An Agency Placement refers to the selection of the adoptive parents by the birth parent(s) taking place through Love Basket’s selection/matching process. An Independent Placement is one in which birth and adoptive parents “find each other” completely outside the auspices of the Agency.
Does Love Basket help with Independent Placement situations? How?
Yes. Love Basket frequently becomes involved in these situations. We can provide Home Study and Post Placement services. In addition, we can work with the birth parents in the same way we do in an agency adoption: counseling and working with them during the prenatal period, labor/delivery, the legal process, and the postpartum period.
Application Packets I and II
Love Basket’s application process has two steps. The initial application, or Packet I, provides information to help us get to know a family and determine whether we can assist them to meet their adoption goals. Packet II gives more program details, asks more questions (sorry!), and includes personal, employer and pastoral references, Child Abuse and Neglect/Criminal Record checks, and Medical History/Exam forms. Approval is given once we have received and reviewed all the information from both Application Packets as well as the Home Study.
Home Study
The Home Study is the process that familiarizes a family with adoption and assesses their readiness to adopt. A social worker will meet with a family several times, with one of those meetings being in your home. The report from these meetings becomes the document that represents the prospective parents to the courts and government entities involved in the adoption process. In Missouri and Kentucky, Love Basket prefers to complete your home study, as it provides the opportunity to prepare the family for the adoption they desire, and allows both the agency and family to get to know each other better as well. In other states where another licensed agency will complete your home study, Love Basket will review and approve that study.
Activation Fee
When an adoptive family sends in their Adoptive Parent Profile, an activation fee is collected to cover the costs of assisting the family in preparing the profile, and in seeking a match with prospective birth parents.
Agency Placement Fee
The agency placement fee is due by cashier’s check two days before placement day. The placement fees cover services provided by Love Basket both to the birth and adoptive parents, after the application and Home Study process is complete, up to and beyond the actual adoptive placement. In addition, preparation of court and other documents related to the placement as well as one court appearance at the initial hearing are also included.
Post-Placement Services
Post-placement services involve several visits to the adoptive family’s home after the placement and are a state requirement. A report is submitted to the court so that the adoption can be finalized or completed.
Interim Child Care
While this service is not needed in all situations, the cost for our interim child care is $35-$45 each day that the child stays with a licensed interim care family. This fee is due, along with the balance of the placement fees, before the child is placed in an adoptive home.
Home Study Update
A family’s original home study is valid for one to two years, depending on the requirements of their state of residence. If a placement does not occur within that period of time, the family will need a Home Study Update to satisfy state requirements and remain on Love Basket’s waiting list. This will involve completing Love Basket’s update application (not as exhaustive as the initial one) and have one visit with a caseworker.
Interstate Compact
When the adoptive family lives in a state other than the one in which the child was born, we are required to complete a separate legal procedure through the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), which enables the child to leave one state and become a resident of another.
What is not included in the Child Placement fee?
Expenses not a part of the Placement Fee include, but are not limited to the following: Application, Home Study and Post-Placement charges as well as attorney and court fees, birth-related medical expenses for mother and medical care for the child, Interim child care services if needed, birth parent expenses, completion of Interstate Compact (in interstate placements only), cooperative agency fees and staff travel outside a 50 mile radius. There may be other expenses such as courier services, hospital newborn pictures and pediatric child care.
Non-agency expenses associated with the domestic adoption process:
- Criminal Background Checks & Fingerprinting
- Medical Examinations & Lab Work
- Certified Marriage Certificates (if applicable)
- Xeroxing/Copying Certified Birth Certificates
- Photograph Reprints Certified Divorce/Death Certificates (if applicable)
- Postage/FedEx/UPS Document Notarizations (differs from area to area)
- Long Distance Telephone Calls
Additional expenses that may be associated with a domestic adoption:
- Adoptive Parent profile preparation, color copying or printing
- Adoptive Parent travel for matching meeting with birth parents out of their area, or to pick up child (meals, lodging, airfare)
- Attorney fees/court costs
- Child’s medical expenses
- Birth Parent expenses — possibly housing, utilities, groceries (in rare cases birth-related medical expenses for the birth mother)
- Hospital pictures for birth parents
- Staff travel for placements out of area (mileage, meals, lodging)
- Cooperative agency fees for children born outside of MO or KY
- Interim child care if direct placement is not possible
- Completion of Interstate Compact (in Interstate placements)
