Getting Started With Domestic Infant Adoption: 10 Steps

Adoption STAR is with you throughout your domestic adoption journey.

The following is a generalized overview of how to start the domestic adoption process with Adoption STAR. If you have any questions at any time during the process, please do not hesitate to contact the agency directly.

Step 1 ~ Contacting Adoption STAR for a Registration Packet
It is very important to learn as much about your adoption options as possible and to gather as much information from other agencies so you can make an informed decision and select an agency that you feel connected to. We hope Adoption STAR is one of the stops you make along your educational journey. You may obtain a registration and informational packet by calling us, by emailing us or by completing the registration request form on our website.

If you call the agency, you will immediately speak to a friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff person who can answer any questions you may have. The registration packet will be mailed to you.

Step 2 ~ Completing the Registration Packet
You may feel overwhelmed once you open the registration packet. It has at least 12 pages to the registration itself, so it takes a bit of time to review. There is also a fee agreement to read and of course additional literature on Adoption STAR and our services and programs. Adoption STAR staff is available to answer any questions you may have while you review and fill out the registration packet. After you have completed the registration packet, you just drop it in the mail to us.

Step 3 ~ Welcome to Adoption STAR
Once we receive your registration packet, we will review it to make sure all sections are complete. If all is in place, you have become a client of Adoption STAR. Welcome! If it is geographically feasible for you to attend a personal consultation meeting with one of our family advocates, we will schedule that for you. If you are unable to meet, then a telephone appointment will be scheduled. If you reside in NY, FL or OH, you will receive the important adoptive parenthood pre-parenthood educational manual, and your home study packet. If you reside in another state you will receive a second part to your registration that will guide you to the steps for obtaining a home study in your state. Whether you are working on your home study materials for Adoption STAR or forms for out of state clients, all paperwork will be returned to Adoption STAR as we build your client file.

Step 4 ~ The Home Study
NY, FL and OH residents:
If you reside in a state in which Adoption STAR is authorized/licensed, Adoption STAR will complete your home study for you. There is no separate application for the home study. Upon receipt of the home study fee, you will be supplied a home study packet that provides comprehensive instructions and documents as per the state you reside so the home study will comply with the regulations necessary to complete an adoption home study. Once all the home study paperwork is received, you will be contacted by a social worker that will meet you at your convenience for the home study visits. Adoption STAR believes a home study should involve an educational approach and we work hard to provide a welcoming and non-threatening home study process.

Residents in other states:
If you do not reside in one of the states that Adoption STAR is authorized/licensed, you will be required to obtain a home study by a licensed adoption agency in your state. Feel free to ask Adoption STAR for referrals. Adoption STAR will provide guidelines to your home study agency and also send your agency a Domestic Adoption Supervised Provider Agreement. Adoption STAR does not charge a fee for reviewing the other agency’s home study. Though you are not experiencing a home study with Adoption STAR, we will still provide you with helpful information about obtaining pre-parenthood adoption education.

Step 5 ~ Creating an Adoptive Family Profile
Adoption STAR will provide you with samples and instructions for putting together a “Profile.” This profile is much like a colorful scrapbook or life-book and will be shared with expectant parents considering making an adoption plan for their child. We highly recommend sharing a draft of your profile with us before investing it making copies of it. You will be requested to provide us with a specified number of profiles so we may have them on file. Some families choose to add to their profile by creating a personal DVD presentation for expectant parents to view and some choose to add an on-line profile to the Adoption STAR website.

Step 6 ~ Ready and Waiting
Once your home study is completed and approved and your profile has been created, you are now ready to be considered for prospective adoption situations. You have reached a milestone as you have learned so much and now are at a new and exciting stage in your adoption journey.

The Agency appreciates that both the decision to adopt and the process of adoption can be difficult for many individuals and families. The adoption process is very often filled with moments of hope, as well as moments of disappointment. Applicants who view the process as discouraging or have an overall negative view of the process are more likely to feel unhappy and unsuccessful in the program. Planning for the possibility that plans will change is a key element to keeping calm and stress free while going through the adoption process. Applicants who remain optimistic and view the adoption process as a journey filled with learning experiences are more apt to feeling happy and successful in the program.

The period in which it may take you to successfully adopt is measured from the time your file is complete. This includes the home study being completed and approved. Within the domestic program, a pregnant woman/couple often chooses the adoptive parents. The Agency has no control over that time period. The total time frame can vary from a few months to several years.

The healthiest way to be “ready and waiting” is to continue your adoption education, as adoption is life-long and does not end with the placement of a child. There is so much to learn about adoption and parenting, so embrace this time. We recommend that in addition to the Traditional Agency Adoption Program that you are enrolled in, that you participate in the Agency Assisted Private Adoption Program by scheduling a personalized training and following the program recommendations. These combined efforts have increased applicant(s) opportunities to adopt.

Click here for 25 suggestions for dealing with the “waiting” process.

Step 7 ~ Matched With An Expectant Parent
Expectant parents who work with Adoption STAR are invited to share their preferences for the adoptive parents of their child and encouraged to view profiles of prospective adoptive parents. If you should be selected by an expectant parent, your Adoption STAR family advocate will contact you and share all pertinent information with you, including but not limited to the birth family social, educational and medical history. Many times you learn of the expectant parents before they are provided with your profile so you can decide if you desire your profile to be shown to a particular expectant parent.

After learning about the birth family, you will make a decision whether or not to accept the match. You will receive information in writing regarding the match and a booklet describing What To Expect During Your Match.

Step 8 ~ Placement
Some families skip Step 6 and go directly to Step 7 because they were matched with a newborn and his or her birth family immediately after birth. Others are matched as per Step 6 above and learn of the birth when the time arrives.

Placement day varies for every family. You may meet your baby in the hospital or at the agency office. An Adoption STAR representative may hand you the baby or the birth mother may do so. Every adoption is unique and has its own special circumstances involved.

The day will be filled with paperwork, nerves, smiles and tears.

Step 9 ~ Post Placement Period
After you are home with your new baby, your home study social worker will contact you to arrange the required visits known as post placement supervision visits. Once the visit reports are complete, they will be sent Adoption STAR who will provide them to your adoption attorney so plans for adoption finalization may occur.

Step 10 ~ Post Adoption Support
Post placement is the period of time after placement but before adoption finalization. Post adoption refers to any time after the finalization of adoption occurs. Post adoption support is crucial to the healthy and stability of the adoptive family. Adoption STAR provides post adoption support via support groups, online groups, counseling, post adoption educational workshops, and by providing additional resources and referrals.