system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
You can’t generally adopt out of foster care. The adoption system is a completely different system that has nothing to do with the foster care system. Most kids in foster care have biological parents who refuse to give up custody and the state will very rarely fully sever custody no matter how awful and abusive the parents are. Fostering a kid likely means eventually being forced to give the child back to their abusive parents, the chances you’ll be able to adopt are low.

If your goal is to permanently adopt you should go through the adoption system, but there are actually way more parents who want to adopt than there are kids available to adopt, which is why it’s so expensive and the waiting list is years long.
gpt
Thank you so much for posting this response. I did a LOT of research about every conceivable option while I was recovering from surgery. It’s so exhausting feeling like I need to explain this every time someone brings up adoption. The process is so much more complex than most people realize, and even if I was able to afford it in my lifetime, the odds of actually getting a child are small.