This webpage will connect you to the most frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) on many child welfare topics, including child abuse and neglect, foster care and other out-of-home placements, adoption, and more.
If you do not find an answer to your question, you can submit a question by clicking on the Ask a Question box.
Scholarships and tuition waivers may be available to youth who were adopted from foster care.
Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, offers a web section that outlines the steps of the search process.
In intercountry adoption, (i.e., adopting a child from a foreign country), prospective adoptive parents are required to follow the laws in their state, the laws of the child’s country of origin, the policies and regulations of the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and, when appropriate, Hague regulations.
The basic adoption process for adoptions involving multiple States is similar to the process for adoptions within the same State.
Adoption statistics are very limited. Although data on the number of adoptions from the child welfare system (foster care) and intercountry adoptions are available, data from private agencies is currently not being systematically collected.
There are many options for making adoption affordable.
Postadoption services—services provided after a child is placed for adoption or after adoption finalization—are designed to support adoptive families and may help reduce the likelihood of adoption disruption or dissolution. Since adoption is governed by state law and policy, the type of postadoption services available to adoptive families varies from state to state. Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the Children's Bureau, provides state-by-state information about the types of services available to families in its adoption assistance database.
Some children adopted from foster care who meet their State’s definition of special needs are eligible for Federal or State adoption assistance to minimize the financial obstacles to adoption.
Requirements for prospective adoptive parents vary depending on the type of adoption and agency involved.
Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, provides links to summaries of some aspects of State adoption laws and other relevant legal information in its web section State Laws on Adoption.