VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

In order to adopt a child, you must be at least 18 years of age or older to be approved as an adoptive parent. Adoptive parents can be single, married, divorced or widowed but what is most important is that they have the time and energy to give a child a lifetime commitment.

The Commonwealth of Virginia does not prevent a person from becoming an adoptive parent based solely on their culture, religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, or marital/civil union or domestic partnership status.

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent with the goal of adoption, we encourage you to contact the department of social services in your locality to begin the process.

Entry into foster care requires a Court commitment based on an abuse or neglect petition, a CHINS (child in need of services) petition, an entrustment, delinquency petition or request for relief of care and custody petition.

Children in foster care come from many different types of families and diverse backgrounds. They range in age from birth to 17 years of age. Their histories are often marked by trauma and loss, and many have special behavioral and physical needs. Therefore, it is essential that foster parents understand and are willing to meet the physical and emotional needs of children within the context of their culture.

If you are ready to take the next step, click here for more information about Virginia's waiting children.

The primary goal of all 120 local departments of social services is to achieve permanency through the higher priority goals of reunification and placement with kin. If those two goals are unattainable, the foster/resource parent often adopts. More than 75% of foster parents become the adoptive parent for children and youth in Virginia's foster care system. Any home where a foster child is placed must be approved as a foster home. This language can also be found in Licensed Child Placing Agency (LCPA) regulation: 22VAC40-131-200 B. Families can obtain dual certification based on the LCPA's license.

The first step would be to contact your local department of social services to secure an approved adoption home study from your state of residence. Then contact 1-800-DO-ADOPT to discuss the process of interstate adoptions.

It is recommended that you contact an attorney familiar with adoptions and work with your local circuit court to begin the adoption process. This type of adoption is considered a non-agency adoption, and therefore is not managed by social services.

Health insurance, such as Medicaid, may be available for an adopted child, but is based on the child's unique set of needs. The adoptive family can cover the child under their private insurance policy.

Services and assistance for children may be available based on the needs of the child. Joining an adoptive parent support group is a good way to get advice and assistance from experienced adoptive parents. Virginia also offers post-adoption services to support families, such as NewFound Families Virginia, Center for Adoption and Support (C.A.S.E), DePaul Community Resources and UMFS.

It depends on the nature, severity of the offense and the length of time that has passed since the conviction. Applicants with barrier crimes cannot be approved as an adoptive parent. A full list of barrier crimes can be found here.

Fact: You don't need to own your own home, be wealthy, have children already, or be a stay-at-home parent to adopt. Most adoptions from U.S. foster care are free and any minimal costs associated with them are often reimbursable. In addition, there are many different types of post-adoption resources, such as medical assistance and financial adoption assistance, based on the special needs of a child to help support and sustain adoptions from the U.S. foster care system.

Fact: Federal law prohibits the delay or denial of an adoptive placement based on the race or ethnicity of a child in U.S. foster care and the prospective parent or parents who are seeking to adopt them. The only exception to this law is the adoption of Native American children where special considerations apply. The Child Welfare Information Gateway has a list of resources and information on transracial adoption and transcultural families.

Fact: Experienced parents and empty-nesters are encouraged to adopt. In Virginia, you can adopt if you are single or married and in most instances, regardless of age, income, disability, or sexual orientation.

Fact: Military families stationed overseas and within the U.S. are eligible to adopt children from the U.S. foster care system. Find out more about adoption resources for military families.

Fact: By law, both maternal and paternal relatives of children in foster care are considered the preferred placement resource for children when they are able to provide for the child's safety and well-being. Find out more about being matched with a child.

Fact: When children are in foster care, relatives and other important people in their lives (such as neighbors, godparents, family friends, etc.) sometimes become their primary caregivers (also called "kinship care providers"). If a child is unable to return home, and termination of parental rights has been ordered by a judge, a kinship provider may be approved to adopt the child.

Fact: In Virginia, approximately 30% of children in foster care are reunified with their birth families, approximately 19% are placed with relatives, and approximately 48% are adopted. When a child cannot return home and termination of parental rights has been ordered by a judge, the local department of social services will explore adoptive placement options, including the child's foster placement.

Fact: Many children in foster care are regular children who unfortunately had to be removed from their families due to abuse or neglect. The term "special needs" simply refers to children who qualify for adoption assistance due to specific factors or conditions such as:

• Being an older child
• Having a particular racial or ethnic background
• Being part of a sibling group needing to be placed together as one unit
• Having physical, mental, or emotional conditions

Fact: Most adoptions from U.S. foster care are free and any minimal costs associated with them are often reimbursable. In recent years, international adoptions from Hague Convention countries, cost anywhere between $6000 and $27,820 (Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption).

In 2020 there were 57,881 children adopted through U.S. foster care while only 1,785 children were adopted by U.S. citizens from all international sources combined.

Regulations governing international adoptions have made adoption from other countries more challenging for U.S. citizens. These regulations, which can be found on the U.S. Department of State's Intercountry Adoption website, are aimed at protecting the rights of children and birth parents, coupled with more aggressive efforts to locate adoptive resources inside of countries that have traditionally permitted their children to be sent abroad.

In FY 2016, 83.4% of adoptions from U.S. foster care finalized in less than 18 months (Children's Bureau Adoption Data). The average time it took to complete an international adoption in 2021 from Hague Convention countries ranged from 266 days to over four years (Annual Report on Intercounty Adoption).

In Virginia, there are approximately 700 foster care youth in need of a "forever family"!