You can also complete the online registration after attending a meeting and we will mail an application to you. If you have had your adoption study done previously through CHSFS please click here to send us your name, address, previous adoption date, and program of interest so that we can send you reapplication materials.

Screening Prospective Adoptive Parents. Children's Home Society & Family Services screens all prospective adoptive parents and requires that they attend educational classes about parenting an adopted child (see below). Police and criminal background checks are done, letters of reference are received, and medical history is requested. You will meet with a licensed social worker two to three times at the agency and in your home; you will be asked to talk candidly and in detail about your values, relationship, and other issues that influence your ability to parent.

Education & Preparation.  Typically, within 4-6 weeks after we receive your application, we will invite you to attend the next available two-day pre-adoption workshop (PAC).  This workshop is offered bimonthly on the third Thursday and Friday. After completing the homework you receive at PAC, you will then have several meetings with your social worker who will prepare an adoption study, which is a multi-page document that summarizes the personal information you shared.

Waiting Family Book.  Families in our Domestic Infant Open Adoption Program that have completed the adoption study process will submit to us an adoptive information outline, a letter to birthparents and pictures of themselves to be included in a 3-ring binder called the Waiting Family Book. Approximately 80-90 families have their materials in this book.

Birthparents (who are working with a CHSFS open adoption program social worker) who are considering adoption look at this book and may decide to meet with one or more families to discuss openness issues, background information, reasons for making an adoption plan, etc. From this meeting, the birthparents and adoptive parents decide whether or not to make an adoption plan with one another.

Online Parent Profiles.  Families in the Waiting Family Book also have the option of posting their information, letters and pictures online.  Information on this option is given to you at PAC.

Match Meeting.  When birthparents select you from the Waiting Family Book, the pregnancy counselor who has been working with the birthparents arranges a meeting so that you can consider making an adoption plan.  When a decision is made to proceed, the counselor will work with you and the birthparents to make this plan a reality.  If you connect with a birthparent through our outreach program or in another way, we encourage the birthparent(s) with whom you are working to use CHSFS' (or another agency's) open adoption/pregnancy counseling services.

Cooperative Agreement.  The adoptive parents and birthparents work together on a written Cooperative Agreement in which mutually agreed upon decisions about the prenatal period, hospital stay, post-placement, and financial arrangements are stated. 

Specific issues addressed include the contact adoptive parents and birthparents will have before the baby's birth, who will be present in the delivery room, and the schedule of visits/letters/phone calls by the birthfamily and adoptive family after the baby is in the adoptive family's home.  The part of the Cooperative Agreement that addresses the schedule of visits/letters/phone calls may become a legal document included in the final court decree of adoption, if both parties wish to have it.

Placement.  The child enters your home at a time agreed upon as part of the adoption plan.  In most adoptions, the child goes to the adoptive parents' home directly from the hospital.  Due to the legal circumstances, the adoption plan may include temporary care for the child in one of CHSFS' licensed foster homes.

Post-Placement/Finalization of Adoption.  After your child has been in your home for 90 days or more, you may file for legal adoption.  We recommend you do so as soon as possible.  Children's Home Society & Family Services assists you in preparing for the court process.