Resources for professionals working with resource families (foster, adoptive, and kinship) to help prepare them for becoming adoptive parents, including State and local examples.
- Helping families explore adoption options
- Adoption home study/family assessment
- Transitioning foster parents to adoptive parents
Adoption Competency Overview (PDF - 1,250 KB)
National Resource Center for Adoption
Provides an overview to a comprehensive curriculum for training child welfare practitioners in public and private agencies who provide adoption services for children and youth who have been abused or neglected.
Prepermanency Services for Adoptive and Guardianship Families (PDF - 191 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Defines prepermanency services for prospective adoptive and guardianship families and raises awareness about the need for more prepermanency services supports alongside postpermanency supports.
Support Matters: Lessons From the Field on Services for Adoptive, Foster, and Kinship Care Families (PDF - 2,170 KB)
National Resource Center for Diligent Recruitment at AdoptUSKids (2015)
Provides details on specific program models, including services for older youth, parents, and families and tips for implementing and sustaining support services.
State and local examples
Adoption Practice Guidelines (PDF - 951 KB)
Utah Division of Child and Family Services (2017)
Gives child welfare agency practice guidelines for adoption services for children in Utah. The guidelines include adoptive family recruitment, qualifying an adoptive family, matching the child and the adoptive family, and the adoption permanency goal decision.
Adoptive Parent Handbook (PDF - 113 KB)
New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Child Protection and Permanency, Office of Adoption Operations (2013)
Provides general information on the adoption process in New Jersey, including who can adopt, the licensing process, placement decisions, and adoption subsidy.