23 Adoption Agencies in CALIFORNIA (Safe, Renowned & Legal)
Family is the most important institution in humans’ social structure, probably because it is usually the first institution of the society that a child is exposed to and welcomed to.
Generally, no one gets to choose their family, no matter how much they wish to, while for some children, because of displacements, separation from parents, unrest, and so on, they sadly do not even have a family to call their own.
These children are kept in homes under the care of social services, who keep searching for perfect homes where the children will have a chance at a good and happy life.
However, because of the sensitivity and illegalities surrounding child adoption, the government has taken steps to curb illegal adoptions, so in this article, some genuine and licensed adoption agencies in California will be discussed.
And by the way, you may also want to check out the best Family Vacations in California.
Adoption Agencies in Fresno, California
1. American Adoptions (Leading Domestic Agency)
As a fully licensed, non-profit adoption agency in the United States, American Adoptions complete over three hundred domestic adoptions every year, making it one of the leading domestic adoption agencies in the country today.
The agency works with expectant mothers and adoptive families across the nation to ensure that the child is adopted by the family that proves to be best for him or her.
This has made many pregnant women entrust the agency with their adoption plans, and the fact that many of the staff at American Adoptions are adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth mothers themselves, who have first-hand experience with adoption, makes the whole process easier.
In the age of many unlicensed and illegal adoption agencies, it is essential to stakeholders – expectant/birth mothers and adoptive families – that the agency they want to trust with this delicate adoption process is a licensed and professional one.
Address: 7257 N Maple Avenue Suite 101, Fresno, CA 93720, US
2. Family Connections Christian Adoptions (7,000+ Children Placed)
On the day the world dedicated to celebrating love, a matter of the heart, Family Connections Christian Adoptions decided some forty years ago, on February 14, 1983, to officially mark the beginning of Family Connections as an adoption agency.
The agency was founded by Audrey Foster, a former worker at a county adoption agency, and started out in two small donated rooms behind a church, with a telephone and a secretary to tend the phone, amongst other duties.
Having placed just 16 children into adoptive families in its first year, the Family Connections Christian Adoptions knew that there were many children out there that could easily be adopted by adoptive families if they had good advocates if people heard about them, and if assisted with respect and good humor.
So, the agency brought in more volunteers and employees as the years rolled past.
Interestingly, forty years on, Family Connections Christian Adoptions have directly and jointly placed over seven thousand (7,000) children around the world into adoptive families.
Recently, Family Connections Christian Adoptions and American Adoptions announced that they had joined forces to better serve all parties in the adoption processes.
Address: 7257 N Maple Ave STE 101, Fresno, CA 93720, US
3. Bethany Christian Services (International Non-Profit)
Bethany Christian Services is an international non-profit organization that genuinely believes in making life easier for people that could use their help, especially families and, most especially, children.
An agency that started 75 years ago by being of service to a single child can now today boast serving over 50,000 people per year in over 30 states in the United States and more than 12 countries in the world.
It is their belief that every child needs to be loved, cared for, protected, and supported, so they have made it their duty to always try their best possible in placing these vulnerable children in foster homes and adoptive families to get the human support they need.
Bethany Christian Services also caters to refugees, immigrants, and families that are struggling to stay together by providing the necessary guidance and resources that will help such families become self-sufficient.
Address: 2610 W Shaw Ln Suite 103. Fresno, CA, US
4. Chrysalis House, Inc (Full-Service Agency)
Chrysalis House, Inc, popularly referred to as CHI, is a non-profit adoption agency established in 1985 and takes the full-service adoption process that sees to the ease of placing a child into an adoptive family in a process that begins with an expectant mother – before the child is born.
This adoption agency offers its adoption services in twenty-six (26) counties throughout the golden state, California, United States, and naturally, is an accredited member of the California Association of Adoption Agencies and the National Council for Adoption.
As earlier mentioned, Chrysalis House provides is a full-service adoption agency in a process that starts with the expectant mother and that involves providing education and much-needed support to women with unplanned pregnancies.
CHI was founded by Josie-Lee Kuhlman with the belief that where there are orphaned children, there are families that are willing and able to provide for and support them, and the agency has been able to be the link between these two wings.
Address: 7395 N Palm Bluffs Ave, Ste 106, Fresno, CA 93711, US
5. Central California Adoption Services (Focus on Open Child Adoption)
Built on a strong reputation of trust, integrity, and honesty, Central California Adoption Services handles the best practices in open child adoption.
This begins with the agency’s committed support and assistance of birth parents in making the right, brave, and sometimes quite tough decisions that are best for their children.
Central California Adoption Services is a full-service adoption agency, licensed and non-profit, that strives tirelessly to give children the best possible life because it is their belief that all children deserve a caring, loving, and supportive family, which will open the doors to immense opportunities for them in life.
Helping to build strong and healthy families since its establishment in 1953, Central California Adoption Services are still very much dedicated to continuing to do so and tries to achieve this with the services they render.
These services start before the child is born and does not end after the adoption; they include pregnancy counseling, adoption services, post-adoption counseling, and so much more.
Address: 2350 W Shaw Ave #142, Fresno, CA 93711, US
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Adoption Agencies in Sacramento, California
1. The Family Network (Dedicated to Smooth Adoptions)
Luke and Georgia Leonard have six children, four of which are internationally and domestically adopted, with the remaining two being their biological daughters; as a result of this personal experience and the challenges that came with the adoption process, the Leonards founded the Family Network in 1979, to foster adoption services free of similar challenges.
The Family Network, a licensed and non-profit adoption agency in California, United States, is an organization that is dedicated to helping birth mothers and families, as well as adoptive families and, of course, the baby, through every step of the adoption process.
Much like many other adoption agencies, it is the Family Network’s mission to remain committed to finding loving and suitable forever families to provide support, care, love, and protection to orphaned and less-privileged children.
Address: 7957 California Ave, Fair Oaks, CA 95628, US
2. Lilliput Families (Wayfinder Family Services)
Lilliput Families, established in 1980, was an idea that sprung from the vision of Bill Fuser, a social worker, who had worked in the public child welfare sector for over ten years, and, having seen the standard of services, believed that a higher quality of services could be provided to birth mothers, birth families, and adoptive families.
Although a private organization, Lilliput Families remains a non-profit adoption agency that is licensed in California, United States, and prides itself in rendering assistance in child adoption, involving children of all ages, guardianship, post-adoption care, and services, including providing adoption therapists adoption family counseling, and so on.
Completing more foster adoptions than any other private adoption agency in California, especially with the recent merger with Wayfinder Family Services in 2020, Lilliput Families are North California’s domestic adoption specialist.
Address: 2750 Sutterville Rd, Sacramento, CA 95820, US
3. Welcome Home Foster Family Agency (Founded by Experienced Professionals)
Welcome Home Foster Family Agency, situated in Sacramento County of California State, is an adoption agency founded by David N. Harris and Christie C. Case, who both double as the CEO and administrator, respectively and with over five decades of combined experience in foster care and child therapy.
At Welcome Home Foster Family Agency, the main objective is to provide the children under their care some permanency, whether by reunifying them with their birth mothers or immediate relatives or through adoption or guardianship.
The agency is also aware that the adoption process, or rather their part in the process, should not come to a halt once the child is placed in a family; they believe that to make the new home more suitable for the child, there are some other complex factors and should not be left at the hands of the adoptive parents alone.
As a result of this, Welcome Home Foster Family Agency has teams that endeavor to put the child’s needs over that of every other involved party, all in a bid to let the child know that their well-being is everyone’s priority.
Address: 1765 Challenge Way #130, Sacramento, CA 95815, US
4. Sacramento Adoption Center (Facilitating Adoptions)
Established in 1992 by Tom Volk, an adoption attorney and a fellow of the Academy of California Adoption-ART Lawyers, the Sacramento Adoption Center has been successfully facilitating adoptions for more than three decades.
The Sacramento Adoption Center strives to ensure that they link birth parents who have chosen to put their baby up for adoption to adopting parents that want to adopt and assist in smoothening the adoption process for all the parties involved, especially the baby.
At Sacramento Adoption Center, the staff is readily available to answer all of the questions you may have, whether as a birth mother, immediate relative, or an adopting family.
The staff also provides assistance with necessary appointments that must be made during the whole process, housing, and any other thing that you need as a pregnant mother or adopting parent.
Address: 2618 J Street Suite 3, Sacramento, California, 95816, US
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Adoption Agencies in Los Angeles, California
1. Heartsent Adoption, Inc (Firsthand Adoption Experience)
At Heartsent Adoption, Inc, the mission is to provide a full-service process with the agency by your side at every step of the adoption process, all at an affordable rate to make it easier for families from both ends of the aisle (birth families and adopting families) to reach their adoption dreams.
Heartsent Adoption’s founders are adoptive parents themselves, so they have first-hand experience with the challenges stakeholders face during the adoption process, and this is the same for many members of the Board of Directors, so they all work to ensure you do not face the same challenges and if you must do, to make it smoother to navigate.
This in itself is one of the reasons Heartsent Adoption is one of the leading agencies in Los Angeles, not to mention how supportive, educative, professional, and kind they are with the adoption process.
Address: 454 S. Marengo Avenue Pasadena, CA 91101, US
2. RaiseAChild (Supports LGBTQ+ Community)
RaiseAChild, based in Los Angeles County, California, is an agency that supports and educates foster families and prospective foster families across the United States and also seeks to link up with other foster family agencies to improve the process of placing children into permanent and lovely homes.
The founder of the agency, Rich Valenza, who is also the CEO, is a father of two adopted children who faced the challenges and tribulations that troubled the LGBTQ+ community members and single parents when trying to adopt and build their families.
So, Rich Valenza’s mission became to smoothen the processes involved and make it as hitch-free as possible.
This first-hand experience, coupled with those he gained from his five years of service on the board and three years as president of The Pop Luck Club, an organization that promotes the well-being of the LQBTQ+ community, Rich Valenza has managed to build RaiseAChild to a position of strength and influence.
Address: 5419 Hollywood Blvd Suite C-419, Hollywood, CA 90027, US
3. AdoptHelp (Specializes in Newborn Baby Adoptions)
As one of the nation’s first set of independent adoption centers that specializes in the adoption of newborn babies, AdoptHelp and its team of professionals assist in tailoring adoption plans that are right for all the parties involved.
This includes both the pregnant, expectant birth mother looking to put up the child for adoption and prospective adoptive parents that are ready to expand their families.
AdoptHelp was established in 2000 by Mark Goldman as a wing of AdoptHelp Law Center, which is a full-service adoption law firm, and AdoptHelp, Inc, a birth mother advertising and outreach program.
Mark had facilitated over a thousand adoptions and had also combined his law degree with adoption when he assisted in passing a bill he co-wrote that seeks a reduction in adoption fees, as well as serving as a child advocate appointed by the court.
Address: 21800 Oxnard Street, Suite 790. Los Angeles, CA 91367, US
4. Bal Jagat – Children’s World, Inc (Non-profit, Serves Diverse Backgrounds)
‘Bal Jagat’ is a Hindi phrase that means ‘Children’s World,’ and you need not much convincing to know what they do, which is to ensure that children are connected and placed into loving adoptive families where they will get all the love, care and support they need to lead a good life.
To enable them to serve all faith, religion, and background, especially the LGTBQ+ community, Bal Jagat – Children’s World, Inc does not receive funding from any religious entity that may (or may not) frown on other religions and beliefs.
The agency is a non-profit, licensed, private adoption agency that is based in California State in the United States but carries out adoption internationally with direct programs involving other countries like India and China and partners on individual cases with other countries like Morocco, Mexico, Colombia, and so on.
Address: 5199 E Pacific Coast Highway #204, Long Beach, CA 90804, US
5. Olive Crest (Focuses on Abused & At-risk Children)
Since the establishment of Olive Crest in 1973, more than hundred and fifty children, abused, neglected, and at-risk, have been elevated because of their tireless struggle to ensure these children have safe and loving homes, education, as well as counseling.
At Olive Crest, they believe that strengthening the family is one of the most effective ways to heal neglected and abused children and also helps make society a better place for everyone because these children are the future.
It is interesting to know that the idea of the name ‘Olive Crest’ was gotten from the olive tree in front of Dr Don and Lois Verleur’s Orange County children’s home, and the idea of a family crest; so Olive Crest was a name to symbolize ‘Peaceful Family,’ which tells you everything to know about the organization.
Address: 17800 Woodruff Ave, Bellflower, CA 90706, US
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Adoption Agencies in Bakersfield, California
1. Aspiranet (California’s Largest Service Organizations)
Aspiranet, which started in 1975 with a single group home in Moss Beach, outside San Francisco, is now one of the biggest and most successful social service organizations in the state of California.
As a non-profit organization with an aim to ensure the provision of support, love, and care to children, youth, and even families as a whole, Aspiranet faces challenges and risks but continues to strive to make sure the needs of those in their care all well-taken care of.
The organization is a home for children, and so naturally does not deal only with outright adoption; they also place these children in foster homes and with their ‘foster to adoption’ type of programs, sometimes the children end up getting adopted by the foster families.
Address: 4900 California Ave., Tower A, Suite 410-A, Bakersfield, CA 93309, US
2. Childnet Youth and Family Services (Focuses on Emotional Growth)
ChildNet Youth and Family Services was established in 1970 by some civic leaders with the main aim of fostering the emotional, social, and educational growth and development of troubled and disadvantaged children.
This agency, which started with a single home that catered for about a hundred children every year, has grown to a large organization with a presence in seven locations across five counties and serving over 12,000 clients every year.
With the aim of providing loving and caring homes and families, education, as well as counseling to these children and families, Childnet Youth and Family Services’ philosophy emphasizes personal responsibility and reinforces the absolute need for a strong family unit in society today.
At ChildNet Youth and Family Services, they believe that every child should live in a happy, loving, and supportive home, and they take pride in being able to assist in providing such.
Address: 4101 Easton Dr, Bakersfield, CA 93309, US
3. Forever After Adoption (Offers Networked Services)
Forever After Adoptions is an agency that is highly qualified and engages in services that network with other licensed adoption agencies and attorneys across the country, as well as some therapeutic services, especially for women with unplanned pregnancies that are considering putting the baby, when born, up for adoption.
At Forever After Adoptions, they do not only offer these services; in fact, they help you understand the advantages of their different services so that you can make an informed decision as to which service is the right fit for you and the child.
For example, some services provide housing, or a group home, while some other services specialize in faith-based adoptions that makes some birth mothers more comfortable putting their child in such adoptive families.
Address: 1430 Truxtun Ave Bakersfield, CA 93301, US
4. Legacy Family Services (Over a Decade of Experience)
Legacy Family Services is an organization that deals with foster care and support to the resource families where children are placed; right from the initial contact, Legacy Family Services assist all along the way till the child is placed, with educating, orientating, and carrying out all necessary work to ensure that your status as a resource family is certified.
Blessed with more than ten years of experience in the foster and adoption industries in California, Legacy Family Services are always prepared, committed, and ever ready to put to use the knowledge garnered over the years to ensure the children in their care and the adoptive/resource families get the best of services.
The agency has been serving children and families since its establishment in 2002, and over the years, they have worked with hundreds of families and even a higher number of foster children.
Address: 1800 Westwind Drive, Suite 107, Bakersfield, CA 93301, US
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Adoption Agencies in San Francisco, California
1. Adoption Connection (Full-Service Agency)
Adoption Connection is a full-service agency and one of the leading organizations in matters of domestic adoption in the United States and prides itself in having successfully handled adoptions for over thirty years and continues to strengthen the trust that has been put in them by those they have served and those they will serve.
As a full-service agency, Adoption Connection assists its clients in navigating the whole process and documentation involved in adoption from beginning to end, making it a smooth and easy experience.
At the agency, they believe and understand that each and every family is different in size, shape, color, age, background, religion, sexual orientation, and so on, so the staffs are professionals and experts, ready to be of help irrespective of the differences.
Address: 1710 Scott St, San Francisco, CA 94115, US
2. Adopt International (Facilitates Domestic & International Adoptions)
Whose interest should be prioritized and uncompromised is not up for debate at Adopt International, and it is in the best interest of every child.
Having been duly trained and quite knowledgeable from years of experience with numerous adoptions, Adopt International are of assistance to families, both the birth families and prospective adoptive families, in making informed, educated decisions and selecting the best-personalized plan for them.
Their staff is dedicated to delivering comprehensive yet professional services to families and children, with much focus on handling the needs of the modern-day culturally diverse community while taking into account the changes in the adoption industry and providing non-stop quality improvement, generosity, and compassion to all parties involved.
Established in 1983, Adopt International, a licensed, private, and non-profit agency based in California, United States, has facilitated numerous adoptions, both domestically and internationally.
Address: 1000 Brannan St, Ste 301, San Francisco, CA 94103, US
3. Devon Rubin, LCSW (Adoption and Counseling Agency)
Devon Rubin, LCSW is an adoption and counseling agency named after the owner of the business, Devon Rubin, and assists birth parents, adoptive parents, and most importantly, adopted persons with counseling and coaching.
She also prides herself as an adoption service provider or facilitator for families that have already been matched in an independent adoption process while also offering consultation services to birth mothers and prospective adoptive parents with added training in attachment parenting for the latter.
Established in 1996, giving Devon Rubin over twenty years of experience in the adoption sector, she understands how difficult and tedious it is to find a competent adoption therapist and how some of the adoption triads do not believe that such therapy is necessary.
She works directly with the birth and adoptive families while she coordinates with another trusted therapy for the adopted child’s counseling.
Address: 801 Portola Drive, Suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94127, US
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Adoption Agencies in Oakland, California
1. Family Builders (Committed to Placing Children)
Family Builders, a non-profit foster family and adoption agency, is committed to providing support and care to children in foster care by placing them into permanent, loving, and dedicated families for free.
The agency is of the belief that these children, like everyone, deserve to be brought up in a caring, nurturing, and supportive family irrespective of that child’s race, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or medical, physical, or emotional state.
More often than not, those not in the system, either as workers or children under care, are not really aware or knowledgeable about the situation of things for these children.
As a result of this, the staff members at Family Builders also take it upon themselves to educate the community about the needs of waiting for children, advocate on their behalf, and do their best possible to place the children in safe families, mainly through adoption.
Address: 1900 Embarcadero, Suite 303, Oakland, CA, US
2. Alternative Family Services (Serving Children, Youth & Families)
Since its establishment in 1978, Alternative Family Services has been catering to the needs of thousands of children, youth, and families, and it is still doing so today, with about 1,500 youth being served every year through numerous distinct services, all accredited by the Council On Accreditation.
With over four decades of experience, almost half a century, Alternative Family Services, through their staff, members of the board, financial aids, etc., put the knowledge garnered over the years to enhance smoothness and ease with the processes involved in placing a child in an adoptive family or foster home.
To thrive and make headway in life, children need a stable and permanent home where they will be loved and cherished and have a chance to grow to become whatever they want to be and, in turn, change the world; it is one of the reasons AFS do what they do, and ensure they do it with full dedication and commitment.
Address: 401 Roland Way, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94621, US
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