Various agencies play a role in the adoption process

On Behalf of | Aug 9, 2019 | adoption

One of the most generous and loving things a person in Ohio can do is to adopt a child to raise as their own, providing that child with care, love and a healthy, stable home. Many parents who adopt a child start out as the child’s foster parents.

The following is a brief overview of the various agencies involved in the adoption of a foster child.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is the agency that licenses other agencies to provide children with fit foster care, adoptive parents and residential services. The ODJFS monitors these agencies regularly and performs inspections of them to ensure that they are complying with federal and state guidelines.

Then, there is the Public Children Services Agency, Private Child Placing Agency, and the Private Noncustodial Agency. Potential adoptive parents must be approved by an assessor from one of these agencies. These agencies are licensed by the ODJFS. These agencies can also provide prospective adoptive parents with information about adopting a foster child.

Children waiting to be adopted or parents approved to adopt a child must work with an assessor employed by either a public or private agency. The assessor will conduct a home study to match children with prospective adoptive parents who can best meet the child’s needs. The assessor will continue working with the prospective adoptive parents and the child until the adoption is finalized.

Finally, there is the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program. This is a program that all prospective adoptive parents must go through. The OCWTP coordinates this training once a prospective parent has been approved for adoption by a PCSA.

This is only a very basic overview of some of the professionals who are involved in the adoption process. No two families are the same, so the adoption process that one family goes through may vary from what another family goes through. Still, this post should give prospective parents a general idea of the agencies they will work with if they decide to adopt a foster child.

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