I'm a foster parent and know several people that have; in addition a friend's fiance was just adopted at 20 years old. In nearly all of these cases there was a preexisting relationship for a few years first. Most kids who have been abused or neglected are slow to trust, but I do know one family who adopted a 17 year old who had been in foster care for 6 years and wanted a permanent family to come home to from college.
Right now, some friends who have been fostering a boy since he was 10, are now in the state that he can be adopted legally, but he feels like it would be a betrayal to his roots.
> I do know one family who adopted a 17 year old who had been in foster care for 6 years and wanted a permanent family to come home to from college.
It's interesting how people can have totally different needs and dreams depending on their upbringing / life history. 17-20 is about the age when people I know (myself included) try to separate themselves from their families, to assert themselves as individuals and protagonists of their life stories. The last thing I cared about at that age was "a permanent family to come home to from college".
Similarly in the article how the author was touched by being grounded; most healthy 17 year olds take it for granted that when they leav,e they have a home to go to, and that their parents want them to be safe. The majority of foster youth do not.
Right now, some friends who have been fostering a boy since he was 10, are now in the state that he can be adopted legally, but he feels like it would be a betrayal to his roots.