Adoption Agencies in South Dakota

If you are a pregnant woman or birth mother please click here to see information that is geared to your needs. 

If you are an adopting family we believe you will find the information below helpful. We begin by giving you information regarding child adoption law in South Dakota (some of what you can and can't do) and then provide you with information on children available for adoption in South Dakota.  We then relate how we can assist you during the adoption process, and finally we provide a list of licensed South Dakota adoption agencies through which you can browse for additional information.

Before starting to search for a child to adopt or an agency to assist you, it is important that you understand how the adoption laws in South Dakota may affect your decisions. Making informed decisions is the best way of increasing your chances of adopting a child.  By way of example, we have listed below a few of the important parts of South Dakota child adoption law including such topics as adoption intermediaries, adoption expenses, and the critical issue of ending the biological parental rights (called a Consent, Relinquishment or Surrender).

Use of Intermediaries/Facilitators in Adoptive Placements
Citation: Ann. Stat. § 25-6-4.2

Any person who offers, gives, or receives any money or other consideration or thing of value in connection with the placing of a child for adoption, or relating to the consent to adoption, or with the petition for adoption except such charges as are approved by the court and fees charged by licensed agencies, is guilty of a felony.

Allowable Payments for Arranging Adoption
Citation: § 26-6-8

Only a licensed agency or the Department of Social Services may place a child for adoption.
It is unlawful to offer or receive payment in connection with placing a child or consenting to an adoptive placement.

Allowable Payments for Relinquishing Child
Citation: §§ 25-6-4.1; 25-6-4.2

It is unlawful to offer or receive payment in connection with placing a child or consenting to an adoptive placement.
It is unlawful to compel or force by any means a person to place, sell, or relinquish any minor child.

Consent to Adoption
Who Must Consent to an Adoption
Citation: Codified Laws § 25-6-4

No child may be adopted without the consent of the child's parents.

Age When Consent of Adoptee is Considered or Required
Citation: Codified Laws § 25-6-5

A child who is age 12 or older must consent to the adoption.

When Parental Consent is not Needed
Citation: Codified Laws § 25-6-4

If it is in the best interest of the child, the court may waive consent from a parent or putative father who:
Has been convicted of any crime punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period that, in the opinion of the court, will deprive the child of the parent's companionship for a critical period of time
Has, by clear and convincing evidence, abandoned the child for 6 months or more immediately prior to the filing of the petition
Has substantially and continuously or repeatedly neglected the child and refused to give the child necessary parental care and protection
Being financially able, has willfully neglected to provide the child with the necessary subsistence, education, or other care necessary for the child's health, morals, or welfare or has neglected to pay for such subsistence, education, or other care, if legal custody of the child is lodged with others and such payment ordered by the court
Is unfit by reason of habitual abuse of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs
Has been judicially deprived of the custody of the child, if the adjudication is final on appeal to the court of last resort or the time for an appeal has expired
Has caused the child to be conceived as a result of rape or incest
Does not appear personally or by counsel at the hearing to terminate parental rights after notice was received at least 30 days prior to the hearing

When Consent Can Be Executed
Citation: Codified Laws § 25-5A-4

No petition to terminate rights or consent to adoption may be filed until 5 days after the child's birth.

Revocation of Consent
Citation: Codified Laws § 25-6-21

Except in any case involving fraud, any proceeding for the adoption of a child shall be in all things legalized, cured, and validated 2 years after the proceeding is finalized. If any person has a claim or right arising from any adoption proceeding, that person must initiate any action to enforce such right or claim within 2 years of the date when the proceeding is finalized.

Rights of Presumed (Putative) Fathers
Registry/Paternity Requirements to Receive Notice
Citation: §§ 25-6-1.1; 25-6-1

Within 60 days of the child's birth, the putative father must acknowledge paternity through one or more of these actions:
Publicly acknowledging the child as his own and receiving the child into his family
Placing his name on the child's birth certificate
Commencing a judicial proceeding claiming a parental right

Please visit adoption law in South Dakota for more details.

Yes, through both public and private adoption agencies.  For example, in 2004, South Dakota had 453 children in the welfare system waiting to be adopted of whom 7 were under the age of 1 year, and 90 were between ages 1-5 years old. The actual number of children adopted through South Dakota public child welfare agencies was only 123, which represents only a small portion of the total number of all South Dakota adoptions (exact numbers are not available at this time). 

Remember that while you may be a resident of South Dakota, you are not limited to adopting a child from South Dakota.  You can adopt a child born in South Dakota, a child born in any other U.S. state, or even a foreign born child.  What is important for you to understand is that infants and children are available for adoption in South Dakota, in each of the other the 49 states, and in many foreign countries. 

Yes, we can help you and so can any licensed child adoption agency (we have listed several below).  By way of introduction to Adoption Services, Inc, I will relate to you a little about myself and our child adoption agency.

Almost 40 years ago I (Dr. Vince Berger) began working as a psychologist with pregnant teens in the Pittsburgh city school system. It was very challenging because in those days there were very few services for these young women, society was not yet accepting of unmarried and/or pregnant teens, and the word "adoption" was hardly ever used.

I loved the work I was doing and knowing that I was personally able to help so many of the pregnant women I was working with. But something was missing - I did not feel I was helping people enough. So, I set out to provide the personal and professional care that a birth mother and adopting family need and deserve in the adoption process.

I started a full service, non-profit adoption agency. Not just any agency, but one that was, and still is, dedicated to helping birth parents and adopting families receive the best and most comprehensive of adoption related services. Over the past 20 years, my staff and I have helped over 9,000 adopting families, birth parents, their babies and children.

I love helping people. I work 6 days a week and answer calls at all hours. The hours I put in are long but never hard, since I find so much joy and strength in helping others.

My goal continues to be to help you. Accordingly, in addition to the website you are on now and the Adoption Services website, we created Adopting Family Resources and International Adoption Help as well as Child Adoption Laws and Child Adoption Resources and Pregnancy And Children to give you a information and help.

I hope that you will call me or my staff so we can help you in the adoption process. However, if you don't want to call us, then please review the agencies listed here and give one of them a call. Do not give up until you get the help and attention you need and deserve.

Thank you for letting us help, and good luck.

Dr. Berger
and the staff of Adoption Services

Bethany Christian Services, Inc.
625 South Minnesota Avenue
Suite 103
Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: (605) 336-6999
Fax: (605) 330-0820

Bethany Christian Services, Inc.
2525 West Main Street
#309
Rapid City, SD 57702-2443
Phone: (605) 343-7196
Fax: (605) 737-0978
Toll-Free: (800) 238-4269

Catholic Social Services (CSS)
918 Fifth Street
Rapid City, SD 57701-3798
Phone: (605) 348-6086
Fax: (605) 348-1050
Toll-Free: (800) 727-2401

Children's Home Society
PO Box 1749
Sioux Falls, SD 57101-1749
Phone: (605) 334-3431

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota
Citizens Building
202 South Main Street #228
Aberdeen, SD 57401
Phone: (605) 229-1500
Fax: (605) 229-4357
Toll-Free: (800) 584-9248

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota
600 West 12th Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: (605) 336-3347
Fax: (605) 336-9141
Toll-Free: (888) 201-5061

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota
2920 Sheridan Lake Road
Rapid City, SD 57702
Phone: (605) 348-0477
Fax: (605) 348-0479
Toll-Free: (800) 260-1439

New Horizons Adoption Agency, Inc.
2500 West 49th Street -- Suite 203E
PO Box 89532
Sioux Falls, SD 57109-9532
Phone: (605) 332-0310
Toll-Free: (800) 314-3370