The Complete Guide to Adoption in Evansville

If you’re considering adoption in Evansville, Indiana, you’re in the right place. Whether you’re experiencing an unplanned pregnancy or loking into adopting a child, this guide will help you understand every step of the process, and give you access to essential resources.

We’re ready to support you. Contact our local adoption agency in Evansville for support when considering adoption, or for help growing your family.

6 Steps to Placing a Baby Up for Adoption in Evansville

Choosing adoption in the face of an unplanned pregnancy is a courageous, selfless choice. We know that you’re considering adoption because you want the best outcome possible for your child.

Working with American Adoptions of Indiana can remove some of the frustrating legal complexities around putting your baby up for adoption; contact us now for compassionate, personalized support.

Step #1: Decide if Adoption is Right for You

Adoption is a life-changing decision, and should be considered from all angles. Our counselors will never tell you what to do, or pressure you in any way.  We recognize your bravery, and will do everything we can to empower you throughout this process.

Step #2: Create Your Adoption Plan

Your adoption plan consists of medical information and your ideal path through the adoption process. Our adoption specialist will help you fill this out.

We’ll need you to sign an Indiana Authorization to Represent. This authorization tells the state you’re allowing us to advocate for you, and helps us secure things like your Medicare coverage.  All of the benefits go directly to you; the authorization just lets us file paperwork on your behalf.

The rest of the adoption plan deals with what you’re looking for in an adoptive family, and what you’re comfortable with after placement. Your adoption plan will be used to connect you with families with similar goals and expectations as you.

Step #3: Choose an Adoptive Family

Your adoption specialist will provide lists of family profiles for you to review. These profiles are insights into the families waiting for opportunities to adopt.  These may include a short video introduction, descriptions of hobbies, careers, beliefs, favorite foods and more. You can look at waiting Indiana families at any point.

Step #4: Create Your Hospital Plan

Just like with your adoption plan, you’re in control of your hospital plan. You can decide everything about your hospital stay. For example:

• Who would you like with you in the hospital?
• Who would you like in the delivery room?
• How much time do you want to spend with your baby?

There are even more options available to you. You can be as detailed or as broad as you like.

Step #5: Finalize Your Child’s Adoption

Once your child is born, you’ll be able to finalize your adoption. In Indiana, you can legally consent to an adoption at any point after your child is born. A birth father may or may not need to consent to your child’s adoption. Your adoption specialist and adoption attorney can walk you through the specifics of this process.

Step #6: Begin Building Your Life-Long Bond

Adoption doesn’t have to be the end of your relationship with your child and their adoptive family. With open or semi-open adoptions, your bond with your child will only grow in the years to come.  Again, it’s up to you to decide what you want these relationships to look like.

Adoption isn’t the end of our services either. American Adoptions of Indiana will be there for you for as long after your adoption as you need. We provide counsellor support to birth mothers who work with us, and facilitate communications between you and your child’s adoptive family.

6 Steps to Adopt a Baby in Evansville

Welcoming a child into your home is a beautifully life-changing experience. You deserve to grow your family the way you want. Let us help you have that experience.

American Adoptions of Indiana has over 30 years of experience, and is licensed in every county in Indiana. Contact us today to begin your adoption journey.

Step #1: Decide if Adoption is Right for Your Family

Adopting a baby will change your family and your life forever. Many families are very aware and excited for this. If you’ve considered adoption and how it will impact your life, your next step is to contact an agency for the type of adoption you want to pursue.

Agencies like American Adoptions of Indiana offer numerous benefits to perspective parents, including knowledgeable and experienced staff members who are ready to help you through every step of your adoption. The earlier in this process you secure professional help the better. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

Step #2: Prepare for Your Home Study

The home study process is a three-part safety check to ensure adopted children are placed in a safe environment. They are required for all adoptions and for foster care providers.

Home studies can be difficult to navigate alone. Luckily, you’re not alone. American Adoptions of Indiana is a licensed home study provider in all Indiana counties. This means your adoption specialist can both help you prepare for the home study before hand and be the social worker who conducts it.

Step #3: Complete Your Profile

Your Adoptive Family Profile is the primary way birth mothers will find you. These profiles will start with a video introduction of you and your family, which our video team will help you put together.

You can include anything you want in your profile, but we recommend at very least a short summary of your life so far and information about hobbies and career. The more a birth mother gets to know you, the more information they have to make a selection. Once your profile is complete, you’ll start being seen by prospective birth mothers.

Step #4: Be Selected by a Birth Mother

Once a birth mother selects your family, your adoption specialist will put you in touch. Birth mothers want the best for their children, and often want to talk to several of their top choices before placing their child with a family. This means many families are contacted, but not selected at first.

If this happens to you, stay patient and don’t be discouraged; we have a 100% success rate in connecting prospective birth mothers and adoptive families when the families stay active. You deserve to grow your family, and we will do everything in our power to make that a reality.

Once you are selected, the birth mother may want to contact you a few times, or may even ask to meet in-person.

Step #5: Finalize Your Child’s Adoption

As the birth mother’s due date approaches, your adoption specialist will explain to you how you fit in to the birth mother’s hospital plan. This part of the process is highly dependent on the birth mother. Once the hospital plan has completed, in most cases, you’re free to bring your child back to their new home.

In a few weeks, you’ll need to attend your finalization hearing, where you and your adoption attorney will go to a court to complete the adoption. The court will decide how many post-placement visits you’ll need - most courts require at least two visits.

Step #6: Begin Building Your Life-Long Bond

The legal process may be done, but adoption is a life-long journey. You’ll continue bonding with your child as they grow, and if you ever need help, American Adoptions of Indiana will be here for you.

Types of Adoption in Evansville

There are many kinds of adoption. The most common kinds of adoptions in Evansville are:

 

Adoption Agencies in Evansville

Working with adoption agencies helps the steps listed above go quickly and without incident, both for those with unplanned pregnancy and adoptive parents.

Private (Infant) Adoptions

• American Adoptions of Indianan Brownsburg
• American Adoptions of Indianan Indianapolis

Though our offices are located in Indianapolis, we are certified and licensed in every single county in Indiana, meaning we’re ready to provide specific, localized support to families and birth mothers in the crescent valley. American Adoptions of Indianan has been helping build families for over 30 years. No matter your situation, we can help you take care of your child or grow your family. Schedule your free consultation today.

Foster Care Agencies

• Firefly children and Family Alliance
• The Villages
• Adult & Child Health

International Adoption Agencies

• Families Through International Adoption
• Indiana University’s Riley Children’s Health
• Hand in Hand International Adoptions

Evansville Adoption Laws

While most Indiana laws are state-wide, some vary by county. Here we’ll walk you through Indiana’s laws in detail.

Vanderburg County Court

In Evansville the Vanderburg County Superior Family Court will hear your adoption case. Your adoption specialist will organize the required forms for you, and generally guide you through the process. .

Financial Assistance

While the practice of adoptive parents directly paying birth mothers is illegal, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to take advantage of the financial assistance you’re entitled to.

Working with an adoption agency both makes these payments legal, and can help you increase the total amount of compensation you receive by taking care of the legal processes to increase the assistance cap.

Birth Fathers

In Indiana, Birth Fathers have more limited rights than the birth mother, but may still need to consent to adoption. Cases where you will need to secure birth father consent are:

• If the birth mother is married to the birth mother,
• If the birth father has established paternity through court order, or
• If the birth father has a signed paternity affidavit.

However, these requirements are invalidated in some situations. Read the ‘consent’ section for details on when the birth father may not be required to give consent.

Consent

For an adoption to proceed, consent is usually required from all parties listed below:

• The birth mother.
• The birth father, if they have established paternity rights.
• Any person or entity (agencies and law offices) with legal custody over the child.
• The court with local jurisdiction.
• The child, if they are over 14 years old.

Some of these consent requirements may be invalidated. To have a court wave a consent requirement, you’ll need to work with an adoption attorney or a local adoption agency in Evansville to prove one of more of the following. Consent can be waived if:

• The child’s parent has not made consistent or purposeful contact while the child has been in the custody of another person for one year or more.
• The parent’s parental rights were terminated by a court already.
• The parent is seen by a court to be an unfit caregiver already, and has ruled against their ability to contest adoption.
• The biological father failed to establish paternity.
• The child was conceived as a result of assault, if the biological father was not married to the biological mother.

Notice

In Indiana, several persons and entities connected to the child must be notified when an adoption is finalized. These include:

• All parties who were required to give consent for the adoption.
• The presumed biological father, if registered by the state registry.
• The grandparents.
• The DCS office where the child services request was initially filed.
• Any facility, agency or other organization which is caring for the child currently.

ICPC

The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, or ICPC, is a law that regulates adoptions which cross state lines. The ICPC’s purpose is to make sure both participating states’ adoption laws are followed. With how close Evansville is to Kentucky and Illinois, you may end up dealing with ICPC regulations even if you adopt relatively locally.

• If you’re a resident adopting a baby in Evansville from out of state, you’ll need to check that state’s ICPC requirements. Once you meet the requirements, the social workers in your child’s home state will need to send an ICPC referral to your social workers or attorneys in Indiana.

• If you’re adopting a child from Indiana and are not a state resident, the results of your home study will be sent to Indiana. If the ICPC office in Indiana approves your home, they will grant you a referral and the adoption can proceed.

Others

Here are some other Indiana-specific laws that may apply to you:

• Open adoptions are legal, and can be made informally or via the court
• Informal open adoption agreements can only be made if the child is less than two years old, and are not considered enforceable.
• Formal open adoption agreements may be enforced, but violating the terms will not invalidate the adoption.
• If you are married, Indiana law requires you to adopt jointly with your spouse. Otherwise, single adoption is permitted.
• There is no restriction on gender, sexual orientation, religion, or age to adopt a child in Indiana – however, individual adoption agencies in Evansville may set their own standards for these factors.
• The birth mother is given 30 days after giving consent in which she may revoke consent. After that, consent is irrevocable. All other parties waive their right to revoke their consent when they sign the consent form, provided the form contains the correct legally binding language.

Evansville Adoption Requirements

While adopting can be a straight-forward process, the state still needs to make sure the adoptive family is a safe, responsible place for a child to be placed. In order to make sure of this, there are a few requirements adoptive parents must meet.

The Indiana Adoption Requirements for adoptive parents are as follows:

You can use this article to learn more about Indiana’s adoption requirements.

How Much Does it Cost to Adopt in Evansville?

Families face adoption costs using a variety of strategies. Let’s go over the cost of adoption for Evansville families, then discuss programs that could help you increase your adoption budget.

Remember, for birth mothers, placing your child with a family is always free.

Cost of Private Adoption Agencies in Evansville

Domestic adoption can cost between $20,000 and $60,000. This overall cost is made up of smaller fees, including:

*When working with American Adoptions of Indiana, these costs are bundled into one flat fee, which prevents unnecessary duplicate charges.

Financial Assistance for Adoption in Evansville

Pregnancy and adoption are both expensive processes, yet they can be much less intimidating when you consider all the community programs available to help you through the financial obligations in this process. Let’s go over the programs available in Evansville:

Financial Assistance for Unplanned Pregnancies

Under Indiana law, you’re entitled to certain financial support during your adoption, but it’s important to work with an adoption agency to facilitate the payments and make this support legal.

Depending on your situation, there are a few different programs that can help you with different areas of your life. Take a look at these programs. Don’t worry, your adoption specialist will help you apply for any that apply.

There are also many programs available specifically for Evensville residents. Here are some programs you could benefit from:

If these aren’t the right fit for you, you may want to check in at your local hospital, city hall, or public library, and see if a professional there can help you find out about assistance programs near you.

Also consider our birth mother counselling before and after adoption. After adoption, birth mothers can also apply for our ongoing education scholarship.

Financial Assistance for Evansville Parents

The legal complexities and logistical challenges can unfortunately complicate adoption pricing. Fortunately, there are assistance programs available. Many of these programs provide a tangible start, and may be easier to secure than other kinds of funds. Some programs you can look into are:

Adoption grants are a vital resource for many parents. Here are some you can consider applying for:

Adoption loans can be the financial step that makes adoption a feasible option for your family. As with any significant financial decision, be sure to carefully consider the long-term impacts before taking out a loan.

There are also many programs available specifically for Evensville residents. Here are some programs you could benefit from:

If these aren’t the right fit for you, you may want to check in at your local hospital, city hall, or public library, and see if a professional there can help you find out about assistance programs near you.

Other Adoption Professionals in Evansville

Adoption looks different for everyone. For some, that could mean finding support from professionals who are not affiliated with an agency. Some of the common instances of this include:

Start your Adoption Process

Your family’s adoption journey can begin today. Even if you aren’t ready for concrete steps, and simply need more information, we can help. We have knowledgeable, local staff members ready to help you plan your process out. You don’t need to wait any longer to begin your adoption journey; start building the family you deserve with American Adoptions of Indiana.

 

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