Adoption Requirements

I have had several people ask me about the specifics of our adoption process -- what was the paperwork like, how invasive was it, does it take a long time to get it all done, etc. So this blog is going to attempt to answer some of these. I can only answer, however, based on the experience we have had in two states working with one agency doing a domestic adoption. If you are interested in adopting internationally, your process could look similar or it could look different. Most likely, there would be more paperwork and time involved. Here is what we were required to do for our adoption:

1. Copies of birth certificates, marriage license, infant CPR and First Aid cards.
2. Fingerprints and Child Abuse and Neglect forms (you send these in to get background checks done)
3. Statement of Faith
4. Marriage history questions
5. Family history questions
6. Financial worksheet (spelling out your debts, assets, income, budget, etc.)
7. Medical reports (we all had to get a physical done, and drug tests)
8. References: 3 personal, 1 pastor's reference, and work references
9. Profile information: a sheet we filled out with basic info about ourselves that will be shown to prospective birth parents (questions included height, eye and hair color, hobbies, interests, jobs, etc.)
10. Openness in Adoption Covenant (how open are you willing to be -- contact with the birthparent(s), letters, pictures, etc.)
11. Insurance information (proof of homeowners/renter's insurance and car insurance, as well as life insurance)
12. Photo Album (we used Shutterfly)
13. "Dear Expectant Mother/Father" letters -- letters to the birthparents telling more about us. The letters and photo album would be shown to prospective birthparents as they are choosing an adoptive family.

I think these are the main forms we had to fill out. The time-consuming part is getting all of the background checks back (sometimes there can be a back-up in the state system, so it can take awhile), and getting all of our medical exams scheduled. There can be a lot of questions on the profile stuff, so you have to carve out some time to fill it out, but it's usually not too bad. In addition to the paperwork, most agencies require some kind of training classes. In Virginia, we had to go to three different 3-hour classes that were held in the evenings. In Washington, there is a 1-day 8-hour class that you can do, as well as online classes, movies, books, etc. that you show documentation of having studied up on adoption.

I hope this helps answer some questions. I would love for people to ask questions if they have them -- it helps me come up with ideas for blogs.