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Guide to Adoption Process: Types, Costs, and Considerations

Understand the legal steps and costs involved in adoption, including home studies, types of adoption, and international adoption processes. Learn about special-needs, relative, and military adoptions, plus important considerations like attachment and bonding.

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Guide to Adoption Process: Types, Costs, and Considerations

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  1. Adoption Source: http://adopting.adoption.com/

  2. What is Adoption? • Legal process in which future parents create a relationship with a child where it did not exist

  3. Adoption Home Study • Prospective parents meet & talk with a social worker at their home (10 hours, collectively) • Social worker gathers information (family background, health of the applicants, motivation to adopt, expectations for child, etc.) • FBI may fingerprint • Home study(3 - 6 months to complete)

  4. Adoption Steps • Educate self and family members • Decide the type of adoption to pursue • Investigate ways to handle adoption expenses • Select an adoption agency/facilitator and/or attorney • Complete agency application • Begin home study process • Attend pre-adoption & parenting classes • Be matched with or locate a child • Prepare for child's arrival • File a petition to adopt • Finalize adoption

  5. Adoptions Costs • $0-$70,000 • Depends on type of adoption • Additional expenses include • Courtroom charges • Doctor & Hospital fees • Travel expenses

  6. Types of Adoptions • International • Infant/Newborn • Special-needs • Relative • Military and Overseas • Teenage (only about 2 in 40)

  7. International Adoption • Costs increase when parents visit the foreign country • Family needs to learn about the child’s background • Parents are not guaranteed a child • Children are usually orphans • Children are not newborns (may be under a year in age) • 2 court sessions needed (one in the child’s country & one in the parents’ homeland) • Waiting period (usually 12 - 18 months) • Medical background information is often unavailable • Extensive government paperwork (help is available)

  8. Infant/Newborn Adoption • Waiting times can last up to 2 years • Birth mothers are often involved in choosing adoptive parents (Open adoptions). • Relatively few infants are available through the agencies • Prospective parents may use an attorney (independent adoption) or go through an agency

  9. Special-needs Adoption • Children in this category include: disabilities, race, age, sibling status, and at-risk. • Private agency (licensed & non-profit?) • Knowledge needed about caring for children with severe special needs • Consider choosing children who may grow out of their challenges • Photo listings may be used to match a child

  10. Relative Adoption • May only need an abbreviated home study • Treated less formally than “stranger” adoptions • State laws define "relative" by degree of relatedness (aunt, uncle, cousin, adult siblings, grandparent) • Consult attorney on specific state laws • Proper termination of parental rights of both biological parents is needed

  11. Military & Overseas Adoption • Since military families move often, many agencies are reluctant to begin an adoption process with anyone in the service • Military families have difficulty with agency rules and criteria: lengthy residency requirements, mandatory meetings that conflict with work schedules, and home ownership

  12. Issues to Consider • Adoption language • Sibling relationships (getting along?) • Disabled parents (ability to care for the child?) • Open adoption (birth parents contact with child?) • Attachment & bonding with the child • Chance of failed placement?

  13. Other Legal Issues • Both biological parents (or a person or agency acting in place of a parent) must agree to release all rights • Laws differ from state to state (must be researched thoroughly)

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