Do you need an impartial person to talk to about the option of adopting a child(ren)? Each board member is an adoptive or foster parent himself. It is our greatest joy to share our experience and give guidance to others who are thinking about adding to their family through adoption. Read through the type of adoptions below. Then please give us a call and we will set up a time with you to talk about it, pray and guide you to the next step. We encourage you to pray and seek His direction in this journey.
Types of Adoption:
Here is one way you can adopt a baby; You choose an adoption agency or an attorney. It costs between $20,000 to $40,000. You make a family profile and wait to be chosen by an expectant parent. It can happen quickly or take many years. Most infant adoptions have some level of openness or ongoing contact between the adoptive and birth families.
The child(ren) has been neglected or abused by a parent and has come into foster care. The goal in fostering is for the child to be returned home to his biological family once the parent(s) has received services, completed and demonstrated an improvement and will be able to parent the child(ren). If this can’t be achieved, then the parents’ rights will be terminated and the child you have fostered for 1 ½ to 3 + years will then have the opportunity of adoption. Adoption then takes another 6 months to a year. Children coming into care can be newborn to 17.
Today, international adoption has changed. Countries are trying to get their “healthy” children adopted domestically first. The children available for adoption to the U.S. either have a special need, are older, or a part of a sibling group. Each country has its own guidelines and timelines.
You need to decide what country you qualify to adopt from. Then find an agency that works in that country. There is a lot of paperwork. Then you wait to be referred to a child(ren) or you can choose a waiting child. You will travel to the country to finalize your adoption. International adoptions are closed as the child must be orphaned to qualify to be adopted.
Around one hundred thousand children in foster care are available for adoption. Their birth parents’ legal rights have been permanently terminated and they are left without families.
- Children waiting vary in age, 8-17 years. Some have siblings who should stay together. The majority are healthy children who simply need and desire loving adults in their lives.
- Younger children with medical challenges are waiting too. Support and resources are available to help financially throughout the child’s life.
- They often move six or more times in foster care and frequently are separated from siblings.
- Any one of these children could wait up to four years or more to be adopted. Four years is a lifetime to a child.
- Twenty thousand of these children available for adoption turn 18 and leave the system without families each year.
- Every child is adoptable. All children deserve the chance to grow up in safe, loving, permanent homes.
- Foster care adoption is affordable. Most child welfare agencies cover the necessary costs; thousands of employers offer financial reimbursement and paid leave for adoption; and tax credits are available to most families.
- Post-adoption counseling, resources, and subsidies are available.