Our Step-by-Step Process for Child Placement Adoption Services

Our Adoption Process:

1: Book a Free Phone Consultation

2: Apply to Wide Horizons For Children

Complete an easy 2-step application to immediately begin your adoption process. First, complete a brief online registration form and make a payment of $350. Then, your adoption coordinator will guide you through completing your full application paperwork.

3. Get “Paperwork Ready”

  1. Home Study: The process you undertake to be approved as an adoptive parent. Your home study will including meetings with your social worker, assessments, and education to prepare you for adoption.
  2. US Immigration Approval: (for international adoption only). Pre-approval from the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service to immigrate an adopted child into the US.
  3. Program Application/Dossier submission: Every international adoption program has a specific set of documents that are required to apply to the program. This is referred to as a “dossier”. For US infant adoption, you will submit a personalized photo album introducing your family to expectant parents considering an adoption plan.

It takes most families 4-6 months to get “paperwork ready”.

4. Wait to be Matched with a Child

Once your paperwork is submitted to an adoption program, you are now officially waiting to be matched with a child! How long you wait depends greatly depends on the program you select AND your openness to the child’s age, gender, medical needs, race, and sibling status. View current waiting times for each program in our downloadable Adoption Guide.

5. Child Referral

When a child is matched with your family it’s called a “Child Referral”. Your Program Manager will contact you immediately and share all the child information available including medical, developmental, social history, photos and video (if available).

6. Travel

For both international and domestic adoption, you will travel to take custody of your child and complete the adoption paperwork. Your Program Manager will help plan your trip and arrange for all necessary supports. Refer to the Adoption Guide for the country specific travel requirements.

7. Welcome Home

It’s now time to celebrate your child’s arrival. Wide Horizons will help support all family members during this time of significant adjustment. Your local social worker will visit you in your home, offer advice and resources, and write reports that will be submitted to officials in your child’s birth country.

We know that your family’s adoption journey doesn’t end at child placement, and we are proud to offer a full range of post adoption services (link to this)to our families throughout their child’s lifetime.