Description
Facilitate safe, permanent adoptive placements and support the well-being of children, birth parents, and adoptive families. Assess and prepare prospective parents, counsel families, coordinate services, and navigate legal and agency requirements. Provide pre- and post-adoption education and collaborate with courts, schools, health providers, and community resources to promote stable family functioning.
- • Interview children, birth parents, and prospective adoptive families to assess needs, strengths, and suitability.
- • Conduct home studies, background checks, and safety assessments for adoption applicants.
- • Develop and review individualized adoption and permanency plans; track goals and timelines.
- • Prepare and maintain case records, home study reports, and court-ready documentation.
- • Match children with appropriate adoptive families, considering safety, culture, and special needs.
- • Provide pre-adoption education, training, and resource orientation to prospective parents.
- • Counsel birth parents on options, rights, grief, and post-adoption contact arrangements.
- • Facilitate and mediate contact between birth and adoptive families in open or semi-open adoptions.
- • Arrange and supervise pre-placement visits and transition plans.
- • Coordinate medical, psychological, and developmental evaluations to inform services and placement.
- • Consult with foster parents, teachers, therapists, attorneys, courts, and child welfare agencies.
- • Assist with legal processes, including termination of parental rights and adoption hearings; provide testimony and reports.
- • Refer clients to community resources for financial aid, housing, medical care, legal services, and post-adoption supports.
- • Provide or arrange counseling, support groups, and crisis intervention before and after adoption.
- • Educate families on trauma, attachment, behavior management, and child development.
- • Ensure compliance with state and federal regulations, agency policies, and interstate or tribal requirements.
- • Conduct outreach and recruitment to identify and prepare prospective adoptive families.
- • Participate in multidisciplinary case staffings and permanency planning reviews.
- • Determine eligibility for subsidies and negotiate adoption assistance agreements.
- • Collect and analyze collateral records, such as school reports, medical histories, and foster care files.
- • Lead parenting classes or peer groups for adoptive families and youth.
- • Mentor or supervise junior staff or interns, as assigned.
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Related Pathways
Healthcare & Human Services
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Source
Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Last reviewed: Jan 2026
