How to get an assessment for your child

In most cases, a parent’s first step is to get a referral from their child’s doctor. Unfortunately, there are far too many physicians who prefer to take a “wait and see” approach, and this is absolutely inappropriate for a child “at risk” because of his or her birth/developmental history. Parents themselves can also make the referral, so while a physician referral is ideal, it isn’t essential.

If you have a child under the age of 6, you’ll need to connect with your city or county’s... more

Most families who adopt waste no time having their children seen by a pediatrician or other appropriate physician. Particularly when children are adopted internationally, there are all sorts of things to rule out and check for (parasites and malnutrition being two we’re still battling, three months later). Those who adopt newborns domestically with known drug and/or alcohol exposure also are typically given a medical care plan at placement, and older, domestically adopted children can have their own medical issues that need to be addressed. ... more

In today's story, we'll meet the H.B. family who decided to adopt domestically through a private adoption agency. :)

When my husband and I made the decision to adopt, we hadn't even considered where we might adopt from. If you're LDS, you go to LDS Family Services, right? So off we went. We had our intake appointment, were treated very kindly, and began working on the paperwork for our homestudy. All seemed fine, except that we felt no peace as we began to proceed. Despite our determination and a definite confirmation that our... more

Families hoping to adopt through foster-adoption do well to prepare themselves mentally before taking the plunge. It’s very important to keep in mind that the primary goal of the foster care program is reunification with the birth family. While foster parents are busy doing their thing, there are parenting specialists, crisis workers, case managers, social workers, rehab specialists and the like, all working with the birthfamily with the goal of putting Humpty back together again. Ideally, this is how it should be. But foster parents should also be aware that they are often at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to weighing permanency placement options; social workers, the... more

The last option for LDS families we’ll discuss is adoption through a state foster-to-adopt program, which is administered by the state Department of Health and Human Services. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll use Utah’s guidelines as an example, but be aware that requirements vary a bit from state to state. If you’d like to learn more about your state’s specific requirements, you can do an Internet search for your state and “foster parent.”

In most cases, once you’ve expressed an interest in being a foster-adopt parent, you’ll fill out some preliminary screening paperwork and sometimes have an in-person interview with a representative of the foster care department. After this screening,... more

Yet another consideration is that some agencies have a set of values or beliefs to which clients must profess adherence. Many Christian agencies require the signing of “faith statements,” and/or a submission of a written personal testimony. These have the potential to cause problems for LDS couples when they’re asked to affirm their acceptance of concepts such as sola scriptura and the Trinity. Similarly, many LDS couples looking for financial assistance through adoption loan and grant organizations find they aren’t considered for such... more

In this installment of our series, we’ll be looking at other domestic adoption options available to LDS families.

The first, and that most like the type of adoption facilitated by LDS Family Services, is Agency Adoption, or private adoption. In an agency adoption, a couple contracts with an adoption agency of their choosing to provide a package of services necessary for the adoption of a child. These services can include completion of a homestudy (although this can also be accomplished through the use of a homestudy agency or cooperating... more

Most of the steps involved with adopting a child through LDS Family Services are the same as or similar to adopting a child through other avenues. A homestudy is completed, prospective parents are subjected to criminal and child abuse background checks, and they must provide a variety of documentation about marriage, financial and employment status, and health. Couples also typically write a “dear birthparent” letter and create an adoptive parent profile that can be reviewed by expectant parents who are considering an adoption plan. Profiles include information about the couple such as age, education, employment, appearance, length of marriage, hobbies, and other children already in the... more

In this series, we’ll be looking at the primary adoption options for LDS families, and we’ll be starting with domestic adoption through LDS Family Services.

The social services arm of the Church has existed in one form or another since the Restoration. In the beginning, charitable work was primarily the undertaking of the Relief Society, but over the decades it became clear that the social needs of the Saints warranted creation of a separate program. Although organizations within the Church formally assisted with the placement of adoptive... more