How to Foster to Adopt in San Diego: Steps, Costs, and Benefits

To foster to adopt in San Diego, you apply through the County’s Child and Family Well-Being department using California’s Resource Family Approval (RFA) process, a single application that qualifies you for both foster care and adoption.¹ You complete forms, background checks, training, and a home assessment; you accept a placement; the county supervises for a period; then you finalize the adoption in San Diego Superior Court. Out-of-pocket costs typically run $100 to $300.² Expect the full timeline from first application to finalized adoption to run well over a year.

Roughly 1,500 children in San Diego County are in out-of-home care at any given time, many of whom need permanent families.³

Who Can Apply

Under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 16519.5, a resource family is any individual or household that passes a home environment assessment and a permanency assessment, meaning the state considers you qualified to provide temporary foster care and, when appropriate, a permanent home through adoption or guardianship.¹

You must be at least 18 and show your household is financially stable enough to meet its own needs without depending on foster care payments. There is no minimum income, and applicants who will rely partly on the monthly stipend to cover the added costs of a child cannot be denied for that reason alone.¹ Single adults, married couples, domestic partners, and unmarried couples can all apply. No more than six children total may live in the home unless documented exceptional circumstances exist, such as keeping a sibling group together.

The statute also looks for an understanding of how abuse and neglect affect children, a willingness to work with the county and follow the child’s case plan, and the ability to support a child regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.¹

The Application and Required Forms

The main form is the Resource Family Application (RFA 01A). It collects your personal history, past addresses, household composition, and family background. Every adult living in the home must also complete a Criminal Record Statement (RFA 01B), with full disclosure of any arrests, convictions, or pending charges.⁴ Both forms are available on the California Department of Social Services website and are typically handed out at the county’s initial orientation session.

You will also need a health screening report signed by a licensed medical professional confirming you are physically able to care for a child, usually from a routine physical. Bring proof of income or employment to help demonstrate financial stability. Gather these documents before you submit anything. Missing paperwork is the most common reason applications stall.

Background Checks

Every applicant and every adult in the household submits fingerprints through California’s LiveScan system for both state and federal criminal records searches.¹ Results are screened against categories of offenses that determine whether you can be approved, need an exemption, or are permanently barred.

Certain felony convictions can never be exempted and disqualify you outright: felony child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, crimes against children (including child pornography), sexual assault, rape, homicide, and other violent felonies. A felony conviction within the past five years for physical assault, battery, or a drug- or alcohol-related offense is also non-exemptible during that window.

Less serious offenses go through a tiered exemption process rather than an automatic denial. A criminal history triggers a review in which the county weighs the nature of the offense, how long ago it happened, and evidence of rehabilitation.

Training and the Home Assessment

After you submit your application, San Diego County requires attendance at orientation and completion of pre-approval training. California’s standard pre-service curriculum, often called Trauma Informed Pre-Service (TIPS), covers how abuse and neglect affect child development, trauma-informed caregiving, working within the child welfare system, and the legal rights of children in foster care. Training typically runs around 12 hours for initial approval, though the county may require more depending on the type of placement you are seeking.⁵ If you complete TIPS but then delay your application, the training expires after 12 months and you have to retake it.

A social worker visits your home multiple times to interview everyone in the household, evaluate your motivations and parenting approach, and inspect the physical space. Inspectors look for functional smoke detectors, medications and cleaning supplies stored out of children’s reach, adequate sleeping arrangements, and a generally safe environment. The social worker also assesses your household’s capacity to handle the grief, behavioral challenges, and uncertainty that come with fostering a child who has experienced trauma.

From initial application to final approval, plan on roughly four to six months, longer if background checks or scheduling drag. Once approved, you receive formal Resource Family status, and the county can begin matching you with a child.

What It Costs

Out-of-pocket costs are the big difference between foster-to-adopt through the county and private adoption. The California Department of Social Services estimates that fingerprinting, a medical exam, court filing fees, and other incidentals usually total no more than $100 to $300.² There is no home study fee when you go through the county; the social worker visits are part of the RFA process the county provides at no charge. Private adoption home studies, by comparison, nationally run $900 to $3,500 or more.

The biggest single expense most applicants hit is LiveScan fingerprinting, typically $20 to $80 per person depending on the provider. The medical screening may cost more if your insurance doesn’t cover a basic physical. Budget for those, but understand the financial barrier to foster-to-adopt is intentionally low.

Payments and Benefits After Placement

Resource families receive a monthly foster care maintenance payment while a child is placed in their home. California sets rates based on the child’s age and level of care, with higher payments for children who need specialized or intensive services. Rates are published through All County Letters, so ask your social worker for the current figure at the time of placement.

After the adoption is finalized, families who adopted a child with special needs may qualify for the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP). The monthly payment is negotiated between you and the county based on the child’s care and supervision needs and cannot exceed the rate the child would have received in foster care.⁶ “Special needs” here does not necessarily mean a medical diagnosis. It can include factors like age, membership in a sibling group, or ethnic background that make a placement harder to find. Children adopted from foster care also generally continue to receive Medi-Cal health coverage.

Federal Adoption Tax Credit

For tax year 2026, families who adopt can claim a federal tax credit of up to $17,670 per child for qualified adoption expenses. The credit begins to phase out at a modified adjusted gross income above $265,080 and disappears entirely at $305,080. For adoptions of children with special needs, which includes most foster care adoptions, you can claim the full $17,670 even if your actual expenses were lower. Starting in 2025, a portion of the credit (up to $5,120 for 2026) is refundable, so you can receive that amount even if your tax liability is zero.⁷ File for it the year the adoption is finalized.

Time Off Work When a Child Is Placed

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave when a child is placed with them for foster care or adoption. You qualify if you have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours in the past year, and work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Your employer must maintain your group health benefits during the leave and restore you to the same or a virtually identical position when you return.⁸ The leave must be taken within the first 12 months after placement.

California’s Family Rights Act (CFRA) provides a parallel 12 weeks of job-protected leave but applies to employers with just five or more employees, covering far more workplaces.⁹ CFRA leave runs concurrently with FMLA when both apply, so you don’t get 24 weeks total. If your employer is too small for FMLA, CFRA may still protect you. Neither law requires paid leave, though California’s Paid Family Leave program (through State Disability Insurance) pays a portion of your wages for up to eight weeks.

Finalizing the Adoption

Before you can file an adoption petition, the county must supervise the placement for a period that starts at six months but can be shortened. California regulations credit each full month the child lived with you in foster care before the adoptive placement agreement was signed, reducing the supervision period by one month for each of those months.¹⁰ Many foster-to-adopt families have cared for the child for months or years before parental rights are terminated, so the formal post-placement supervision window can be quite short.

Once supervision is satisfied, you file an Adoption Petition in San Diego Superior Court. Under California Family Code Section 8714, the petition can be filed in the county where you live or in the county where the child was freed for adoption. The petition lists your names as petitioners but not the child’s name; the pre-adoption name appears only in a joinder signed by the county adoption agency. If you entered into a post-adoption contact agreement with a birth parent, that agreement must be attached.¹¹ Only the prospective adoptive parents with whom the agency placed the child may file; you cannot petition to adopt a child the agency placed with someone else.¹²

At the final hearing, the judge reviews the social worker’s reports and the family’s history with the child. The proceeding is typically brief and celebratory. The judge signs an adoption decree that gives you the same legal standing as a biological parent and ends the county’s jurisdiction over the child. California then issues a new birth certificate reflecting the child’s adopted name and your names as parents.

Two Things That Can Change the Picture

If the child placed with you is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe or is eligible for membership, the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) adds requirements. ICWA sets an order of preference for adoptive placements of Indian children: first a member of the child’s extended family, then other members of the child’s tribe, then other Indian families. A tribe can also establish its own order of preference by resolution, which the court or agency must follow. The preferences can only be set aside for “good cause.”¹³ If you are not a member of the child’s tribe or an Indian family, ICWA does not automatically prevent the adoption, but it does mean additional procedural steps, tribal involvement, and potentially a higher evidentiary standard before parental rights are terminated. Your social worker should flag ICWA applicability early.

You may also be asked to sign a post-adoption contact agreement with a birth parent before finalization. Under Family Code Section 8616.5, these agreements can cover visits, future contact, and sharing information about the child over time. They are enforceable in the court that granted the adoption, but only after mediation is attempted and only if enforcement serves the child’s best interests. Failure to follow the agreement, by either side, can never be used to reverse or challenge the adoption itself.¹⁴ The adoption stands regardless.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code Welfare and Institutions Code 16519.5
2
California Department of Social Services. Adoptions
3
San Diego County. Child and Family Well-Being
4
California Department of Social Services. Resource Family Application
5
California Department of Social Services. Resource Family Approval Program
6
California Department of Social Services. Adoption Assistance Program
7
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28B FMLA Leave for Birth, Placement, Bonding, or to Care for a Child With a Serious Health Condition
9
California Civil Rights Department. PDL Baby Bonding Guide
10
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 22 35203 – Supervision of the Adoptive Placement
11
Justia Law. California Code Family Code 8700-8720
12
California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code 8704
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 USC 1915 – Placement of Indian Children
14
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Postadoption Contact Agreements Between Birth and Adoptive Families – California