Adoption brings families together.
Many children are in foster care throughout the Appalachians and want a permanent home and a family to call their own. This region surrounds the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern U.S. and covers areas in more than a dozen states. Deciding to adopt a child from the Appalachians takes commitment, but it can be a rewarding decision.
Instructions
1. Contact the department in charge of children's services in the Appalachian state where you want to adopt a child. This office may be called the Bureau for Children and Families, Child and Family Services, the Department of Children's Services or a similar title.
2. Complete a home study and background checks with the children's services department. If you live in a state different from the one where you want to adopt, you may be able to do this through your local social services agency, but check first with the state that the child will come from.
3. Attend Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting training classes. Most of the states in the Appalachians require this training before you are eligible for adopting a child in the state's foster care system.
4. Find a child whose needs your family can meet.
Submit an application to the agency representing the child you want to adopt.
5. Meet the child you are matched with in a pre-placement visit. This may take place over several planned visitations that occur in different locations.
6. Bring your adopted child home and schedule post-placement supervision. Ask the state department where the child came from first, but this can sometimes be completed by a local agency if you live outside of the Appalachian region. These visits have to be completed and the match deemed successful before the adoption is finalized.
7. Finalize the adoption in the court of the Appalachian state where the adoption occurred and make the child legally a part of your family. This is also when you can have the child's name changed, and a new birth certificate is often issued with the adjusted names.
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