Lifetime Adoption > Adoption South Dakota

Adoption South Dakota

South Dakota 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

Are you living in the Mount Rushmore State and are interested in learning more about adoption? Contact a Lifetime coordinator who will support and guide you on your adoption journey. Is placing your child for adoption an option you are considering or are you thinking about growing your family through adoption? Lifetime will give you access to all the necessary adoption resources and information you need.

Pregnant and Considering Adoption in South Dakota

Have you just found out you are pregnant and are not sure that parenting is right for you at this time? Do you feel scared and unsure of where to turn? You may have turned to the baby’s father, your family, or even close friends, and their reaction may have made you feel more confused.

Help is just a call or text away. Reach out to a caring and non-judgmental Lifetime Adoption coordinator. You can also fill out our online form, and a coordinator will contact you to explain your options and provide you with the resources and information you need to make the right decision for you and your baby

What is the Adoption Process in South Dakota?

If, after you learn about modern adoption, you feel it is the right choice for you, your coordinator will have you check out the Lifetime adoptive family profiles. You can choose a family or a few families to talk to and get to know. You may want a family from South Dakota or one that lives further away in another state. You are the one to pick the family with the values and lifestyle you want for your child.

If you are currently parenting a toddler or older child, special needs child, or sibling group and it is not a healthy situation, Lifetime can help. We have wonderful families open to all these situations, and a professional counselor will with a transition plan that will help the change go smoothly for the child and all involved.

If you are pregnant, making a hospital plan can help decrease any anxiety you might have about your hospital stay. A hospital plan will help everyone know their place, including the hospital staff and adoptive family. This will include who will be at the hospital, who will hold the baby etc. You will also have legal counsel provided at no cost to you. Your representative will make sure that you know your rights and handle the legal documentation.

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Open Adoption in South Dakota

Modern adoption is now the most commonly open adoption. With open adoption, the birth mother makes all the choices. They choose the family that will adopt their baby and can choose a family open to the contact they desire in the future. Your Lifetime coordinator will help you create an adoption plan that works for you. She will have questions for you, such as:

What is important to you in a family, such as race, religion, or other traits?
Would you like contact in the future? How much and what kind?
Would you like to create a hospital plan?
Do you have pregnancy-related expenses paid or resources you need?

If parenting is not the right choice for you, there is no more loving, selfless, and brave choice than adoption. You won’t have to say goodbye to your baby forever. You can receive updates and pictures. You can even have periodic visits you’re your child and the adoptive family. You can have close and lasting relationships with the adoptive family if you choose. Recently, one of our birth mothers was getting married and hoped her daughter could be there. The adoptive parents and her daughter were honored to be there, and the adoptive father of her baby even walked the bride down the aisle.

Help With Pregnancy Expenses and More

Carly* called Lifetime when she found out she was pregnant. She was homeless and did not want her baby to grow up in that situation. She was now struggling with pregnancy-related expenses and did not know where to turn. Her Lifetime Adoption coordinator helped her access resources in her area and explained that in South Dakota, pregnancy-related expenses the court can allow help with certain pregnancy and adoption-related expenses such as:

Legal fees
Doctor and hospital costs related to your pregnancy
Pregnancy-related living expenses
Professional and peer counseling

South Dakota Adoptive Families

The adoption profiles below will show you waiting adoptive parents of all types and backgrounds in South Dakota. When you browse these profiles, you can learn more about the families’:

Lifestyle
Family
Home and neighborhood
Values and religious beliefs
Reasons for adopting
And much more!

No matter what you’re looking for in an adoptive family in South Dakota , you deserve to find the perfect match. With waiting families from across the country, Lifetime Adoption provides more adoptive family profiles for you, giving you a greater chance of finding the right fit for your child.

Jared & Andrea from South Dakota

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Hi! We’re a very creative family of 3 (and 2 dogs!) who value faith, family, and laughter. We’d be thrilled to open our hearts to you & your child. We are open to any form of communication you…

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Thad & Erin from South Dakota

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Hi from South Dakota! Our family of three enjoys the outdoors with our dogs and neighborhood parties. Open adoption has been a blessing for us and we look forward to getting to know you.

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Families Wanting to Adopt in South Dakota

Are you in South Dakota and are interested in information regarding adopting a newborn, toddler, or child up to six? Lifetime is one of the nationwide leaders in open adoption. Lifetime Adoption coordinators are very experienced and have been matching birth mothers and adoptive families for over thirty years. They are here to help adoptive families and support birth mothers.

Starting the Adoption Process

Is starting the adoption process hard? No, all you need to do is fill out our short online application. There is no cost to apply. There is no obligation until the contract is signed. That happens after your application is reviewed and pre-approved. Once the contract is signed, you will have access to the Lifetime membership site, which is full of information covering the entire adoption process. You will have a Lifetime coordinator who will guide you on your journey and provide referrals in South Dakota for your home study and legal representation.

Adoption Laws in South Dakota

Adhering to South Dakota adoption laws will be handled by your South Dakota adoption attorney. Your coordinator is happy to refer you to a local attorney in South Dakota.

In South Dakota, the general timeline for legal documentation of the adoption is as follows.
In general, the written consent of the birth parents can be signed no sooner than five days after the birth of the child. Your South Dakota adoption attorney will file all paperwork and explain the adoption finalization process.

A home study is a required part of adoption in South Dakota, as it is in every other state.

South Dakota Home Studies

A home study is created by a home study provider and is a legal document. It is required by the courts and is meant to show your ability to parent and care for a child properly. Your Lifetime coordinator will refer you to a qualified home study provider in South Dakota.

With a home study, be prepared to provide the following and any additional items requested:

Financial records.
Parenting philosophies.
Fingerprint-based criminal record checks, completed by the Division of Criminal Investigation, and a central registry screening completed by DSS.
Screening of household members who are at least age 10 to determine if there are any substantiated incidents of child abuse or neglect.
A physical examination of adoptive parents completed within the 12 months preceding the application.
Personal interviews, at least three character references, and home consultations.

Whether you are hoping to adopt or are a parent considering placing your child for adoption, Lifetime Adoption looks forward to working with you and providing the information and support you need for successful adoption.

Mardie Caldwell

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