Adopting in California

Agency adoptions in California can be done by licensed public or private agencies. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) also places children for adoption. In order for the agency to place a child for adoption, the child's birth parents must have their parental rights terminated. A court can terminate rights and parents can relinquish their own rights to their child.

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The CDSS helps birth parents who choose to place their child for adoption. They also help those families who want to adopt a child. They provide information and assistance to all families involved in the adoption process.

When an individual chooses to work with an adoption agency, they must realize that some birth parents want to pick the adoptive family that will be adopting their child. Some birth parents will choose the adoptive parents and place their name on the relinquishment document.

Other birth parents will not designate who the adoptive parents are to be. In this case, the birth parent does not add a name to the relinquishment document. The agency then has the responsibility to choose the adoptive parents for the child.

The agency will attempt to get as much information on the child as they can, so that they can make the best decision for the child, concerning which family to place the child with. The agency will look at the child's needs and medical background when considering their decision.

Some birth parents do not want to lose contact with the child, after placing them for adoption. This is also true for some of the child's birth relatives. California adoption law allows birth parents or birth relatives to enter into a Post-Adoption Contact Agreement with the adoptive parents. This Agreement is subject to court approval. In this agreement, birth parents or birth relatives may request to receive information about the child in the future. They may also request to have contact with the child.

Agency adoptions are not the only way to adopt in California. Those looking to adopt may know of some one who is having a baby and is planning to place the baby for adoption. In these circumstances, the family and the birthmother can do an independent adoption with the help of an Adoption Service Provider (ASP). The ASP will provide the documents needed to sign, so that the adoption can be legalized in California.

Some adoptive families choose to adopt children who are found in other countries. Inter-Country adoption requires the adoptive parents to complete and submit the I-600A form. This form is called “Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition�. When the family has found the child they will be adopting, then they must also fill out the I-600 form called “Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative�.

Inter-Country adoption agencies will guide the adoptive parents in the process of finding and adopting a child from another country.

Back to the main California Adoption page.