Adopt a Baby
Finding Families for Children: Supporting couples on their adoption journey with honesty, care, and purpose.
Your First Step: A Home Study
FLS provides home studies for singles or heterosexual married couples living anywhere within the state of Virginia who are pursuing one of the following types of adoption: Domestic Infant Adoption through FLS or any other placing agency, Private Adoption/Parental Placement using an attorney, or Embryo Adoption.
The adoption home study is the first step for all families pursuing adoption. Although it is a detailed assessment of each family’s background and current situation, we strive to also make it a friendly and educational process to help you launch your adoption journey forward.
Estimated 6-10 Week Completion Timeline
Minimum of Three In-Person Meetings
Cost: $1,750
Domestic Infant Adoption Program
Family Life Services provides a faith-based Domestic Infant Adoption Program for Christian couples. We support expectant mothers in Virginia and adoptive families across the United States with education, counseling, and guidance to ensure a smooth and heartfelt adoption process.
When you work with FLS, we invest in your experience and your story – keeping your best interests at heart and giving you honest feedback along the way so you can make confident, informed decisions on your adoption journey.
Our program facilitates semi-open or fully open adoptions, allowing children access to information about their birth families. We place 4-6 infants annually and are an ideal agency for families who have very open preferences for various backgrounds, health histories, and prenatal exposures.
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Christian, heterosexual, married couples
No more than three children
Ages 22-47
Married for at least three years
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Small agency, personalized support
Affordable fees subsidized by generous donors
Option to work with multiple agencies
Prior to submitting a pre-application, please email us to request a full list of Domestic Adoption Program Requirements so you can determine if you may be eligible for application to this program.
How Does Adoption Work?
01
Submit Pre-Application
02
Complete Full Application & Fee Payment
03
Adoption Home Study
04
Attend Training Weekend
05
Submit Paperwork & Photo Profile Book
06
Matching with an Adoption Situation
07
Child Placement
08
Adoption Finalization
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Begin your adoption journey by submitting a pre-application to Family Life Services.
This initial step helps us understand your family and determine if you meet the basic eligibility requirements for our Domestic Infant Adoption Program. Once reviewed, you'll receive guidance on next steps and have the opportunity to review our full program requirements.
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After your pre-application is approved, you'll complete a comprehensive application and submit the application fee. This is where you'll provide detailed information about your family, background, and readiness to adopt. The application fee is the first financial commitment in your adoption journey.
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The home study is a required assessment for all adoptive families and typically takes 6-12 weeks to complete, if completed by our agency. You'll meet with a caseworker for a minimum of three in-person meetings where they'll get to know your family, evaluate your home environment, and help prepare you for adoption. While detailed, we strive to make this process friendly and educational as you launch forward on your adoption journey.
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Our required training weekend equips you with essential knowledge about adoption, including understanding birth parent perspectives, navigating open adoption relationships, and preparing for the unique joys and challenges of adoptive parenting. This weekend is an investment in building a strong foundation for your growing family and allows us to build a personal relationship with each family to serve you to the best of our ability throughout the process.
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Create a photo profile book that tells your family's story in an authentic, heartfelt way. This album will be shown to expectant parents considering adoption, giving them a window into your home, values, and the life you hope to share with a child. You'll also complete all required documentation to be eligible for placement.
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Once your profile is active, expectant parents making an adoption plan will review family albums and select the family they feel is the best fit for their child. Wait times vary significantly—some families match within months while others wait 1-2 years or longer. We place 4-6 infants annually and will work with your family for up to three years.
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When an expectant parent selects your family, you may have the opportunity to meet and build a relationship before the baby's birth. Depending on your mutual agreement, placement may occur directly from the hospital as an at-risk placement, or the baby may be placed in transitional foster care until parental rights are legally terminated (typically when the baby is at least ten days old).
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After the required post-placement supervisory visits are complete, you'll finalize the adoption through Virginia courts, typically 6-12 months after placement. This legal process makes your child officially and permanently part of your family. FLS will prepare the necessary finalization documents and partner with trusted Virginia attorneys to complete this joyful milestone.
Adoption Fees
FLS makes every effort to keep adoption fees reasonable for adoptive families. We are financially supported by the Liberty Godparent Foundation and generous individual donors, which enables us to keep adoption fees at the lower end of the spectrum.
*All fees are non-refundable and can be paid by personal check, cash, or credit card.
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Application Fee: $250
Home Study Fee (Virginia families only): $1,750
Updates/Addendums:
$400 (if a visit is required)
$250 (if no visit is required)
Post-Placement Supervisory Visits: $400 per visit
Preparation of Finalization or Re-Adoption Documents: $500 (if applicable)
Parental Placement Home Study: $3,000
Includes preparation of required documents and one counseling appointment to gather social/medical information from the expectant mother. Options counseling for birth parents (if in Virginia) is available for an additional fee.
Mileage Charges: $0.50/mile for visits outside the FLS office.
Other Costs:
Additional meetings, travel time, FBI/CPS background checks, medical evaluations, DMV driving records, and Virginia Adoptive Parent Training Online (mandatory) are paid directly by the prospective adoptive parents.
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Application Fee: $250 (only paid once if also applying for a home study)
Adoption Training Weekend: $500 per couple.
Infant Adoption Placement Fee: $27,000
Includes up to $2,000 for birth mother medical and/or living expenses.
Includes up to $2,000 for legal and/or foster care costs.
Remaining balance is due at the time of legal placement.
Waiting Family Fee: $5,000 total (non-refundable & credits toward the Adoption Placement Fee)
$3,000 is paid at the time a family joins the program and covers the first year of program participation
$1,000 per year is paid for the next two years, if a placement has not yet occurred
Additional Costs:
Home Study and Post-Placement Visits: Paid to FLS or another licensed agency if you do not live in Virginia, plus finalization fees to one of the recommended VA attorneys we partner with.
Additional Fees for Families not in Virginia:
ICPC Fee: $2,000 (paid on placement day)
Virginia Adoptive Parent Training Online (required): $259 per couple.
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Myths About Adoption
Adoption FAQ’s
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Because our domestic infant adoption program is designed to allow birth parents to select the adoptive family for their child, it is impossible to estimate how long a family may have to wait before they are chosen. It is typical for a family to wait 1-2 years before completing an adoption placement, but some families wait much longer and some families are able to adopt sooner than that estimate. We place 4-6 infants each year through our domestic infant program. From the time that the adoptive family is eligible for adoption with our agency, we will work with that family for a period of 3 years toward making a possible adoption placement. If an adoption has not been completed at the end of that time, the family will work with their assigned caseworker to transition to other adoption programs/options or they may request approval to join for one, additional, three-year contract with FLS.
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We work with prospective adoptive families from all over the United States, with the exception of New York. It is recommended that families have the ability to travel to Virginia for interviews with expectant parents making an adoption plan but we try to schedule those meetings well in advance for those making extensive travel plans. The majority of our waiting adoptive families come from the East Coast.
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Since our agency is licensed in Virginia, we can provide adoption counseling to expectant parents residing anywhere in Virginia who will also be delivering the baby in Virginia.
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A child may be placed in your home directly from the hospital as an at-risk placement or there is an option of utilizing transitional foster care for infants between the time that they are born and the time that all parental rights are terminated and the child can be placed in the adoptive home. During the transitional period between birth and termination of parental rights, birth parents may choose to visit with the baby and take some time to ensure that an adoption decision is what they feel is in the best interest of the child. Birth parents may change their mind about their adoption plans until the child is ten days old and seven days have passed from the signing of the Permanent Entrustment Agreement. The decision to utilize transitional foster care or enter into an at-risk placement is one that is mutually agreed upon by the birth family and adoptive family.
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The specific Adoption Standards apply to the FLS Domestic Adoption Program only. We are able to provide home studies for families in Virginia who may not meet the criteria of the Domestic Adoption Program. All families must meet the requirements for Virginia Licensed Child-Placing Agencies to obtain an approved home study from our agency.
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Yes and, in fact, we encourage you to network with other agencies to have more opportunities for a potential adoption placement. We believe that it is positive to open many doors of opportunity for your family as you seek to build your family through adoption. We only ask that you keep your caseworker informed of any developments with other agencies or private situations so we can ensure that we proceed appropriately with any possible situations with our agency.
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Once you have been selected for a possible placement, your album would be placed on hold and would not be shown to other expectant parents. When an adoption placement is made, you would no longer remain active in our program but you could re-apply to our agency in the future, after your child is 1 year old and your adoption has been finalized, if you still meet the FLS Adoption Program Requirements.
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Because of the complex nature of foster care, we do not allow waiting adoptive families to actively provide foster care during the time they are in our adoption program.
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We celebrate whenever one of our waiting adoptive families informs us that they are pregnant. We would immediately put your file on hold and you would not be eligible to be presented to expectant parents. Once the baby has been born, if you are still eligible for our program, you may resume working with FLS to pursue adoption when the baby is at least one year old.
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This would be considered a parental placement adoption and would require the help of one (or more) attorneys. If the expectant parent(s) reside in Virginia, FLS can do the adoption counseling portion of the parental placement with the expectant parent(s), which is a legal requirement in Virginia. FLS can also complete the home study for the prospective adoptive family and the three required post-placement visits once a placement has occurred. If the expectant parents reside outside of Virginia, an attorney would advise on that state’s requirements for a parental placement adoption and another agency in that state may need to be contracted to help complete applicable requirements for adoption.
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We offer free, lifelong adoption coaching, including guidance on adoption conversations, birth family relationships, and resource connections. We ensure finances don't hinder support by providing our post-finalization services at no cost. Visit the NCFA post-adoption support page to explore more resources.
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