INFANT ADOPTION
Ascentria is a full-service infant adoption program. We prepare prospective adoptive families through counseling and the home study process, and we assist birthparents in planning for the care of their unborn children. When adoption is the plan, we help birthparents select the family who will parent their child. We encourage birthparents and prospective adoptive families to meet before the birth and determine together the extent of their ongoing contacts.
We can help you fulfill the legal requirements of Identified Adoption, in which prospective adoptive parents and expectant birthparents are matched. Many of our families network with friends and family to identify a birthparent who may wish to make an adoption plan. In most instances, the newborn infant is placed in the care of the adoptive family upon discharge from newborn hospital care, and the adoption is finalized within six to eight months.
Children placed through the Ascentria infant adoption program are usually healthy newborns of Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, or multiracial parents. When you complete a home study and the approval process, your family profile is entered into the Ascentria pool of approved families and you’ll have an equal opportunity to be selected by any birth mother seeking a home for her child. The wait for a placement may range from a few days to several months, or even a couple of years.
RELATIVE, STEP-PARENT and CO-PARENT ADOPTIONS
Ascentria Adoption Services is happy to help families complete relative, step-parent, and co-parent adoptions. In accordance with the laws of your state of residence, a home study, with supporting documentation such as police and protective services clearances, is generally required. We can assist you every step of the way toward the legalization of your parent-child relationship, as in step-parent and co-parent relationships, and in fostering new family bonds in the adoption of infants related to the adopting family.
Depending on your needs, services may include:
- counseling
- termination of parental rights of the birthparents, if necessary
- post-placement reporting, where required
- preparation and submission of court documents
- and attendance at the finalization hearing.
Fees and requirements in adoptions vary from state to state.
We are happy to collaborate with any licensed placement agency of your choice in providing home study, adoption education, post-placement support and finalization services.