The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services defines adoption as "the permanent, legal transfer of parental rights and responsibilities from a child's birth parents to the adoptive parents." The process to adopt children is intricate from a legal and emotional perspective, and while the exact steps vary from state to state and with international adoptions, there are some basic steps that are found in each.
Education
The first step in the adoption process is education. Education can be thought of as the investigation step of the process for prospective adoptive parents. Prospective adoptive parents should research various adoption preparation programs available in their area through community resources, such as support groups and hospitals in addition to Internet and magazine sources. During this phase, prospective adoptive parents should decide what type of adoption they will pursue, for example, domestic versus international.
Agency Inquiry
The inquiry phase of the adoption process can take many forms. In the state of Georgia, for example, the inquiry starts with contacting the Division of Family and Children Services to find out the requirements of adoption. This also includes contacting various local and international adoption agencies for their specific requirements. Some prospective adoptive parents contact a lawyer who can inform them of their adoptive rights and refer them to an agency. During this step of the process, the prospective adoptive parents select the agency they will use for adoption. The prospective adoptive parents apply to the agency, and the process continues once they are approved.
Evaluation
In the evaluation step of the adoption process, the agency that prospective parents have chosen investigates the family and home situation. In many agencies this is called a home study. The home study aims to fully evaluate the environment the child will live in and help the prospective adoptive parents prepare more fully for the child's arrival. The evaluation and home study includes collecting all the documents needed for the adoption and multiple meetings with the social worker who will be handling the case. The social worker may also talk to the other members of the prospective adoptive parents' support circle.
Placement
Next in the adoption process is the selection of a child and placement. Once the evaluation is complete, the search for the child begins. In some agencies, there may be a social worker who is assigned to each potential child, and in this step of the process, the prospective adoptive parents' information is sent to that social worker for evaluation. Once a child and prospective adoptive parents have been matched, they will meet and visit, often multiple times. After the visits and evaluation, the child will be given a placement date in the prospective adoptive parents' home.
Finalization
After the placement date, the child is able to live in the home with the adoptive parents, but the adoption is not final at that time. The finalization step of the adoption process occurs after the paperwork is submitted to legally adopt the child. This often includes prospective adopters going in front of a judge to make the adoption official. In some states, there is a specified time period from when the child goes to live in the home to when the adoption can be finalized.
