Managing the Adoption Process

There are many ways to structure the sequence of the adoption process. Some agencies recommend that the best course of action is to get a home study done first. We do not. Other agencies require mandatory workshops before starting the adoption process. New Beginnings’ are given after your initial application has been approved There are many variations on the adoption process. However, once you have submitted your application to New Beginnings, allow us to manage the process for you.

What New Beginnings does is structure the process to be efficient. We manage the sequence of activities to complete multiple tasks simultaneously. We will make an informed assessment early in the process so applicants will know if the program they desire would be available. Documents that take longer or are generated by someone else are requested early in the process. You will rarely have to duplicate a document or generate a second set of documents for the country. You will be putting together your dossier over the same time the Parent Education Workshops will be scheduled. During the time the home study report is being completed, you will be finishing up the paperwork needed for the country.

The process unfolds differently for each applicant. We work to keep it moving forward at all times.

Step 1: Application Approval

We have provided an application for you to complete and return if you decide you would like to begin an adoption with us. After submitting this document, New Beginnings will direct all subsequent elements needed for the adoption.

Click here for an application form. (You will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat for this application.)

Step 2: Starting the Process

Once the application is approved, the paperwork process begins. You will be requested to fill out an Adoptive Family Profile (a more detailed application), request references, and submit clearances. With this information, New Beginnings can make a more informed determination of an applicant's suitability as an adoptive applicant and afterwards, offer an Adoption Service Contract. With receipt of the adoption contract, the estimated length of time for each program begins.

Step 3: Homestudy Process

The home study or home study report is the document that evaluates and approves your home for an adoption. The home study process is the steps leading up to that report. You will have to prepare your dossier and attend our pre-adoption workshops. These steps overlap in time. Once they are concluded, a social worker will visit your home and the formal home study report will be written.

Dossier
The dominant feature of the initial stages of the adoption process is gathering documents, such as medical reports, birth certificates and financial statements, to name but a few. New Beginnings will give you specific instructions on what documents are needed for all parties in the adoption process. For many countries, not only must you generate a document, it must be legalized. This is a series of notaries, stamps and seals that are affixed to the document to present to the foreign country. This sounds more complicated than it is and New Beginnings will guide you through this maze of legalizing documents.

Pre-Adoption Workshops
While you are gathering the documents needed for your dossier, you will be preparing yourself for the adoption through the workshops. New Beginnings mandates that our applicants attend at least two comprehensive workshops and then offers many elective workshops in addition. The workshops are given to help our families prepare for the life long adoption experience. We even offer a workshop on putting your dossier together.

Home study Report
Many different parties in the adoption process need the home study report. It is the agency's formal approval of the applicant. It also is the basis for everyone else's approval. It has to be written to satisfy many exacting eyes. (A persuasive reason not to have it done initially.) You will be assigned a caseworker that will conduct a thorough investigation into the suitability of your family for adoption. Much of the information needed for the home study has already been obtained with the dossier. The home study report is the culmination of the initial steps of the adoption process. However, it is not nearly as formal or as intimidating as it seems.

Step 4: The Assignment and Acceptance

After the difficulty associated with the dossier and the anxiety of the home study, you will finally have the joyous moment of receiving an assignment (sometimes called the referral). The assignment information varies from country to country, but generally includes current and background information on the child, medical reports and photographs of the child. Some countries include information on the biological mother. This is a very exciting time and our caseworker and staff will be there to counsel you on your decision to accept or reject the assignment.

The information on the child is collected by the foreign agency sponsoring the program. It is possible that there still may exist undiscovered or undiagnosed medical conditions or problems. New Beginnings strongly urges our families to contact an independent medical specialist to evaluate any information received. Should the family or their doctor have any concerns about the information received, New Beginnings will strive to gather more information as soon as possible.

If there is a medical problem with the child or some other reasonable concern, you are free to decline the assignment and in most situations another assignment will be forthcoming. If new information should come to light that calls into question the viability of the assignment, the acceptance can later be declined.

Step 5: Bringing Your Child Home

The excitement of accepting the assignment is soon followed by anxiety in waiting for your child to come home. For most programs, you are required to travel to the child's country of birth to adopt the child. As with the rest of the process, New Beginnings manages this step in the adoption process as well. You will have to begin parenting your child when abroad. This should be your primary, if not exclusive, concern during your trip. As such, a New Beginnings' representative will assist you with the adoption procedures during your stay in the foreign country. If difficulties arise, our representative is there to resolve the problem. Your responsibility is to your child. We do our best to take care of everything else.

Step 6: Post Adoption Placement Supervision

This agency is responsible for providing post adoption placement supervisory services to our adoptive families after the child's arrival. During the supervisory period, you and your caseworker will meet at least three times to see how everyone is adjusting and to offer support to the family. The length of the supervision is usually six months to a year, but for some programs and situations it can continue for years and there could be six or more visits.

For many of our programs, the adoption is finalized in the foreign country. Even if the adoption is full and final in the foreign country, you may want to re-adopt here in the United States.

For the Korean and Thai programs, you must adopt under the laws of your home state.