Who Are the Children Waiting for Adoption?

About 120,000 children wait for permanent homes in the United States. Most are school-aged or older. There are brothers and sisters who need to stay together. Most children waiting for adoption live in foster or group homes because their parents were unable to care for them. Often, personal and family problems made it impossible for the parents to maintain a home for their children. Some of these children have been abused, neglected or abandoned. 

Can I Ask for More Information about the Child I Want to Adopt?

Most children’s agencies can provide more information about a child than they are able to include on a flyer, newspaper article, or website description. However, some of the child’s information is considered confidential, and workers may want to share it only with those families they are seriously considering as adoptive parents. Once you have been selected for a particular child, adoption agencies are required to share with you any information that they have about the child, with the exception of identifying information about the birth family. Unfortunately, they may not always have a great deal of information, especially if a child has lived in several foster homes. It is important to ask for whatever is available, including medical reports, results of psychological or educational testing, and information about early development. 

Can the Biological Parents Come Back to Take a Child?

In order for a child to be adopted, the birth parents have to relinquish legal parental rights. With most agency adoptions, a child is already legally free for adoption before a placement occurs. While cases where a parent changes his/her mind (usually before an adoption is finalized) are highly publicized, they occur infrequently. Once the adoption has been finalized, the biological parents have no legal tie to the child. 

How Long Will it Take to Adopt?

There are two stages in the adoption process: pre-placement and post-placement. Placement is when the child enters your home, pre-placement describes the time before and post-placement the time after. There is a pre-placement waiting period for all adoptions. The time frame, like the cost, varies with the type of child being adopted. With a completed homestudy in hand, the process to adopt a child with special needs can often proceed quickly and be completed within a few months. The wait is typically between two and seven years for a healthy infant.  After placement, your agency will have to supervise your family for a legally-mandated length of time before finalization can occur. Typically this post-placement time period will be no less than six months from the time of placement.  

What Is a Homestudy?

A homestudy is a series of meetings with a social worker to provide more in-depth information about adoption and help prepare an applicant for parenting an adopted child. The homestudy process varies from agency to agency. Some conduct individual and joint interviews with both members of a couple; others conduct group homestudies with several families at one time. Most ask applicants to provide written information about themselves and their life experiences.  Agencies also require certain documents: a marriage license, birth certificate, medical report, criminal check and child abuse clearance. Personal character references are often required. The homestudy includes at least one visit to your home by an agency worker. The time it takes to complete the homestudy will vary from one agency to another, but families who are interested in children with special needs are usually given prompt attention.

How Does Foster Care Differ from Adoption?

Foster care is meant to be temporary shelter for a child; generally the plan is for the child to return to the parents when they are able to provide care. If that fails, the child is made available for adoption. Foster parents may be able to adopt the child in their care if the child becomes available, through a foster-adopt program with their agency. In fact, most adoptions in the United States are by children’s foster parents. Beginning as a foster parent is also one way that you may be able to adopt a healthy infant or toddler. But you are not required to be a foster parent in order to adopt. While some agencies approve a family simultaneously for both foster care and adoption, a foster care homestudy and an adoption homestudy are not always interchangeable. If you are thinking about foster-adoption, it is important to inquire how an agency handles this.  If you wish to become a foster parent, organizations which may be able to help you are the National Foster Parent Association, or the National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning. 

How Can I Adopt an Infant?

Depending on several factors, such as your openness to race and disabilities, you have a number of options available for adopting infants or toddlers. They include agency adoption (both public and private), private adoption, identified adoption, inter-country adoption and foster adoption. Whatever option you choose, you will need to complete the homestudy process to be eligible to adopt. We suggest that you contact a number of agencies to learn about their procedures for approving families for adoption. Remember, it is important to obtain fee information in writing from any agency, attorney, intermediary or consultant before starting the process. 

What Services Are Available after Adoption?

After placement, many agencies offer post-adoption services to you. These can include support groups, individual and family counseling, workshops on specific topics of parenting, or ongoing contact with your social worker. If a child was receiving therapy or special schooling before the adoption, it will usually be continued. An employee assistance program at your workplace may also offer referrals for needed services.

How Can I Meet Other Adoptive Families?

Your social worker may be able to provide you with the names of other adoptive parents or information about an adoptive parent support group in your area. Some agencies will pair a waiting family with a “buddy” family who has already adopted a child with similar circumstances, while other agencies sponsor their own parent groups. The North American Council on Adoptable Children provides a searchable database of parent support groups throughout the United States and Canada. Select Post-Adoption Services on their website at  You can also meet other families online.