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Adoption Program
To understand Anoka County’s adoption program, interested persons should
review the County’s adoption requirements and its
recommended considerations (below on this page).
Requirements
- Be willing to take a child into your home - Anoka County
adoptive parents may be single, married, childless, or already parenting
children. Parents may rent or own their home. Having a high income is
not a prerequisite.
- Complete a pre-adoption orientation and training program
- 16 hrs
- Apply for an adoption study - An Anoka County social worker will
then be assigned to work with you on an adoption study.
- Participate in an adoption study - Also called a home study,
it consists of a background check, references, expectations, etc. Every
Minnesota resident wishing to adopt a child must have an adoption study
completed by a licensed adoption agency.
Adoption education and home studies are free of charge to
individuals interested in Minnesota’s Waiting Children Program.
Anoka County Social Services and a number of private agencies
throughout the state of Minnesota are part of the Minnesota
Public/Private Adoption Initiative (see the list of
agencies).
Considerations
- Concurrent or Permanency Planning Foster Care
Also called permanency planning foster care, concurrent planning is a
dual-track case plan. The plan provides foster care for a child while
the foster parent works closely with the child’s birth family toward
reunification. If the child’s reunification with the birth parents
becomes impossible, the child in foster care may be adopted by the
foster parent. Most children who have this option as part of their
case plan are under the age of eight years old. This may not be a good
alternative for families interested in adopting a very young child or
infant.
The job of a foster parent is to provide temporary care for a child
whose family of origin is experiencing problems and cannot adequately
care for a child. The goal of foster care is to reunite the child with
his or her birth family as quickly and safely as possible.
Foster care providers receive a monthly stipend to help provide for the
child in their temporary care. The stipend varies and is determined by
the child’s needs. For more details, see
Anoka County Child Foster Care.
- Cost
There are no placement fees or charges for a home study if you apply to
adopt one of Minnesota’s Waiting Children. Depending on the child’s
special needs, financial assistance may be available. The program
reimburses families for costs of non-medical items and provides adoptive
parents with resources to help secure the services and support necessary
to meet children’s special needs. In addition, the program provides
Medical Assistance as a backup to families’ health insurance.
- Length of Time
There is no “typical” length of time to complete the adoption program.
How long the process takes depends on the time it takes to complete the
requirements and find a child who may be a good fit with a family.
If you are an Anoka County resident who wishes to consider adopting a
child, please arrange to attend a Pre-Adoption Orientation & Training
Program. You may do so by calling 763-422-7095 or by using the
registration page on this website.
You may also attend one of the many Adoption Orientation & Training
Programs throughout the metro area that can be found at
MN Adopt (www.mnadopt.org).