There are many things to consider prior to making the decision to pursue adoption from U.S. foster care. It’s good to take your time and make sure this is the right fit for your family. In most cases, you may be able to adopt whether you’re married, single, or in a committed relationship. You do not need to own your own home, have children already, be young, wealthy, or a stay-at-home parent to adopt.
Characteristics needed to be a good adoptive parent include:
- Being stable, mature, dependable, and flexible
- Having the ability to advocate for children
- Being a team player with your family or child welfare worker
The Adoption Process
If you are a resident of South Carolina, you may email or submit an inquiry from our website to learn about a specific featured child or about the adoption process.
Once you are ready to complete an adoption intake application, the SC Heart Gallery will forward your information to Heartfelt Calling, a division of the SC Foster Parent Association. Heartfelt Calling is contracted by the SC Department of Social Services (SCDSS) to provide pre-service training to families who wish to foster or adopt.
After reviewing your application, Heartfelt Calling will invite you and your family to a parent orientation where you are given a packet with instructions and additional paperwork to complete.
As a part of the adoption application process, SCDSS requires
- background checks
- fingerprints
- central registry checks on all household members 18 or older
- family history/background
- household income & expenses
- education and work history
- current medical reports
- written references from non-relatives
- copies of birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce petitions & decrees, military discharge papers
DHEC and the fire marshal will also complete sanitation and safety inspections of your home.
An adoption specialist from SCDSS will enroll you in two Saturday, eight-hour Foster/Adopt Parent training sessions through Heartfelt Calling, and will then schedule an additional four-hour adoption training.
Once training and home inspections are successfully completed, a certified adoption investigator (CI) schedules a minimum of two home visits to interview all family members, review your application documents, and assess your family’s acceptance of background factors and readiness to adopt.
The CI submits the completed home study to the regional SCDSS Adoption Division to determine if your study is approved or denied.
If you are inquiring through the SC Heart Gallery: Once we have received your inquiry for a child on our site whom you are interested in adopting, we will then request your approved home study so that we may submit it to the SC Department of Social Services for screening and consideration.
If your home study is approved, your family and other approved in-state and out-of-state families are actively considered for placements based upon your specific interests, including the age, gender, number of children and which special needs you can accept in a child or sibling group.
There is no way to estimate how long it may take before a family is matched with a child. While waiting, the regional SCDSS Adoption Division may invite approved families to recruitment events. Families can also search the SCDSS, SC Heart Gallery, AdoptUSkids, or other websites for available children and submit inquiries through the website or through their family worker.
A selection committee, including the adoption specialist and supervisor, the child’s foster care worker and supervisor, and/or other appropriate parties reviews the merits of each family to be considered and determines which approved family best meets the needs of the waiting child.
The selected family is notified and invited to a presentation of the child’s background information and given time to decide if they are interested in placement.
There may be exceptions to this, based on the legal status of the child.
The selected family and child meet and begin pre-placement visits. When the child and family are ready, as assessed and agreed upon by the agency, placement occurs.
The regional DSS Adoption Division provides supervisory assistance during an adjustment period of several months or more, depending on the legal status and adjustment of child and family to the placement.
Finalization occurs once the child and family are ready, as assessed and recommended by the agency.
Adoption is a lifelong process. After finalization, counseling, referral services, and other assistance may be available upon request from the adoptive family.