Adoption Steps For Your Family

How to Proceed with an Adoption

by Lorri Ballance Laird

This month is National Adoption Month. Sponsored by the Children's Bureau, the Adoption Exchange Association, and The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids, this year's theme is set to focus awareness on adopting older children who are already in foster care. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are an estimated 523,000 children in foster care in the U.S., with 119,000 waiting to be adopted. Perhaps you're one of the four in ten Americans who have considered adoption, but you don't know where to begin.

According to the National Adoption Center, there are essentially ten steps involved in adopting a child:

Learn about adoption: There are a myriad of issues to consider when adopting, so the more you know, the less difficult the process will be for you and your family. Educate yourself through books, magazine articles, adoptive parent support groups, adoption orientation sessions, and websites.

Pick an agency: You will encounter quite a number of adoption agencies in your search. First, make sure any agency you contact is licensed by your state. Then, interview the agency to obtain information as to the kind of children they place, if there are any fees, how they assess and prepare families, and how long the process takes. Obtain references of other parents who have worked with the agency and interview them as well.

Complete a home study: Once you've selected your agency and filled out an application, you will have to undergo a home study. This series of meetings between you, your family, and an agency social worker are designed to assess your family environment and whether or not placing a child within your home would be best for all parties involved.

Search for a child: You can search for a child through the children available from within your agency; your social worker can network with other child placement agencies; or you can explore a variety of websites, where you can search for children awaiting adoption online.

Exchange information with child's agency: Once you find a child that you are interested in, your social worker will contact the child's agency. Your home study will be sent and you will receive a profile of the child.

Learn that you've been selected for a child: It's possible that you and other families may be under consideration for the same child at the same time. After the child's caseworker makes the final selection, you will be notified.

Meet and visit with the child: A series of meetings with your child will take place over a few weeks or months. If the child is from another state, your paperwork will include the Interstate Compact.

Receive a placement: Your placement is the date your child will come to live in your home. Your agency should help you with post placement supervision. Now you will file a legal intent to adopt petition.

Finalize your adoption: During a court session, a judge will finalize your adoption. You will receive an amended birth certificate and a certificate of adoption.

Life as an adoptive family: Your journey as an adoptive family is truly beginning. You should continue to educate yourself on adoptive parenting as well as any services or support your adoptive child may need. But most importantly--enjoy your new family!