Tallahassee Adoption

Tallahassee Adoption, Home Studies and More

Adoption Services for
Birth Parents and Adoptive Families

Please choose where you’d like to begin:

Information about placing
a child for adoption
or
Information about adopting a child

If you are thinking about adoption in Tallahassee, FL, call Lifetime Adoption Agency. With more than three decades of experience connecting birth mothers with loving adoptive families, our caring adoption coordinators are ready to assist you. Lifetime is one of the nationwide leaders in open, domestic adoption, and our coordinators will provide you with one-on-one support, counseling, referrals, articles, webinars, and so much more.

Help for Pregnant Women in Tallahassee, FL

Experiencing an unexpected pregnancy in the Tallahassee area can be stressful. Contact a Lifetime Adoption coordinator who can explain the adoption process and assist you in making an adoption plan.

The adoptive families at Lifetime are emotionally and financially ready to bring a baby into their family. You can choose a family with the values and lifestyle you see your child raised with. You don’t have to say goodbye forever either. You can choose how much contact you want to have with your child and the adoptive family.

If you choose adoption you can receive help with your pregnancy expenses. Then an adoption coordinator can help you find assistance for rent, food, transportation, phone, clothes, and more. Next, your Lifetime coordinator will let you know what resources are available to you!

Adoption for a Child Already Born

Additionally, if you are the parent of a toddler, sibling set, or special needs child, Lifetime Adoption can help you create an adoption plan as well. There are Lifetime Adoption families interested in adoption toddlers, sibling sets, and special needs children.

We understand that making that call can be difficult, but once you do call or text we’ll help you through everything. Also, you can begin to get information about our Florida adoption services in Tallahassee. Just reach out to 800-923-6784, and you will find a caring and kind person ready to answer all of your questions.

Adoption Agencies in Tallahassee

Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, you can call or text Lifetime Adoption Agency and a coordinator will be available to help you create an adoption plan for your child.

At Lifetime Adoption, you will be provided with:

A choice of adoptive parents that all have had background checks and a home study completed.
The opportunity for peer and professional counseling during your pregnancy and after
The opportunity to receive help with pregnancy-related costs and expenses
Maternity clothes, toiletries, and other pregnancy items you may need
And much more!

Adoption Counseling in Tallahassee

Counseling can be a critical part of the adoption process, and at Lifetime both peer and professional counseling are available at no charge. Adoption is not an easy choice, and talking to a professional counselor can help. Just tell your adoption coordinator you are interested in counseling, and she will set it up.

Peer counseling is very popular at Lifetime. Speaking with another birth mother who has been in your shoes can be very helpful. While her story may be a little different, she will understand the feelings and emotions you have. She can share the experiences she had when telling the birth father, her family, and friends and how she dealt with those situations.

Maternity Hospitals in Tallahassee

Planning is the key to helping decrease your nerves when the time comes to deliver your baby. Your Lifetime Adoption coordinator will create a hospital plan together with you. She will help you by asking the following questions:

Who is your choice to be at the hospital with you when you give birth?
When you deliver, who would you like to be the one to cut the cord?
Who do you want to hold your baby or feed your baby first?

She will ask these and other questions to create a plan just for you. Your adoption coordinator will make sure the hospital and adoptive family understand your plan and wishes.

If you are in Tallahassee, the hospitals with labor and delivery services are:

Capital Regional Medical Center

Tallahassee Memorial

More Helpful Resources for Pregnant Women in Tallahassee

When facing an unexpected pregnancy, many women are also struggling with some other issues. The Lifetime Adoption coordinators are available to provide resources so you can find the peace and stability needed to make the right pregnancy decision for you and your baby. It is important to come from a place of stability and not from a place of crisis when making a decision regarding adoption.

If you are homeless or in a domestic violence situation, finding safe housing needs to be a priority. Here are some local resources for women’s shelters in Tallahassee and the surrounding area:

Brehon Family Services

Big Bend Homeless Coalition

Refuge House

If you are struggling with hunger and are pregnant or the mother of young children, the WIC program is an option. WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children and provides an EBT card to purchase healthy food such as eggs, cheese, whole grains, milk, fruit, and vegetables. They can also offer referrals to local services. Learn more by visiting their website:

WIC – in Leon County, FL

If you are struggling with addiction, finding a treatment program is important. It can be dangerous to abruptly stop using drugs if you are pregnant, and a professional treatment center will be able to offer options if you are addicted to prescription drugs or opiates. A treatment center will also provide counseling along with medications (like methadone and suboxone) that can help you slowly wean off the opiates. Here are a few resources in Volusia County:

New Seasons Treatment Center

Anchor Treatment Center

If you are in need of additional resources, your Lifetime coordinator will offer confidential help, no matter issue you may have. We can help with transportation, pregnancy verification, rent, maternity clothes, prenatal care, and more. Call or text today.

The Tallahassee Adoption Process

You can call or text Lifetime Adoption or fill out the contact form anytime to find out more about the adoption process. A Lifetime coordinator will contact you to answer all of your questions. She will explain how the open adoption process works and will ask about any needs or concerns you have.

Next, your adoption coordinator will share online adoptive family profiles she thinks would suit you and your child. Online, you can review adoptive family letters, information, and even video messages. This will help you get a sense of who they are. Click to view adoptive family profiles online.

Whether you want a family that lives in Florida one from a different state, the choice is yours. Your coordinator will guide you through the adoption journey.

If you are in need of resources during your pregnancy in Tallahassee, your Lifetime Adoption coordinator will help you find what you need. This could be prenatal care, maternity clothes, and other personal needs, or other pregnancy-related expenses.

Ready to get more information? Give us a call or text today.

Get In Touch

Other Paths to Adoption in Tallahassee

Private adoption is not your only choice. Foster care can be an option as well. Under certain circumstances, such as, a baby is born exposed to substances, foster care could be made mandatory by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Generally, in these cases, the parent does not get to say who the baby is placed with.

Kinship or relative adoption is a third choice. If there is a family member who is generally blood-related to the child and who is interested in adopting, they can petition to adopt your child. This can be a great solution, but consider all aspects of this choice. Your relative may be under the impression they are just stepping in for a period of time, or you may have to deal with some boundary issues.

You are the only one who can decide what is best for you and your baby.

Only you can decide which option is right for you and your baby.

Families Considering Adoption in Tallahassee

Are you considering adopting a baby in Tallahassee, Florida? The knowledgeable adoption coordinators at Lifetime Adoption will guide your adoption journey. Your adoption coordinator will answer every question you have and present the entire adoption process. Lifetime Adoption in Tallahassee focuses on domestic adoption. Is it time to start your adoption journey today?

The Lifetime Adoption coordinators are experienced and dedicated to creating a successful adoption story for the adopted child, the birth parents, and the adoptive parents. If you are in Tallahassee and are interested in adopting a newborn or child up to the age of six, contact us at 727-493-0933 to ask any questions. Access a free online adoption application on our website as well as many other resources.

Lifetime will make sure you have all the resources, education, referrals, and support needed for a successful adoption journey.

Begin the Adoption Process

“So, you do we get started?” is probably the next question. Getting started is actually easy. Just fill out our online application. Filling out the application does not obligate you in any way, and applying is free.

Once you are pre-approved by Lifetime, a coordinator will contact you to answer all of your questions. The coordinator will explain the entire Tallahassee adoption process, and an adoption plan unique to you will be created.

Adoption Attorneys in Tallahassee

In Tallahassee, you will need to hire an adoption attorney, even if you are working with an adoption agency. This is important because Florida Adoption laws must be followed completely, and all paperwork filed with the courts. Your Lifetime Adoption coordinator will refer an adoption attorney to you in the Tallahassee area.

Home Study Services in Tallahassee

Home study services are available through Lifetime Adoption for adoptive families in the Tallahassee area. A home study is required whether you choose domestic or foster adoption. You can count on Lifetime for your home study services whether you are using Lifetime for your adoption service. You can get started by filling out our free application for home study services for prospective adoptive families living in Florida.

A home study includes financial and employment verification, a home visit, background checks, along mandatory education hours required by the state of Florida.

To complete your home study, you will need to gather your required documents such as:

Health statements from your medical professional that attests to your mental and physical well-being
Five written references from friends, co-workers, or others that know you and can indicate their belief in your readiness to be an adoptive parent.
Financial statements. These will include pay stubs, tax returns, profit and loss statements, and any other supporting documents.
Autobiographical letters that indicate why you are adopting and what your beliefs are regarding marriage, parenting, and any other hopes and dreams
Background checks – anyone in the home who is over the age of 12 will need a local, state, and federal background check.

A home study social worker will visit your home and interview members of the household to gather information on your home environment. This is completed to verify that you have a safe place to raise a child and will be presented to the judge at finalization.

Another Florida requirement is education hours. You can access educations resources at Lifetime via articles, classes, podcasts, and webinars. The state requirement in Florida is twelve hours of education.

Finalization of Your Tallahassee Adoption in Court

The last step in your adoption is a finalization by the courts.

According to Tallahassee, Florida mandates, this will happen no less than 90 days from taking custody of the baby. Within one week of the placement, you will have a home visit and then meet with your social worker once a month until three visits are completed.

Next, your adoption attorney will file the legal paperwork with the courthouse. Then a hearing date will be set in Tallahassee at the Leon County Circuit Court. Finally, the judge will review all of your home study and all adoption documentation and issue a final decree of adoption. Time to celebrate!

Other Paths to Adoption

Tallahassee International Adoption Agencies

International adoption is another way to adopt. There are sometimes stories on the news about orphans in other countries struggling, and some feel the call to adopt these orphans. It is imperative to work with an adoption agency that has solid experience in international adoption. Each country has its own unique laws and requirements that must be followed. The country’s current political and social climate can have an effect on the adoption process.

The nations in Africa, China, and Eastern European countries tend to be the most popular countries for international adoption. Popular agencies that specialize in international adoption are:

Adopt International

Celebrate Children International

Foster Care Adoption

Foster Care Adoption in Tallahassee

In addition to domestic and international adoption, foster to adopt is another way to adopt. With foster adoption, you will go through the Florida Department of Children and Families and complete the necessary steps to qualify as a foster family:

Attend a mandatory foster parent orientation.
Complete the foster parent education required by the state. Have a fingerprint-based background check.
Complete your mandatory home study to prove you are able to foster a child.

AdoptUSKids is an additional way to adopt through the foster care system. There are waiting children from Florida and other states. Adoptive families must have a completed their home study and all other requirements the state mandates completely.

You will find foster care adoption usually involves children with special needs and older children. The cost of adoption can be lower, and the time needed to adopt can be shorter than domestic adoption or international adoption.

Mardie Caldwell

Funding Your Adoption

Called To Adoption

Open Adoption Webinars

Accreditation