Step 1
Make The Decision To Adopt
Adopting a waiting child will affect every aspect of your life. Because it is such a big commitment, one that will affect all members of your household, everyone in your home needs to think about what it will mean to them and what adjustments they may have to make. It is a decision for the entire family.

Below is a list of questions that can help you make the right decision for your family.

1. Does everyone in our family support our decision to adopt? What about extended family members? Close friends?

2. Are we ready for a change in our lives, routines, and future plans?

3. With what children can we be most successful? Does age or gender matter?

4. Can we parent a child who may have been sexually abused, physically abused, and/or neglected?

5. Can we parent a child who has physical, emotional, mental, and/or behavioral challenges?

6. Are there behaviors or special needs we feel unable or unwilling to handle at this time?

7. How much supervision can we provide?

8. Are we open to having any type of ongoing contact with a child’s parents?

9. Do we have the space in our home for a child?

10. Do we have the financial resources to properly care for our family?

11. What else do we need to be successful? Is that help available?

12. What resources are available in our community?

• Completing the registration form. To get a copy of the form, call 1-800-746-7000, click here to download the form in PDF format, or click here to download it in Microsoft Word. (If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, click here to download your free copy.)

• Mailing us your completed form, along with a copy of your homestudy OR a letter from the licensing agency confirming the status of your foster care license.

• Once you are registered with Project Family, proceed to Step 3.

If you are a licensed foster parent, please advise your local resource coordinator that you registered with Project Family to adopt a waiting child.

OR

B. Apply to Have an Adoption Homestudy Completed by Project Family.
If you live in Vermont, you can apply to have Project Family complete your homestudy—at no up-front cost to you. The homestudy will remain our property and be restricted to the adoption of a child in Vermont foster care. Note: If you live out of state, you must have a homestudy completed by an agency licensed in your state and then register your homestudy with Project Family.

Apply to Project Family by:

• Completing the application form. To get a copy of the form, call 1-800-746-7000, click here to download the form in PDF format, or click here to download it in Microsoft Word. (If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, click here to download your free copy.)
• Mailing us your completed form.

The Adoption Homestudy
An adoption homestudy evaluates the appropriateness of your family as an adoptive placement. With very few exceptions, you must have one completed before a child can be placed with you for the purpose of adoption. The process will help you learn more about yourselves and the kind of child you can best parent. It will also provide us with the information we need to make the best possible match for your family and provide the court with much of the information needed to legally finalize an adoption.

The evaluation process, the contents of the written report, and the time it takes to complete varies from state to state and agency to agency; however, it typically takes 3 to 4 months to complete and requires the following:

• Several meetings between your family and an adoption social worker, including at least 1 home visit and 2 face-to-face interviews.

• Certified copies of documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, civil union certificates, divorce decrees, and dissolution of civil union decrees.

• Medical health statements for each applicant.

• A financial statement and most recent tax return.

• Background checks including, but not limited to, any criminal history, child abuse or neglect substantiations, past-due child support payments, motor vehicle violations, and past or current Restraining/Relief from Abuse orders.

• Five references.

At the end of the process, the social worker reports his or her findings and recommendations in a written document called the adoption homestudy.

This is a good time to start working on your adoptive parent profile—a document that tells your family's story in a creative way. Your profile will be given to a child whom you’ve been matched with before your first meeting. That way, he or she can get to know a little bit about you before that first face-to-face meeting, which can be scary. You can tell your story any way you choose. Many parents tell their stories in a scrapbook using some narrative and lots of photographs. You might, for example, want to include photographs of you, your extended family members, your home and community, any pets, the school the child will attend, and the child’s room.

Step 3
Attend Training
Our training program is designed to help you gain the knowledge and skills you'll need to successfully parent a child who has been abused or neglected. It covers topics such as understanding the effect abuse and neglect can have on children, dealing with abuse-related behaviors, parenting adopted children, attachment and adoption, and the resources available to adoptive families.

Attending training will also give you the opportunity to connect with other families who are going through the process of adopting a child in foster care.

Step 4
Wait For A Match
Once your homestudy is completed and approved, we can consider your family as a possible match for a waiting child. How soon a match is made will largely depend on how flexible you are in terms of the age, gender, and special needs of the children you will accept.

You can also search our list of waiting children. If a child captures your interest, contact that child's worker to let them know.

Keep in mind that our goal is to select the family we believe can best meet a particular child's needs.

Step 5
Get To Know The Child
When a worker decides that you are a good match for a child, he or she will provide you with more detailed information, including the child's medical history, school records, and professional assessments. You will get to read the child's file and speak with people who work or live with the child (e.g. foster parents, teachers, and therapists).

Once you and the child's worker decide the match is appropriate, the worker will give the child your adoptive parent profile and arrange for you to begin visits.

You and your worker should begin discussing the adoption assistance that might be available to your child. Adoption assistance is a subsidy program for people who adopt children with special needs. It can include monthly payments, medical benefits, reimbursement of one-time adoption expenses, and services such as subsidized childcare. You must apply for, negotiate, and sign an adoption assistance agreement before the adoption is completed and, in some cases, before the child moves into your home.

Step 6
Transition The Child Into Your Home
You and your worker will meet with the child’s team to develop a plan to transition the child into your home. You will discuss several issues: When and where will the initial visit take place? How long will the transition period last? How many visits are needed? How will we prepare the child? What services need to be in place before the child moves in?

Visits typically start as short meetings, increasing in length as you get to know each other. They can go on for weeks or even months before the child moves in with you.

Step 7
Sign A Statement Of Intent To Adopt
Before the child moves into your home, your adoption social worker will ask you to sign a Statement of Intent to Adopt, which spells out your commitment to adopt this child.

Step 8
Welcome The Child Into Your Home
Vermont law requires that the child live with you for at least 6 months before an adoption can become legal. Your worker will stay in close contact with you during this period to see how you are doing and to start working towards finalizing the adoption.

Your worker will also help you to complete and file the adoption petition, which must be filed in probate court within 45 days after your child moves in.

Step 9
Legally Finalize The Adoption
Finalization is the last formal step in the adoption process and marks the official beginning of your new family. Your worker will help you to complete and gather the paperwork necessary to legally finalize the adoption, file it in court on your behalf, and schedule the finalization hearing, which usually lasts from 10 to 30 minutes. As soon as the judge signs the adoption order, you will have permanent legal custody of your child.

Step 10
Access Post-Adoption Services If And When You Need Them
There may be times when you will need help after the adoption has been finalized. Ask your adoption social worker about the post-adoption services that might be available to your family if and when you need them. Post-adoption services can include counseling, respite services, advocacy, case management, help with school and community issues, support and discussion groups, educational resources, and intensive supports.

Asking for support is a sign of strength, not weakness. The most successful adoptive families are those who seek out support from the start.