How Are Adoptive Parents Screened for Adoption in Ohio?

You can find a safe, loving family for your baby when you work with our agency.

When you have made the brave and selfless decision to place your baby for adoption in Ohio, you may already have access to online family profiles and our unique family video profiles. But, before you choose any of the families listed you may be wondering, “How are families screened when they are looking to adopt in Ohio?”

We follow all federal and state adoption laws when we choose which families to work with. More than that, our staff is made up of adoptive parents, birth parents and adoptees who understand what it takes to be a great adoptive family. It is important to have a safe and ethical adoption in order to protect you, your baby and hopeful families.

If you’d like to speak with an adoption specialist on our staff today, you can call 1-800-ADOPTION at any time.

Adoption Screening in Ohio [Find Great Adoptive Parents]

Families looking to adopt in Ohio and across the U.S. must be screened for adoption according to requirements in each state in order to be considered safe and eligible to adopt a child. When you work with our licensed adoption agency, you can be confident that all of our couples waiting to adopt in Ohio have been screened for adoption in the following ways:

• Background check

• Medical and behavioral health history

• Home study, including home inspection

• Interviews

• Financial review

Families are screened for adoption in Ohio prior to becoming active with our agency to ensure that they are legally, physically, emotionally and financially able to raise a child. It’s important to work with a licensed adoption agency because licensing means that the agency meets the state requirements to be able to facilitate safe and ethical adoptions.

Let’s look at each of these Ohio adoption screening processes in more detail.

Adoption Home Study [What You Need to Know about Adoption Screening]

One big part of adoption screening in Ohio is the adoption home study.

First, when hopeful parents contact our adoption agency to begin their adoption process, they will answer basic questions about their names, ages and where they live.

Next, if they are accepted as prospective adoptive parents with our adoption agency, they do not become active until their adoption home study is completed and documented.

Finally, a prospective adoptive family is considered active when you see their profiles on our website.

The following is all the important information that families must provide in order to complete adoption screening in Ohio and become active families with our agency.

Background Checks

All adults living in the household must agree to a background check performed by a law enforcement agency as a part of their adoption screening in Ohio. This check includes child abuse/neglect records and criminal history.

Criminal and felony records are checked from across each individual’s lifetime, so any crimes committed will be reviewed. This does not restrict families from adopting, but adoption agencies and the district courts have the right to decide if they are willing to work with the family for adoption in Ohio.

Medical and Behavioral Health History

It is important to gather health records for adoption screening in Ohio because parents must be physically able to care for a baby. Many couples choose adoption because health concerns make pregnancy dangerous. But, if those health concerns are being treated by a doctor and under control, then the couple may be eligible to adopt.

Mental and behavioral health records are important as well for adoption screening. Even if a couple has not ever been treated for mental illness, they must undergo a psychological evaluation. Adoptive parents must be emotionally and mentally healthy in order to care for a child in a way that is healthy for them both.

Health care insurance is also verified during this portion of the adoption screening in Ohio. This is a requirement to ensure that access to healthcare and affordability of healthcare will be available to the entire family.

Home Inspection

Your baby should have a safe, loving and happy home. With our Ohio adoption screening, you can be sure that will happen.

Home Adoption Screening in Ohio

The home must be structurally sound and provide adequate space for everyone who lives there. This means that there are enough bedrooms for everyone and common areas are spacious and easy to navigate. The adoption home study specialist will also verify that kitchen supplies and tools are inaccessible to children, as well as covered electrical outlets and stairs secured by baby gates.

The bottom line: Any adoptive family you consider has a home that will be safe and comfortable for your child.

The outdoor area that may be open to children should be secured by fencing and at a safe distance from roads. Any swimming pools, tool sheds and other facilities on the property must be properly secured. These are important safety features that adoption home study specialists look for to ensure that families are screened for adoption in Ohio and ready to adopt.

Neighborhood Adoption Screening in Ohio

The adoption home study specialist is generally looking for a family-friendly neighborhood with access to schools and medical centers. Families live in all types of neighborhoods in rural, urban and suburban areas. It is important that all families have access to roads and a plan for emergency situations due to severe weather and other events that could be dangerous or life threatening.

Interviews During Ohio Adoption Screening

Hopeful parents will be interviewed together and separately for adoption screening, as well as immediate family members. This is to help determine more information about the couple and their readiness to adopt.

Hopeful Parents Adoption Screening in Ohio

Hopeful parents are asked many questions to include those listed here:

• Why do you want to adopt a child?

• What are your plans for your child’s future?

• What is your parenting style?

• Why do you believe your partner will be a good parent?

These questions are meant to verify readiness for parenting and interviews are conducted in the home so that couples will feel comfortable and can be open and honest during their adoption screening.

Children Adoption Screening

All children over the age of one are asked questions about their parents and their life at home. Here are some of the questions asked to children:

• What do you like about your house?

• What do you like to do with your parents?

• What are some things that your parents teach you?

• How do you feel about being a big brother or sister?

These questions are meant to learn about the children who are living in the household and about their day-to-day lives with their parents. It is also important to learn how they feel about adoption and having a new sibling — adoption can be an exciting new topic for children during an adoption screening.

Extended Family Adoption Screening in Ohio

Most families spend time with their relatives who do not live in their homes. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins will likely be a part of the child’s life, so it is important to know their views on the adoptive couple and how they will interact with the new baby. Sometimes, extended family will help care for the baby and it is important to assess their readiness and ability to do so.

Friends Adoption Screening in Ohio

Friends are an important part of many family’s lives and their views and opinions of the adoptive couple matter. They can shed light on unique things about the couple that other people may not see.

Overall, interviews for adoption screening are important because the information can be gathered in a comfortable and conversational manner. It is important to have documents and written reports for an adoption home study, but it is also important to talk to people so that they can express their thoughts and ideas as individuals who are preparing to adopt a child.

Financial Review

A review of finances during adoption screening in Ohio will determine if a family is able to provide the resources that a child needs to grow and be healthy. During this review, couples are asked to provide proof of employment and/or pay stubs from stable income. Assets and liabilities, such as property owned and debts owed, are also reviewed.

In some instances, hopeful families may be able provide funds for a birth mother who needs financial assistance. The financial review is not to determine if a family is rich. The importance of the review is to verify that the family will have a reliable source of income to maintain their family when they have a child.

Adoptive Family Profiles [Information Available to Prospective Birth Parents after Adoption Screening]

Thorough adoption screening in Ohio takes place before our waiting family profiles are created and posted on our website. If any information changes for our families, or if a family needs to place their adoption process on a temporary hold, we diligently update their information.

After we verify that your child’s future parents are healthy, financially stable and live in a safe home, then we create a profile to show you what they’re like. These profiles include information that may be important to you such as:

• How religion and faith are practiced

• What personality and parenting styles are like

• Where the family lives

• Who is in their family

• How they will raise and teach your child

• What they do for fun and leisure

We asked birth parents what they want to see in adoptive family videos and we create profiles for our families that address the most common and important information. When you choose to place your child with a family that you don’t know, it is important that you get to know a little bit about them through adoptive family profiles, but open adoption can help you and your child’s future parents learn about each other on a personal level and maybe even become good friends.

If you have questions or want to know further information about our adoptive family screening in Ohio, you can call us at 1-800-ADOPTION, or contact us online at any time.

Disclaimer
Information available through these links is the sole property of the companies and organizations listed therein. American Adoptions provides this information as a courtesy and is in no way responsible for its content or accuracy.