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We help create families through adoption.

Congratulations adoptive parents for taking the first step in the journey of a lifetime! Family To Family is a nationwide non-profit adoption agency that is committed to providing safe and successful semi-open adoptions with expertise and love. Our staff helped hundreds of couples and individuals adopt babies and fulfill their dreams of parenthood.

The Family to Family Adoption Process

  1. You will need an application on file with our agency. If you received a printed adoption packet, an application is included in it. You may also download an application from our website under adoptive family forms. Select the appropriate form, complete it, and return it to our office with your check for the application fee. Be sure to include copies of your driver’s license, birth certificate, floor plan of your home, pictures of the front and back of your home, proof of medical insurance, and proof of income with the application as indicated on the form. This will signal your entrance into our program and the first step towards a new baby.
  2. You will need a home study. You must have a home study completed prior to being accepted into our program. If you live in Texas and have not identified a home study agency or licensed social worker, call our office. We perform home studies, but we can also refer you to a reputable social worker in your area. If you are not using Family To Family as your home study provider, please make copies of or have your licensed social worker mail along with the completed home study all of the supporting documents, such as medical letters, employment verification, reference letters, etc.

    Family to Family will conduct FBI, criminal, and child abuse background checks on all prospective adoptive parents as part of the application process.

    After we have received all the necessary documents to qualify you for our program, you should submit the following documents:

    1. Child Placement Contract signed by both parties
    2. Fee schedule signed by both parties
    3. Letter of Understanding that has been signed and notarized
    4. Adoptive Family Worksheet
    5. Your check for the initial payment of the agency fee.

    Fam2Fam is here to help you through these documents.

  3. You will develop your adoptive family profile. This usually includes a letter of introduction to the birth mother, stories, and pictures. This is the tool we use to present your family to our birth mothers, so it needs to be done well. Family To Family is available to review your profile and provide suggestions when requested. We will need 10 copies and will return all that are not used.
  4. You are now on our Active Adoptive Parent List. We do not work on a waiting list, only an active list. When a birth mother meets your criteria as stated in the Adoptive Family Worksheet and you meet her criteria, we will present your profile to her for matching.
  5. You are matched with a birth mother. When a birth mother chooses to consider your profile, we like to have you talk on the telephone and begin to determine if this is something in which you and the birth mother want to continue. If you both want to continue with the process, Fam2Fam will schedule a meeting and attend it with you. If you and the birth mother both agree to match then you will sign an adoption plan. An adoption plan indicates that the birth mother has chosen you as the adoptive family and you have agreed to match. The adoption plan also includes the post-placement contact that you have agreed upon with your birth mother. After the initial meeting, you and your birth mother will continue to develop a relationship prior to the birth of your child. Be sure to take lots of pictures for your baby’s album.
  6. You attend the birth of the baby. You will travel to where your child is being born, and in most of our placements, the adoptive family is invited by the birth mother to be in the delivery room. About 70% of our placements are here in the Houston area.
  7. You will take your new infant home from the hospital. After the baby has been released from the hospital and its birth parents have relinquished their parental rights, you may take the child from the hospital. A Fam2Fam staff member will accompany you. At that time you will be given documents to sign that will enable your insurance company to cover the child as if you gave birth to her. If you reside outside the state of Texas or your child is born in a different state from which you reside, we will complete the Interstate Compact requirements and notify you when you may return home with your child.
  8. Post-placement supervision Family To Family will contact your home study agency and give you instructions about Texas requirements for post-placement reports to be completed during the six (6) months wait before you can finalize your adoption as per Texas legal statute. The State of Texas requires five post-placement visits before the consent to finalization can be signed.
  9. Finalization of your adoption Texas has no residency clause in its adoption laws. If you reside in Texas or even if you reside in another state, you are free to finalize your adoption in Texas after the child has been in your home for six (6) months and your post-placement supervision has been complete.

ADOPTIVE FAMILY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

  • Couples or singles. If married, there are no requirements for how long you have been married.
  • Demonstrate a stable employment history, sufficient financial resources, and adequate living conditions conducive to a child’s well being.
  • Demonstrate that you are free from any communicable disease and in sufficiently good physical and mental health.
  • Demonstrate that you are emotionally and mentally capable of understanding the needs of a small child and being able to meet them. This is demonstrated by a recommendation for adoption in your home study.

We welcome all prospective adoptive parents regardless of age, race, religion, sexual orientation, or marital status. Our prospective adoptive family pool includes heterosexual couples, same-sex couples, and single parents.

The above requirements are preferred, but exceptions are made when possible.

Forms

For further inquiries, feel free to Contact Us. You may also call us at 281-342-4042 for an immediate response.