24/7 CRISIS SUPPORT:
Pregnancy ONLY
Hotline: 1-888-731-6601
PWNL After Hours Crisis Hotline: 1-888-955-3339
24/7 CRISIS SUPPORT:
Pregnancy ONLY
Hotline: 1-888-731-6601
PWNL After Hours Crisis Hotline: 1-888-955-3339
We’ve created a number of videos to answer questions about Project Wait No Longer-Older Child Adoption from Foster Care.
The Barker Adoption Foundation’s Project Wait No Longer-Older Child Adoption from Foster Care (PWNL) program seeks to find families for children whose circumstances resulted in their being placed into public foster care. Most of these children are 10−17 years old, have some degree of special needs, are of various ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds, and may be part of a sibling group.
PWNL is seeking married couples and single individuals who have an unconditional commitment to providing permanent and loving families for older youth. Barker welcomes adoption applications from couples and individuals over the age of 25, all religious and ethnic backgrounds, and all sexual orientations and gender expressions. However, families should be aware that each of the 50 states has specific adoption legislation and has its own legal restrictions on adoption. Barker and our clients must abide by the adoption laws in the state where the family resides and the state from which they are adopting. Barker welcomes all inquiries.
The adoption process includes the following chronological steps:
Since 1945, Barker has been serving children and families in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., making it one of the oldest private adoption agencies in the nation. Barker upholds a philosophy of excellence in ethical adoption and continual care throughout the adoption process. We have a strong history of pre-adoption education and preparation for prospective parents and lifetime post-placement support services. Dedicated adoption professionals are here for you and always respond in a timely fashion to your questions and requests. The hallmark of our program is our partnership with public child welfare departments, a dedicated search for waiting children, and a collaborative approach with our waiting families with the shared goal of meeting the needs of older children.
The Pre-Adoption Training is a thorough virtual training program designed to prepare parents for adopting older children through the foster care system. Families are required to complete a minimum of 24 hours of training over the course of 4 sessions which are available in multiple cohorts throughout the year. Click for more information about the goals and details of training or call our offices to speak with an adoption specialist today.
Deciding to adopt an older child is a process that requires patience. The training is specifically designed to educate prospective adoptive parents and address the joys and challenges specific to older child adoption. While many who attend the training make the decision to proceed, there is no pressure to move forward with the program. We generally recommend doing the training before applying to the program to make sure PWNL is a good fit for your family; however, families are welcome to apply before, during, or after the training.
Families who have taken the Pre-Adoption training within the past three years should contact PWNL to discuss a potential adjustment to the training requirement. This decision is at the discretion of the program director. If the Pre-Adoption training was taken more than three years ago, families are required to complete the training in its entirety again.
A home study is required of all prospective adoptive parents. It consists of a series of interviews with a trained Barker social worker, who will assist you in making well-informed decisions related to parenting older children. During your home study, your social worker will evaluate your readiness for older child adoption. The home study generally takes six to eight weeks after the paperwork is submitted. Click to read more information about the home study process.
At this time, PWNL does not accept home studies from other agencies. The social worker who completes your home study is the same social worker who will provide your post-placement support. In our experience, it is extremely valuable to have a relationship with your social worker before navigating the often challenging waters of post-placement. For this reason, every family adopting from PWNL is required to have a home study completed by Barker. For special considerations concerning this, please contact our program directly at: info@barkeradoptionfoundation.org
The fees associated with PWNL are offered on a sliding scale ranging from $5,900 to $9,900, depending on your household income. Because PWNL contracts with public agencies, much of your cost for the program can often be reimbursed by the state. However, families must be prepared to pay the fees associated with the program. Many of the children we place are eligible for a monthly adoption subsidy, which will be paid to their parents until the child turns 18. Health insurance is often available until the child is 18. The current fee structure may be found here.
Barker allows a dual wait in our Domestic Adoption Program through our Dual Waiting Program for families who are open to an extensive range of age and need considerations. Prospective applicants often research their options extensively before the home study and there is no concurrent path for domestic and international programs simultaneously. Once an adoption is completed, parents sometimes desire to use another Barker program as they build their family. The various adoption programs have different processes, challenges, and rewards and are best addressed one at a time unless otherwise permitted.
PWNL focuses on placing the most vulnerable children from the foster care system. Younger children are often safely reunified with their birth family, adopted by their foster family, or are presenting with a higher level of specialized needs. Although PWNL places children younger than age 5, most of these children are a part of larger sibling groups (three or more) or have a higher level of specialized needs. We require that any family choosing to work with PWNL be open to children with a minimum age of 12, even if they are open to considering younger children as well. Families seeking to be considered for younger children can also explore our Dual Waiting Program.
Children placed through PWNL generally have faced one or more of the following types of issues:
Taking the required Pre-Adoption training can help families better understand these specialized needs and identify which challenges they are prepared to parent.
Take our free ‘Parenting Children with Specialized Needs Training’ today!
Barker strongly supports the spirit of openness for all families. However, considering the circumstances that resulted in most children being placed into foster care, many children adopted from the foster care system do not have a direct relationship with their birth parents. The children may ask for continued contact with important connections in their lives including siblings or extended family members, previous foster families, and friends. It should be noted that in few cases, children do have contact with their birth parents.