Caritas Family Solutions

Adopt a Child

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the Private Domestic Adoption Program at Caritas Family Solutions. We’re here to answer any questions you have as you consider growing your family through adoption.

How can we help you?

Caritas is an independent, accredited adoption agency, not affiliated with DCFS.

DOMESTIC ADOPTION OVERVIEW

Caritas Family Solutions has been serving individuals and families for over 75 years. Our mission is to create healthy relationships, loving homes, and strong communities which starts by providing the best possible support and experience for all individuals and families interested in adoption.

Adoption looks much different than it did when we first began providing services, and we are proud to provide modern and updated services to the families we serve.

Individualized Approach

With Caritas Family Solutions, you will have access to professional and caring individuals who provide emotional and ongoing support throughout the adoption process. A Master level Social Worker who is experienced in his or her field will conduct your home study, and our expectant parents work with specialists who provide individualized care and support to women or couples making the difficult decision to place their children for adoption.

Our Adoption Staff

Our adoption staff is supervised by an adoption manager who has over 20 years of experience as an adoption professional, with over 10 years of them as a leader in the adoption community. Caritas staff are trained adoption workers who are not only caring but desire to provide premier, along with ethical adoption services in Illinois.

Comprehensive Support

We are committed to providing expectant parents and families with ethical care that is personalized and supportive. We limit our waiting pre-adoptive families, so as not to overload the waiting list and the services provided. We understand adoption can be an overwhelming and sometimes confusing process, and we are here to guide you every step of the way.

Adoptive Parent Profiles: We will assist you in creating your adoptive
parent profile, presenting your profile on our website, and we will use
numerous tools to reach potential expectant or birth parents.
Coordination & guidance for communication with expectant or birth parents: We will help coordinate communication and meetings between you and the expectant/birth parents.
Guidance & support: We’re always here to talk, listen, and offer assistance, advice, and encouragement at any stage of the process to our clients and the Southern Illinois community.

PREGNANCY OPTIONS COUNSELING

Pregnant or parenting and considering adoption as an option? You’re not alone. We’re here to help.

Learn more about our Pregnancy Options Counseling services.

Or for immediate assistance call or text our on-call number.

Email

Melyssa.Frederick@caritasfamily.org

THE ADOPTION PROCESS

INFORMATIONAL MEETING

Conversation with Domestic Adoption Manager to learn about our program, services, eligibility guidelines, and fee information.

SUBMIT APPLICATION

Fill out and submit application to become an approved family in our Domestic Adoption Program.

COMPLETE HOMESTUDY

Begin home study process.

FAMILY PROFILE

Create family profile for website and print to present to potential birth parents.

WAITING AND READY TO BE MATCHED

Become a “waiting family” to be presented to potential expectant or birth parents.

MATCHED WITH EXPECTANT PARENTS

Be selected by expectant parents. Expectant parents may make their selection at any point in pregnancy or after the baby is born.

PLACEMENT

Baby is placed with your family, and birth parents sign voluntary termination of parental rights, no sooner than 72 hours following birth.

POST-PLACEMENT

Meet with your social worker for post-placement support and required home visits.

FINALIZATION

Attend final court hearing. Baby’s name is changed and new birth certificate and Social Security card issued after finalization.

ADOPTION MANAGER

Melyssa Frederick, MSW, LCSW

618.744.7297 (direct)
Melyssa.Frederick@caritasfamily.org

900 Royal Heights Rd., Suite 2150
Belleville, IL, 62226

Main Office

8601 W. Main St.
Suite 201
Belleville, IL 62223

Contact us for more information about our Private Adoption program. For foster care inquiries, please contact https://www.foster-adopt.org/

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We encourage families to work with other adoption agencies and are always happy to explore this option with you. We can provide services, such as a home study and post-placement supervision for families in the Southern Illinois region that do not want to be a part of the agency’s private adoption list.
There are no guarantees with adoption until finalization, and timing is very unpredictable. We find there is no such thing as an average wait time. The time an adoptive family waits for a match can be affected by any number of factors. According to a 2022 report from the National Council for Adoption, the data also points to the importance of appropriate expectations for people who are considering private infant adoption in the U.S. “They need to be prepared for longer wait times, and increasing costs, because the reality is that there are far more hopeful adoptive parents than there are infants being placed for adoption each year,” Hanlon advised. “As the report shows, that is a trend we’ve seen continue over the last several years and accelerate during the pandemic,” he added. See report: https://adoptioncouncil.org/press-release/new-re port-from-ncfa-shows-dramatic-decline-in-adopt ions-during-pandemic/
As you can imagine, selecting an adoptive family to raise your child is a very challenging decision. Some expectant / birth parents desire to select a family that can offer similar childhoods to their own. Others may be looking for an entirely different experience than the one they had. We aim to provide an array of adoptive families to meet whichever criteria the birth parents we work with desire, and we strive to provide adoptive families who reflect the diversity of the birth parents we serve.
At this time, Caritas does not have a program for adopting children through foster care. If a family desires to be a foster parent without the expectation to adopt, families can be referred to the Caritas foster care program.
We begin working with expectant parents (women and men considering adoption), or birth parents (those who are already parenting) at any point in which we are contacted, this includes through website inquiries, on-call support, and referrals from professionals. We attempt to connect with expectant or birth parents through online and social media advertising, and networking with adoption attorneys, social workers, physicians, pregnancy crisis centers, hospitals, churches, schools, and other adoption agencies. Our services to expectant parents are always free, educational, supportive, and non-coercive.
Caritas is a small local agency that completes less than 5 adoptions a year with an emphasis on growing the program. There is no limit to how many placements Caritas can complete and as we grow, we will add staff to meet that need.
We assist individuals of any ethnicity, race, and/or religion who reside in Southern Illinois. We follow the laws within the State of Illinois regarding adoption for all types of families including single parents, as well as families with other biological and/or adopted children. For agency-assisted domestic adoptions, Caritas requires you to be 25 years of age or older to the age of 55; if married, we require one year of marriage before making an application and one person must be a U.S. citizen. We are unable to serve families that are seeking a closed adoption; however, we accept families who are already working with an adoption agency, adoption professionals, or desire to work with another agency. We allow one adoption or placement at a time, unless the children are siblings, as we believe each child or sibling group should have 9 months between placements. We can assist with all types of adoptions and do not have the same eligibility criteria for the home study or post-placement process as those families that are seeking placement independently.
Caritas only accepts families into the program that are open to some level of openness in the adoption process. Each family will decide on the level that best meets the adoption placement needs and an openness contract will be drawn up and agreed upon at placement by all parties. The birth parents and adoptive parents will be comprehensively educated on ways to support open adoptions if it is chosen by the birth parents and is healthy for the adoption triad: birth parents, adoptive parents, and the adoptee.

Support Pregnancy Care

Donate Money

We need funds to support and care for pregnant women, and provide housing, counseling and adoption services. Donate now.

More Ways to Help

See other ways you can support Caritas Family Solutions.