Adoption Program
Adoption Support
- Considering placing your child for adoption? Find out your alternatives and if appropriate, get referrals to service providers. You can also give up your parental rights to the agency by signing a legal form called an entrustment agreement.
- Looking for a child to adopt? Find out if your home meets the needs of one of the children in our custody.
- Are you caring for a child placed in your home by the child's parent? We offer complete adoptive home studies for the court. Fees are charged for these home studies based on income and family size. The child can be a relative, non-relative, or a stepchild.
- Are you interested in fostering, and possibly adopting, a child? We offer complete dual foster/adoptive home studies.
- Are you looking for information about your birth parents? We share non-identifying information from adoption records when requested by an adult who was adopted in Chesapeake, Virginia as a child or when the adult was adopted in Chesapeake, Virginia and the adoption record is sent to our agency.
Interagency Support
- Search for the birth family of an adult who was adopted in Chesapeake, Virginia as a child when requested by the Virginia Department of Social Services.
- Conduct adoptive home studies on parents residing in Chesapeake, Virginia when requested by an agency from another state for a specific child in the custody of a state agency. This request must come from our Interstate office in Richmond, VA. Fees may be charged based on income, family size, and time spent.
Contact Us!
Please call us at 757-382-2000 to learn more about our programs and ask further questions.
- How do I become an adoptive parent?
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We are not currently conducting home studies for prospective adoptive parents. If your specific interest is adoption, please contact a private adoption agency.
- What are the basic requirements to become a foster/adoptive parent?
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To become a foster/adoptive parent you must meet the following criteria:
- 21 years of age or older
- Married or single (no co-habitation or living together)
- Physically and mentally healthy
- Sufficient income to meet your own needs
- Safe, loving and stable home
- Space for a child's bed and clothing in your home
- Working telephone
- Reliable transportation
- What is required for the home study?
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The home study includes the following: home visits to your home, three or more interviews, three references per adult applicant, federal, state, and local criminal checks, child abuse and neglect checks, Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) checks, tuberculosis (TB) tests on all household members, physicals on adult foster/adoptive parents within the last 12 months, financial paperwork, background paperwork, fire escape plan, disaster plan, proof of marriages and divorces, animal shot record and license, and other information.