You have been thinking about this for a while. You have a successful career, a great home, and are now ready to start a family or grow the one you have through adoption. You either know someone who has gone through the process or you have always wondered whether adoption is a right fit for your family. Don’t worry. You are not alone.

Bringing a child into a warm, caring home through adoption is an exciting and rewarding process for more than a hundred thousand families in the U.S. every year. Our nonprofit alone has placed more than 3,500 children into loving homes since 1983. We understand the decision to become a Resource Family and ultimately an adoptive parent will be a life-changing experience and should not be taken without ample research. Luckily, there are some simple key things you can do to prepare yourself for the journey ahead.

Attend our orientation meeting

Going through foster care is the most cost-friendly method of adoption, but there are certain realities you should consider. Attending our orientation is the best way to learn firsthand about the challenges of foster care adoption and to have your specific questions or concerns answered. During orientation you’ll learn more about the children in foster care in need of families, your specific role as adoptive parents and all the steps involved in the foster care to adoption process. Also covered are the comprehensive services we provide to support the success of your new family.

Orientation for our Sacramento office is offered the second Monday of each month in a group setting. Individual and group orientations are held in our Grass Valley office on the first Wednesday of each month. Our Auburn orientations are held the third Thursday of each month. Additional orientations can be arranged for your church, community group, or workplace. Please contact your local Sierra office to schedule an orientation:

Sacramento Office: (916) 368-5114

Auburn Office: (530) 887-9982

Grass Valley Office: (530) 478-0900

Have your paperwork ready

We take the time to recruit, train, and support families who want to transform the lives of children in foster care by proving love, safety and unconditional commitment. Many factors go into determining whether you are a right fit for adoption and with the priority placed on the child’s wellbeing and safety, we take the utmost care in ensuring the necessary requirements are met.

Information we take into consideration includes age, marital status, income, living arrangements, disability information, lifestyle, and parenting ability. You will be asked to submit copies of tax returns, birth certificates, employment verification and other documents required by state regulations. Having these documents ready will help to streamline the process ahead.

Be patient and persistent

Becoming an adoptive parent can take anywhere between four to nine months and the process itself can be incredibly thorough. In addition to the application paperwork, we conduct a home study assessment, where a Master’s level social worker will meet with your family to provide information about the process. The social worker assesses your family during a 4 – 6 week interview process and then prepares a written family profile, with background history, current relationships and functioning, experience with children and parenting as well as other pertinent information. Our approach is strength-based and our goal is to educate families on permanency and adoption and the impact on children and families. We believe that no child is “unadoptable” and we do everything we can to match the right child to right the family.

In addition to the steps above, find and connect with our community of forever families on our Facebook page to learn about their specific experiences going through this amazing process. You can learn more about how to sign up for an orientation at our adoption orientation page.