C2Adopt staff are available for professional trainings on adoption issues, trauma, and attachment, which can be developed for your group’s or agency’s specific needs.
Regional Post Adoption Consortium Services (RPACS)
We are a collaborative partner in Central VA with UMFS and Children’s Home Society of Virginia, to provide a variety of VDSS grant funded post adoption supports to any adoptive family in the region. Free services include: case management, school/court advocacy, parent coaching, support group, teen social group, family events, training/educational programs. To access the Referral Portal for the RPACS program, please click on this link that will take you to the UMFS website and referral form.
Counseling & Assessment
We have a variety of services available for adoptees, adoptive parents and birth/first parents with a team of trauma-informed, adoption competent therapists.
Family Events/Support Groups
We have a monthly adoptive parent support group and a monthly adult adoptee & birth parent support group (see Search/Reunion Support). Family events occur annually and are added frequently. Check this website often for updates.
Adoptive Parent Support Group
This group is offered to adoptive parents. The support group is free and informal. Families who attend the support group share a common bond of adoption and can share experiences and advice with each other. Childcare is provided for those who may need it. This group is led by a social worker, who is also an adoptive parent. Registration is required and can be found on Eventbrite link.
Education/Training
We offer a wide variety of training events focused on increasing adoption knowledge and competency for families and professionals.
Search / Reunion Support
We offer consultation and short term counseling services to anyone involved in search or contemplating a reunion.
Birth Parent & Adult Adoptee Support Group
This support group is free and available to any adult adoptee or any parent who has placed a child for adoption regardless of when, how or with another agency. Issues related to search and reunion, as well as search assistance is a frequent topic in this group. It is also available to anyone contemplating adoption for their child to speak with others who have lived the experience. The group is led by a social worker, who is also a birth/first mother and an adoptee. Contact Rebecca at rricardo@c2adopt.org to join.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any family who plans to adopt in Virginia must complete a home study assessment (sometimes called a Mutual Family Assessment or Home Study). That assessment takes 3 – 4 months to complete. From the time that you complete your assessment until a placement of a child, that can be 12 – 24 months or longer.
Families who desire to adopt an infant will find that the expenses involved could become cost prohibitive. There are a number of other expenses besides the fees paid to C2Adopt that this agency cannot control (legal expenses, travel costs, out of state agency fees, birth parent expenses, medical costs). Any fee paid during the course of an adoption should be verified by an adoption professional to be legal, ethical and legitimate before a family pays the fee. Fees should always be directly connected to a profession service provided or allowable under the law. All families should be careful and cautious about any fee paid during the course of an adoption.
Families who adopt from the foster care system typically find that many professional fees can be covered by public funds. Most families will pay an agency for the home study assessment but usually are not paying for legal fees, birth parent expenses or medical costs. They may incur travel expenses if the child they are matched to is in another state. Most service that the child needs are covered by public state or federal funds.
C2Adopt as always believed that families are best assessed individually for their own unique strengths and challenges. Therefore, we have very few “rules” about who cannot apply with our agency. We do comply with all Minimum Standards set by the VDSS Licensing Division and with the Code of Virginia. We are open to applicants who are legally married, who have experience prior divorces, who are currently single, all LGBTQ+ applicants, older applicants (must be at least 21 to apply), any religious affiliation and we are seeking families who can demonstrate financial stability at whatever economic level they currently live. We encourage families during the home study assessment process to think critically and carefully about the type of child whose needs they can meet and to consider their own strengths and challenges.
YES! C2Adopt knows that adoption is a lifetime journey – filled with all of the highs and lows that most families experience. We know that the child who was adopted will continue to have questions, a wide range of feelings and potentially behaviors that express those feelings, throughout childhood and into adulthood. We know that birth families who have had separate from a child will continue to struggle to grief that loss, be available for on-going contact or reunion and to learn to integrate this new reality into their lives. We know that families who are formed through adoption and not biology have a range of added issues, feelings and conversations to be had over a lifetime. C2Adopt is committed to being available to ANYONE whose life has been impacted by adoption – for a lifetime. We are here for direct services and/or referral to other resources as needed. C2Adopt helped to develop the model for Post Adoption Services in Virginia in 1992 and we continue to be a part of the Post Adoption Consortium in Central Virginia in collaboration with VDSS, UMFS and CHSVA. Please see our Post Adoption Page for details.