes pushed by family to “fight for their children” even when they never engaged with the case plan. Once rights are terminated, those parents no longer have standing, and they are not allowed to contest your adoption. Do not let a contested TPR scare you away from your child, or make you think that you will have to go through a contested adoption.

Stage Four: DCS Consent and Filing the Petition

DCS typically requires the child to have been placed in your home for at least 6 months before it consents to the adoption. That is a DCS policy, not a law. Under Indiana Code 31-19-2-2, your adoption petition must be filed by an attorney of record, which is where we come in. Let me say that again: you must work with an attorney when adopting. You cannot, nor should you, represent yourself in an adoption.

File as early as you properly can. Here is why timing matters so much: pursuant to Indiana Code 31-34-23-6(g), if you have had placement of the child for more than 12 months and an adoption petition on file, the child cannot be moved, for example to a late-appearing relative, until your petition for adoption under Indiana Code 31-19-2 is heard first. That protection has saved families. We cover it in depth in our post on when foster parents should hire an adoption attorney.

Stage Five: Negotiate the Adoption Subsidy Before You Finalize

Most every child adopted from Indiana foster care automatically qualifies for adoption subsidies. The three subsidies are: a recurring daily subsidy equal to the foster care per diem, from as little as $20 per day to over $100 per day for children with extreme special needs, paid through age 18; Medicaid for the child through age 18; and a non-recurring adoption expense of $2,000 toward your attorney fees. The recurring subsidy and Medicaid can extend to age 21 in certain situations, and most children also qualify for federal Title IV-E assistance that follows the child even if you move out of state.

Two things families miss. First, you do not need to be a licensed foster parent to receive subsidies. Second, for therapeutic plus children, DCS will not simply hand over the increased per diem. You need an experienced attorney who knows how to secure it. Subsidy agreements must be signed before finalization of your adoption. If you finalize your adoption prior to having a fully executed adoption subsidy agreement, signed by all parties, then you waive all adoption subsidies. This cannot be reversed.

Stage Six: Finalization Day

The finalization hearing is short, joyful, and permanent. A judge reviews everything, signs the decree, and your foster child becomes your son or daughter forever. At our firm, finalization days are sacred. I bring “ADOPTION DAY!” balloons for all the children in attendance, and my most trusted and furry co-worker and licensed therapy dog, Basil, comes along to bring joy and smiles to everyone in the courtroom. After nearly 3,000 of these days, they still get me every time.

Explore the Rest of This Guide

This pillar connects to focused posts on when to hire an adoption attorney, how to write foster parent court reports that get heard, how to secure the right adoption subsidy, and what support exists after finalization.

Call us at 317-575-5555. Visit us at DCSAdoptions.com.

About the Author
Grant Kirsh is a second-generation adoption attorney and owner of Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., a family law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana that has been serving Indiana families since 1981. Grant graduated from Indiana University McKinney School of Law in 2013 and has personally handled nearly 3,000 foster care adoptions and his law firm has handled over 5,000 private newborn adoptions. He practices all forms of domestic adoption, with a deep personal commitment to expectant mothers considering adoption in Indiana and Indiana’s foster care system and the families and children it serves.