Qualifications

People just like you adopt children every day. If you work with Colorado's public child welfare system, you'll find that the adoption process is straightforward.

Contact the Adoption Coordinator in your county by clicking here. He or she will help you learn more about adoption and guide you through the process. But first, please review the steps below.

Step 1: Attend an orientation.
Step 2: Complete and submit an application.
Step 3: Attend county or state-sponsored training classes.
Step 4: Participate in a family assessment.
Step 5: Find a child.

Step 1: Orientation

You will attend an orientation in your community along with other prospective adoptive parents where you'll learn:

• What adoption means and what your role as a parent will be.
• Who Colorado's waiting children are, their backgrounds and their ages.
• What the entire process involves, such as the application form, possible costs, the required training classes and the family assessment.
• How the adoption caseworkers will work with you and your family.
• How concurrent planning allows children to be placed in your home for foster care prior to becoming legally free for adoption.
• The legal procedures and the assistance and resources available to adoptive parents.

Step 2: The Application

The Colorado Department of Human Services Application To Care For Children is straightforward, doesn't take long to complete, and it's free.

Every applicant will have a background check for prior criminal and child abuse records.

Step 3: Training Classes

Many county departments require prospective adoptive parents to attend training classes as part of the eligibility process. These classes are taught by experienced child welfare professionals. In addition to helping to prepare you, your home and your family for a variety of changes, the training can cover a wide range of issues including, the legal processes, the developmental stages of children, and the challenges, stresses and rewards experienced by adoptive families.

Step 4: Home Assessment

A family assessment –- also called a "home study" –- is the process that helps us find good families for the children who are waiting. Most of the information gathered comes from one-on-one interviews with a caseworker or another professional who will visit your home. Some of the areas covered in the family assessment include, but are not limited to:

• Social history, background and values
• Problem solving and communication skills
• Parenting skills and family preparation
• Children
• Family system and family support network
• Demographics and birth family

Step 5: Find a Child

Every child is unique, and so is every family. That's why selecting waiting children for prospective families is an important part of the adoption equation. Here is what you will do:

1. Learn about specific waiting children.
2. Meet one or more waiting children.
3. Get acquainted with a child through several visits.
4. Decide with your caseworker - and the child's caseworker - if the fit is a good one.

When the time is right, your child will come to live with you. After six months to one year in most cases, the adoption can be finalized. Finalization means that your child is a permanent part of your family.

Click here to meet some of Colorado's waiting children OR contact the Adoption Coordinator in your county by clicking here.