Waiting Child Services Program

Adopting From Foster Care

Adoption Center of Illinois at Family Resource Center’s Waiting Child Services (WCS) Program helps prospective adoptive parents navigate adoption from foster care throughout the United States, including Illinois. The average age of children placed through this program is 8.5 years old, ranging from 2 to 16 years of age.

Phases of the WCS Program:

• Phase I: Prospective Adoptive Parents work with ACI to obtain their Foster Family Home License and a valid home study. During this process, prospective adoptive parents complete training courses to prepare them for parenting a child with a history of trauma. The first step for all our programs is submitting an Application with the Phase I fee. Please visit our Documents page to download the ACI Application, view WCS program steps, WCS agreement, and our Fee Schedule.
• Phase II: ACI supports prospective adoptive parents to learn more about children available for adoption who may be a good fit with their family. Once a match has been made, ACI supports prospective adoptive parents to learn about children, navigate the placement process, identify supportive resources, and move towards finalization of the adoption. Additionally, ACI is always available as a resource for families post adoption.

Information on Children in Foster Care:

Prior to applying to the WCS Program, it would be beneficial for prospective adoptive parents to review the AFCARS Report: Preliminary Estimates for FY2017 as of August 10, 2018 to ensure that they have realistic expectations regarding the children available for adoption from the U.S. foster care system. Notably, the average age of children is 7.8 years old and the average amount of time already spent in the foster care system is 30.9 months (2.5 years). The Report outlines how the majority of these children are Caucasian (44%), Black or African American (22%), and Hispanic of any race (22%). The main circumstances associated with a child’s removal from their home are neglect (62%), drug abuse by parent (36%), caretaker’s inability to cope (14%), physical abuse (12%), housing (10%), and child behavior problem (9%).

PLEASE NOTE: If you are looking to adopt a child only within the State of Illinois, you may work directly with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). DCFS would be responsible for completing your family assessment, assisting you to obtain a Foster Family Home License, and for registering you for the required training. There are no costs associated with this process. Please note that if you work directly with DCFS, the family assessment CANNOT be used in the adoption of waiting children in other states.

If you have any questions about this program or would like to learn more, please contact Teresa Bernu, LCSW, Domestic Program Supervisor, at 773.321.0310 or tbernu@adoptillinois.org.

Waiting Child Services Program Statistics

As of January 13, 2020, 19 children have been adopted by 13 families through the WCS Program. Children have been an average of 8.84 years old at placement. Additionally, 8 children have been placed through the WCS Program but their adoptions have not yet been finalized. *Currently there are 14 active families in the program and two of them have been matched with a total of three children.

Children adopted through this program were placed from the following states:

Race/ethnicity of children adopted through the WCS program:

Family Composition of families who adopted through WCS Program:

*There have been two placement disruptions.