The Option Of Adoption

“Children become available for adoption when the court terminates the parents’ rights. This occurs when children cannot safely be reunified with their parents,” explains Pulcini-Mason. “After parental rights are terminated, other family members or adults who know the children commonly adopt the child(ren); however, sometimes this is not the case.”

The children most in need of adoptive families are those without family available to adopt them. These children tend to be part of a sibling unit, have medical issues, have therapeutic needs, are over the age of 12 and/or have been in foster care longer than two years.

“When a family adopts, they become the legal, permanent parents of the child(ren),” Pulcini-Mason notes. “At this point in time, 206 children served by Kids Central are assigned to adoption units. Many of them have family members or other caregivers interested in proceeding with adoption and are in the process.”

If relatives are unable to adopt the child(ren) for any reason, the case manager may turn to the foster parents and discuss the possibility of adoption.

That’s exactly what happened with Todd and Lisa Panzer of Ocala, who adopted one of their foster children and are currently in the process of adopting a second. With two biological children, ages 16 and 20, and another 1-year-old boy they are currently fostering, this family of five has been fostering since 2011.

During the past six years, the Panzers have fostered 24 children, including several sibling sets of three.

A social worker by trade, Lisa has always had a heart for children and a strong desire to help them.

“I had great parents, and I grew up knowing that I had a great life. I’ve always wanted to make a di erence for children

The Panzers have found that the most challenging and rewarding aspects of fostering are closely linked: the attachments they form with the children and the pain when they leave. That said, they are grateful for being part of the process of helping the children through such a di cult time and are happy about the positive outcomes when children return to their biological families.

Lisa notes that in some instances the biological family is involved during the foster process, but other times there is no contact.

“We’ve had foster kids who talk to their parents on the phone every night or see them weekly,” she says, “and others who haven’t seen them at all.”

Want To Foster Or Adopt?

The process to become a foster or adoptive parent includes attending mandatory training classes (both online and in-person), home visits, inspections and paperwork. Background checks are conducted; applicants cannot have any active criminal cases or be on probation. References are also required. The average time to become licensed is two to three months, but it can take up to six months.

Candidates must meet the following requirements:

• Be a Florida resident age 21 or older

• U.S. citizen or permanent resident

• Married or single

• Be financially stable

• Be able to care for children

• Can have other children or not

• Pass extensive criminal background checks

• Have adequate room and beds in their home for children who weren’t as blessed as I was growing up,” she says.

“I always wanted to foster, and it was an agreement my husband and I made prior to even getting married,” adds Lisa. “We waited until our biological children were older before we started fostering because we did not want to expose them to any issues that bringing other kids into the house might raise.”

Lisa says that although they didn’t go into fostering with the idea of adopting, when their second foster child arrived in their home, the courts were already in the process of terminating parental rights, and no other family was available to take him.

“When the opportunity presents itself and you get a baby, you fall in love very quickly,” she smiles.

Seeing the enormous need for more foster families, the Panzers hope others will open their hearts and homes.

“It’s certainly not something you can go into blindly. It’s really a calling; you need to have the time, energy and room, but there are so many children who really need a stable home,” says Lisa. “I truly believe that no matter how long a child is in your life, you’re sowing a seed and at some time that seed, will grow. You’re able to touch their life, whether it’s for minutes, days, weeks or years. You have to know that what you’re doing does a make di erence.”