We provide services to adoptive families, including but
not limited to, domestic and international home studies,
post-placement supervision, adoption subsidies, counseling,
adoption training and education, Interstate Compact (ICPC),
and foster care. Additionally, our experienced adoption
team, along with the highly reputable legal staff of Jeanne
T. Tate, P.A., work to ensure our adoptive families receive
these services with care, concern and a personal touch every
step of the way.
Traditional & Minority Adoption
Program
Most of the children placed through our agency are either
Caucasian, African-American or mixed race newborn infants.
We also place many children of Hispanic ethnicity. We seek
to help adoptive parents find the right child for their
family.
The waiting period for placement of an infant is usually
six months to two years. Adoptive families who are flexible
regarding racial and ethnic background or health and legal
risks generally have placements sooner.
To join our adoption program, we require that you complete
the following:
• Adoption
Planning Questionnaire
• Adoption Home Study
• Adoption Disclosure (see forms
page)
• Family Profile
• Application Fee (waived for minority
& special needs programs)
Matched Adoption Program
If you are an adoptive family that has already identified
a birth parent whom wishes to place their child with you
for adoption, we can assist. Heart of Adoptions, Inc. can
help you with home study and post placement services, birth
parent interviews and counseling, relinquishment, and legal
finalization. The agency's fees for assisting with a Matched
Adoption vary depending on the extent of the services provided,
but are generally much lower than our other programs.
Home Studies and Post Placement
Supervision
If you need an adoption home study, we can provide it.
Adoptive families enjoy the following advantages of our
home study: Our home study can be used virtually anywhere
in the United States. In many states, only home studies
from licensed adoption agencies are accepted. In addition,
we are able to complete home studies more quickly than most
agencies, and often, our home study is less expensive than
many programs in Florida.
Our adoption home study application is available on our
forms page listed under Adoptive Parents.
Post-placement supervision visits are required follow-ups
to the home study after a child is placed in your home.
They consist of visits with a social worker or agency worker
to assess the status of the child and the adjustment of
the adoptive parents. Once a child is placed in your home,
our agency can perform the required number of post-placement
visits to insure completion in time for finalization. We
require a minimum of 3 visits in the first 3 months after
placement.
Family Profiles
The family profile or portfolio is a collection of pictures
and written information about an adoptive family. The profiles
are distributed to birth parents so that they may select
the perfect family for their child.
We consider the profile to be your “adoptive
resume”. This is your best chance to express your
feelings about the birth parents’ decision in the
form of a “dear birth parent” letter. You will
also be constructing a picture collage that best describes
your family, visually. You have the choices of producing
your own profile or using a portfolio service (at additional
cost to you). We require five hardcopies and one copy in
PDF format. You will need to forward your PDF copy via email
to info@afth.us.
If you are interesting in having your profile
completed by a professional, we strongly recommend Creative
Adoption Consultants (CAC) for your portfolio needs. You
can visit their website at www.creativeadoption.com
or download their brochure on our forms page for details
and pricing.
