A Child’s Hope offers adoption services for North Carolina couples and singles who wish to create or expand their families through adoption. Since 2000, we have been a proud part of hundreds of families’ adoption stories, placing more than 450 babies in 25 years.
As a full-service adoption agency, we can provide all of the following adoption services you need to build your family, from your first phone call through the finalization of your adoption!
Adoption Counseling and Education
Our qualified staff of licensed social workers provide adoption support and information you need to prepare for the adoption process and adoptive parenthood.
- An initial consultation with the director of our agency to learn more about A Child’s Hope and all of your adoption options
- An all-day parent orientation class that explains the entire adoption process from start to finish
- An adoption manual that serves as a reference guide throughout the process
- Additional adoption and parenting classes, as well as required reading suggestions
- Access to our licensed, qualified adoption counselors who can provide the emotional support you need and answer your questions through each step of the adoption process
- An office staff administrator who is just a call or email away in our Raleigh offices
Home Study and Screening Services
Before an agency can place a child for adoption, by law the prospective adoptive parents must complete a pre-placement assessment, commonly known as a home study. We offer North Carolina home study services, post-adoption services and home study updates for our adoptive families, as well as families adopting through other adoption professionals. We have seven contract social workers spread throughout the state of North Carolina, so that you are assured that there is a counselor within at most two hours of where you live.
The pre-placement assessment (homestudy) generally takes four to six weeks to complete, although we also offer expedited home study services for families matched to a birth mother who is expecting within two weeks. The expedited service guarantees that you will have a completed home study within two weeks if you provide all of the documents. In North Carolina, the home study is valid for 18 months before it needs to be updated. Other states have shorter periods – frequently 12 months – so if you are doing an independent adoption you may want to be mindful of the difference when it comes time to update. Following placement, North Carolina requires two additional post-placement visits and a report to the court. Some other states require more than two post-placement visits, and these can be performed by our staff if needed.
Our licensed social workers are available throughout the state to perform pre- and post-placement assessments for adoptive families. See the map below for location of our social workers.
Adoption Advertising, Marketing and Matching Services
Through comprehensive internet and social media advertising, as well as an extensive network of contacts in the medical, legal and counseling community, we help adoptive families locate adoption opportunities with prospective birth mothers.
Our adoption advertising services include the creation of unique adoption profiles, websites, and social media pages for every adoptive family. These platforms give expectant mothers an opportunity to select the perfect adoptive family for her child. Adoption matches now are widely made through the internet, and our agency asks each family to partner to use social media to help you become parents sooner!
You will work closely with an adoption advertising expert to market your family to pregnant women considering adoption. Our agency will coordinate these services and help match you with expectant mothers based on the types of adoption opportunities each party is looking for.
Although our agency focuses on matching North Carolina families with North Carolina birth mothers, if you are matched with an out-of-state birth mother, our director can help locate an agency or experienced adoption attorney out of state to work with you in the birth mother’s state.
Legal Adoption Help
Adoption is a complex and specialized legal process, and every adoption requires the assistance of an experienced adoption attorney. You should always ask an attorney how many adoptions they have actually finalized and if you are doing an interstate adoption, how many interstate adoptions the attorney has handled in her career.
Our agency is directed by a board certified family law specialist with more than 30 years of experience as a North Carolina adoption attorney. Parker Herring has a passion for adoption and started the agency in 2000 because she wanted to make adoptions more affordable and less complicated. You may choose to work with her law firm, Parker Herring Law Group, for your legal adoption needs, or she can refer you to another experienced adoption attorney to finalize your adoption.
Post-Adoption Services
With A Child’s Hope, our adoption assistance does not end with placement day. We will continue to provide the post-adoption services you need, not only to complete the post-placement study, but also to facilitate your continuing relationship with your baby’s birth family. Our families are invited to stay in touch with us over the years, and to contact us with any questions. A Child’s Hope stays in touch with its passed placed families through Facebook — see A Child’s Hope Adoption Services on Facebook.
Independent Adoption Services
For prospective adoptive parents who have already located a child available for adoption and need legal services to complete the adoption process, our North Carolina adoption attorney offers adoption help for independent adoptions. Ms. Herring has processed over 500 adoptions, both in North Carolina and in other states.
We also assist out-of-state attorneys and families with adoption needs in North Carolina, whether it’s obtaining consents for an out-of-state placement, assisting with interstate compliance, or litigating adoption issues. We can offer our adoption counselors on a contract basis to help with counseling and screening/assessment of birthmothers.
How Can A Child’s Hope Help Us Adopt?
If you are ready to begin the adoption process, or if you need more information about any of our adoption-related services, contact us any time to schedule a Build a Family consultation. During your consultation, you will meet with our agency director, learn more about various types of adoption and our adoption services, and determine whether A Child’s Hope is the right adoption agency for you. In the consultation, you are given a wealth of adoption materials, as well as information on assisted reproduction, since our director also practices assisted reproduction law.