Matched Adoption: What it is & What it is not

Matched adoption is something that is not clearly defined in the Texas child welfare system. Matched adoption should be a process that places a child(ren) into a home with the sole purpose of adoption. What matched adoption is not is foster-to-adopt! Foster-to-adopt is where a child is placed in a home as a foster placement usually with the intention of the child returning home to the biological family. This means the objective is for that child to be loved and cared for very intentionally as a temporary placement. If the child(ren) is unable to return home to the biological family and no safe relatives or other known and safe adults are found, then the child would be available for adoption. That is a year to two year process depending on the details of the case. When you have an agency telling a family, "Here is a baby that you can take as a foster placement, and you will most likely be able to adopt him!", you can see where hearts are broken, and confusion ensues on what everyone's role is in the case! This is what happens way too often with foster-to-adopt homes in the Texas child welfare system. 

Matched adoption is designed for permanency! It is a process that places children in the Texas child welfare system who are legally free for adoption (they have no chance of being returned to their biological family) into approved adoptive homes without any fostering. A true matched adoption program will not use fostering standards, but will have created an adoption program based on the adoption minimum standards and the adoption contract of DFPS or one of the SSCCs (if you can find an SSCC with an adopt-only contract) - not the rules and policies of fostering! Because the children have to be legally free to be placed in a matched adoption, most of the children are going to be older (at least for us as a non-fostering agency). We require families to be open to children who are 6-10 years of age or above. There are also large sibling groups (3 or more children) that are available and often have younger children as part of them. The decision of which family the child will be placed with is made by the child's team of case manager's, therapists, CASA, attorney ad-litem, and any other adults the team decides can give valuable input into the decision. The decision is not made by Addy's Hope - we simply represent our family and why we feel they would be a potential match.

We at Addy's Hope recruit, train and support our families with the goal of permanency in mind! Families know from the beginning that we expect them to make a life-long commitment to the child that we place in their home. We have designed our They Wait program as a model that will bring the best possible match between child and family. What sets us apart from many organizations is our dedication to relationship through the process. We are committed to getting to know our families so that when the time comes to match our families with a child, we can do the best job possible at knowing the family's strengths and weaknesses to know if the family would be able to provide all that a child  needs to be successful for a lifetime! Our case managers are assigned to our families from the beginning of the application process and are with them until the very end. We do not contract out any of our services. Our case manager will complete the application process, they will complete the training, and they will complete the home study approval process. Through all of these interactions, they are getting to know the family which allows them to make the best match possible between child and family! 

Another key benefit of our process is that families get to know their case manager! This bond is crucial for successful placements. Children in our They Wait program come from backgrounds of abuse or neglect, which can lead to challenging behaviors. Having a strong relationship with their case manager provides families with essential support, ensuring they have someone to turn to during difficult times.  

At Addy’s Hope, we are committed to helping families maintain placements so children can remain in their adoptive homes. Unlike foster-to-adopt placements, which allow families to discharge a child with just 30 days' notice--creating instability--matched adoptions provide permanency. Many older children and sibling groups face challenges that make them vulnerable to repeated disruptions, often leaving them to "bounce" through the system until they age out.  Matched adoption is different. It means a family says, "You are mine as if I gave birth to you, and I will stand by you even on the hardest days." It’s like marriage—if we approach it with an easy way out, it’s more likely to fail. But if we commit to making it work, it has a much greater chance of lasting.  We want our children to experience the security of a matched adoption, not the uncertainty of a 30-day notice. 

There are critics of matched adoption in the Texas child welfare system. They say that matched adoptions fail. My first response to that is, yes. They do sometimes. So do biological families. In fact, we would not have adoption to begin with if biological families did not fail children. So do we stop trying to place children back with biological families because they failed? Of course not! In fact, we place children with the same biological family multiple times before we will terminate their legal rights giving the children a chance at stability! Why then do we apply the logic of some matched adoptive families not doing what we hoped they would do to an entire process?

At Addy's Hope, we have placed nearly 300 children from the Texas foster care system into permanent homes. Last year, 60% of the children we placed were 11 years or older, and 50% were part of sibling groups of three or more who remained together. Recently, I received a report from a private company involved in Texas' foster care redesign, stating that placements keeping siblings together in their area have dropped by 10.9%. This highlights why matched adoption must be a key solution for the Texas child welfare system. Over the past 13 years, we have proven that matched adoption provides stability and permanent families for older children and large sibling groups.  

Texas has incredible Heart Galleries showcasing children who have been waiting years for a family. However, these galleries are only effective if families are willing to adopt older children and if agencies are committed to supporting those families. Addy’s Hope is proud to be one of those agencies. We specialize in placing older children and sibling groups, and the demand is clear—we have a waitlist in North Texas and receive calls from families across the state looking for a program like ours.  

Our hope is that more agencies recognize the urgent need for matched adoption programs. Together, we can work toward the day when no child is left waiting in the system.