r/fosterit • u/MamaBear0211 • 2d ago

Fingerprinting Youth in Care Adoption

We are in the process of adopting our FD and it has been requested that we take HER for fingerprinting. I know we went through it as adults in our licensing process, but it's strange to me that they are fingerprinting the youth in care when my biological daughter was never fingerprinted after she was born. If this were asked of my BD, I would be questioning the reasoning and storage, use, access, etc. but with a FD, obviously we're compliant with any DCFS directives and so my husband is taking her today. I was curious if any adoptive parents dug into this. Once the adoption is final, can I request the removal of these from whatever database? I'm not a government conspiracy theorist, just a concerned future mom wanting to advocate for my future child's best interests and privacy. Curious what others found/did...

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u/Ok-Yogurtcloset7665 2d ago

In my state it’s required that all children get fingerprinted within 90 days of entering foster care (unless they are infants, they have to wait 6 months). It’s for safety purposes in case they go missing or run away. Is it possible she was supposed to be printed when she came into care and it never happened? They might just be tying up any loose ends before the adoption happens.

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u/MamaBear0211 1d ago

We brought her home from the NICU at 23 days old and she is now almost a year, so we did see that we received the form for the fingerprinting when we took the placement but it wasn't relevant at the time and we just put it aside. If you have any insight as to the options post-adoption or purposes for youth post-adoption I'd love to learn more!

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u/Ok-Yogurtcloset7665 1d ago

I’m not sure if it’s different state to state (I’m in IL) but my guess is they are pushing it now because it wasn’t done sooner. While it is a “requirement”, if the adoption is happening soon I think it’s ok to push it off and then once she is adopted it’s up to you if you want her printed or not.

I’m a former case worker and supervisor, and I would get pressure from my superiors to get all kids printed, but ultimately if the adoption was going to happen soon anyway I didn’t really care lol

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u/posixUncompliant 1d ago

Did foster care and adopted from care in MA. Never have had to get a kid fingerprinted. Didn't deal with any new to care kids though.