Adoption Process
Guiding you every step of the way
Home Study
A home study is required by law and involves a series of meetings between you and one of our compassionate, licensed social workers. All About Love Adoptions can provide this service if you are based in Pennsylvania. If not, we can guide you through the steps of this adoption process. The result is a written document that may include some of the following:
- Family background
- Details about your home and your neighborhood
- Your education and employment
- Your daily routine
- Your parenting experiences
- Your reasons for adopting
- Financial documents
- Medical reports
- Letters of reference
This step ensures that you and your family are prepared to welcome a child into your home.
Create Adoption Profile
Your adoption profile is created so an expectant mother can review prospective families. Ultimately, she will choose the family she believes is the best match for her and her unborn child. You want your adoption profile to highlight your personality and the uniqueness of your family in an authentic way.
All About Love Adoptions will guide you through this process and can refer you to a talented graphic designer to help with the design of your profile. You will collect your story and information that will help a birth mother get to know you. Then, along with photographs of your family and life, you will create your customized adoption profile as a part of our services. The end result will be a high quality, designed and printed booklet that birth mothers will be able to hold in their hands.
Matching
Once you are approved as a prospective adoptive parent, your profile will be shared with selected birth mothers that are a good match for your hopes and desires.
When you are selected as an adoptive parent by an expectant mom, we will then present you with the tailored profile of the expectant mom and child. You will then have the opportunity to review all available information about the child. After review, if you say “yes” to the match, we will then introduce you to the birth mother.
Based on the type of adoption you and the birth mother choose (open, semi-open or closed), we can arrange for calls, emails or even gathering for a meal or coffee. Finding the right match can take time. You will be in close communication with your social worker during this waiting period.
Placement
This is the step when the child is officially welcomed into their new family. One or more parents must first legally consent to the adoption. Consent occurs when the birth parent/s legally agree — without force — to terminate all their rights and duties to the child.
Then, relinquishment (the voluntary termination of parental rights) is the process where the birth mother gives her legal agreement for her child to become another person’s child. A final order by the court will relinquish the birth parents of all rights and obligations to the child.
We will work with a trusted attorney, experienced in Family Law, to make sure all state laws are followed. After this step, the adoption is complete.
Post-Placement Care
We are with you to care for you as you adjust to your new family! Official finalization of the adoption will happen approximately six months after the baby is placed.
During this six month period and beyond, we will be there for you at the hospital for any help or support you need. We will have post-placement visits, calls or video chats to check on the child’s well-being and bonding while one of our case workers will work closely with you to address your concerns.
We will continue to love and support your family over your lifetime, watching your precious child grow and develop. We will also send and receive letters, photos and packages to and from the birth parents.
We are here to guide you and help you navigate your open adoption. We are always available to answer questions about your adoptee and point you to additional resources for adoptive parenting, even years later. We want your child to be happy, healthy, and thriving.