Overview

The Adoptions Program allows the agency to play an active role in providing permanency for children in FamiliesFirst foster homes. The Adoption Program seeks to find permanent homes for children age infant to eighteen that are placed in foster care. Children who may be available for adoption or have families with uncertain futures are referred to FamiliesFirst by county social service departments. They are placed with concurrent planning families who are prepared to either adopt if that is the case outcome; or who may assist the child in reunifying with their biological family. Extensive resources are devoted to recruiting and training families who are willing and prepared to adopt a special needs child. A combination of AFDC-FC and county department of social service funds from various counties fund the program. Counties request that FamiliesFirst conduct an adoption home study to permanently place a FamiliesFirst child with an adoptive family.

FamiliesFirst is a custodial adoption agency licensed by the State of California Department of Social Services Agency Adoptions Program to provide a full range of adoption services in the following counties:

Adoption Program Values

The principal goal of the FamiliesFirst Adoption Program is to provide adoption services to court-dependent, special needs children whose permanent plan is adoption and to the prospective adoptive parents of such children.  A special needs child is defined as a child who waits longer for an adoptive home due to one or more of the following reasons:

• Age
• Racial or ethnic background
• Physical, mental, or emotional disability
• Membership in a sibling group that should be placed together

Toward this goal, FamiliesFirst gives priority to providing adoption services to special needs children currently placed with families certified through our Foster Care and Adoption Program.  This policy allows FamiliesFirst to provide a continuum of services to children requiring out-of-home care, whether those needs are short-term or long-term.  It enables FamiliesFirst to provide services to a child and family through the placement process until the adoption has been finalized, as well as to provide post-adoption services to maintain the placement.  FamiliesFirst believes that adoption provides the most secure environment for a child outside of his or her biological family, and therefore encourages foster parents to adopt the children in their care for whom adoption and adoptive placement with that family are appropriate. In addition, the FamiliesFirst Adoption Program is committed to providing adoption services to children placed in foster homes licensed through individual counties or other Foster Family Agencies, or children in kinship care. To provide quality service to all of our clients, we work cooperatively with other licensed custodial and non-custodial adoption agencies and other community resources to find and maintain the best adoptive homes for special-needs children.  Special-needs adoption services may include emotional, psychological, educational, and medical services to help children cope with the effects of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect, and other issues that necessitated the child’s placement in foster care.

In keeping with the Federal mandates to provide concurrent planning for children in the foster care system, children will be admitted into the FamiliesFirst Adoption Program when the placing county and the agency determine that adoption should be part of the permanent plan for that child.  This can and should occur as early in the placement process as is reasonable and appropriate for that child.  Every effort will be made to minimize the number of placements that a child has by identifying families that are willing to work toward family reunification or would be willing to adopt the child if family reunification is unsuccessful.  If the current foster family does not wish to pursue adoption, FamiliesFirst will recommend other adoptive families to the placing county.  For families that enter the agency with the intention of adopting, FamiliesFirst will identify those families that are open to concurrent planning placements and those families who are seeking a child for whom adoption is the case plan.  FamiliesFirst will use personal contact with placing agencies, as well as national photo-listing services, to locate a match for that family.  In all cases, the agency granted care, custody, and control of the child will make the final decision as to the child's adoptive placement.  Once a family is matched with a child, FamiliesFirst will be responsible for providing support services to the family and child until the adoption is finalized, and to provide post-adoption services for families needing further assistance.

FamiliesFirst is also licensed to provide adoption services to birth parents, such as pregnancy counseling, resource referral, and adoption services to parents who determine that adoption is the best plan for the child.

Adoption Program Values

The FamiliesFirst Adoption Program uses a strength-based philosophy to guide its practice.  The basic tenet of this philosophy is that every family has strengths and the best services are designed with these strengths in mind.  The FamiliesFirst adoption program uses the resources and strengths of families, friends, relatives and communities to promote the safety and well being of children and families by employing the following methods:

• Families are full and active partners in all aspects of the information gathering process.

• Partnerships are built with families by using respectful, non-judgmental, and non-blaming approaches.

• The family is encouraged to identify family members, community members and service providers who will support them and can assist them with gathering background information and identifying strengths and needs.

Strengths and resources of families are continuously identified and discussed, and serve as the basis for relationship-building and strategy development.

The core beliefs and values listed below provide the foundation for adoption services provided under the FamiliesFirst Adoption Program:

• Adoption is a life-long process.

• Children understand and cope with adoption differently at different developmental stages in their lives.

• Openness in adoption helps to promote the emotional and psychological well being of the child.  Openness is defined as maintaining an appropriate level of contact between a child and his or her birth family (parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.), and can vary from letters and pictures exchanged through a third party, to ongoing direct contact.  FamiliesFirst believes that openness should be promoted whenever possible, and is committed to helping adoptive and birth families negotiate appropriate guidelines for continued contact.

• Children, Birth Families, and Adoptive families are not denied services based on age, gender, race, national origin, religious affiliation, marital status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.

• Siblings should be placed together whenever possible.  If placement in the same home is not possible, or is clinically contraindicated, FamiliesFirst encourages adoptive families to maintain contact with the child’s siblings through letters, pictures, telephone calls, and direct contact.

• In accordance with the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 (As amended by the Interethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996), FamiliesFirst is committed to making every effort to recruit applicants who match the racial and cultural identity of the children we serve. No family will be denied the right to be adoptive parents on the basis of race, culture, or ethnicity.  Likewise, children will be matched with prospective adoptive parents irrespective of race, culture, or ethnicity.

• Consideration is given to a fost/adopt family wishing to adopt a child currently placed in the home, if the adoption is in the best interest of the child.

• Families who are approved for adoption through the foster care/adoption programs must meet all foster care licensing requirements.

• Education and training on adoption issues is vitally important to the success of the adoptive placement.  Individuals and families wishing to adopt are instructed on adoption issues and provided with training materials and resources throughout the adoption process.  Parents are also notified of post-adoption resources and services available in their communities.

The FamiliesFirst Adoption Program is designed to minimize financial barriers to qualified applicants.  The agency makes every effort to secure alternative funding sources to off set the cost of adoption services provided to children and families. 

FamiliesFirst charges no fees to adoptive applicants wishing to adopt a special needs child.  We participate in the Private Adoption Agency Reimbursement Program (PAARP).  PAARP provides reimbursement to private adoption agencies for the costs of adoption service for children eligible for Adoption Assistance Program benefits because of age, membership in a sibling group, medical or psychological problems, adverse background, or other circumstances that make placement difficult.

For over 25 years FamiliesFirst has provided quality adoption services to children and families of Northern and Central California as well as the Bay area.

We offer relevant and comprehensive training, and prompt, confidential services.

We serve the following counties:

For more information on adoption services and fees, please contact a representative at 1-877-488-5437.