Tips for Finding YOUR Child in the US Adoption System

Finding information on children available for adoption can be a challenge. There are many children freed for adoption and waiting in the US foster care system, as well as infants with special needs who may qualify for adoption assistance that are in the care of private agencies. Proactive potential adoptive parents can drastically increase their chances of being matched with a child sooner by both inquiring directly about a number of children, as well as registering on national, regional, and state adoption recruitment sites. Having your profile and family information out there for adoption workers to see is vital to speeding up the process. Also, remember to follow up 2 or 3 times, as adoption workers often have large caseloads, and well, as they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Some ideas and links to get you started:

1) Register on adoption recruitment sites:

A) National sites:

a) Adopt US Kids is a national photo-listing for kids in foster care, you can inquire about specific children and get the contact information for their worker. It is also searchable by workers seeking families for children in their care.

b) Adopt America Network is a national volunteer organization made up of adoptive parents who provide search services, family-child matching, and advice to parents who want to adopt children from the public system.

c) Children Awaiting Parents is a national photo-listing service and organization that works specifically to find families for the special needs children who have been waiting the longest in foster care and who are considered hard to place.

B) Regional sites:

a) Wednesday's Child features videos of waiting children from six major metropolitan areas around the country. You can also request an information packet which includes registration forms.

b) Three Rivers Adoption Council operates out of Pittsburg, PA and features waiting children from that region-photo-listings as well as presentation done by the children themselves are available for viewing. There is information for whom to contact to register with them, and they offer search and matching services.