Adoption Support Groups in North Dakota
For Adopting Families

Among the most common things you, as an adopting family, may be looking for is information on "how to adopt a child" whether to use an adoption facilitator, whether to engage in a private adoption or adoption agency, the limitations and requirements for adoption, what to consider in selecting an adoption agency, where to find licensed adoption agencies in North Dakota, and the laws relating to what you can and cannot do when adopting a child in North Dakota.

Understanding the child adoption laws in North Dakota can greatly increase your chances of successfully adopting a child. Important legal concerns include the giving of support or gifts to a birth mother or birth father, fees paid to an adoption agency, attorney, or other intermediary, the legality of using an adoption facilitator, the legal rights of the birth parents and the adopting family, and the critical issues of a disruption and the ending the biological parental rights (called a Consent, Relinquishment or Surrender).  For example, using our most recent update, in North Dakota:

*Birth parent expenses that are allowed include:  Preplacement counseling, adoption assessment, placement of the child, foster care, other preadoption services, or legal fees that must be paid directly to the provider of the services; medical expenses relating to prenatal care and the birth of the child that are not already covered by health insurance; expenses for transportation, meals, and lodging incurred for placement of the child or in order to receive services; and living expenses of the birth mother that are needed to maintain an adequate standard of living.

*Birth Parent Expenses Not Allowed:  Payments may not extend beyond 6 weeks after delivery unless approved by the court.
Living expenses do not include lost wages, gifts, educational expenses, vacations, or other similar expenses.

*It is unlawful to accept, offer, or agree to accept anything of value for enabling another to furnish a minor child for adoption.

*A consent to adoption may be withdrawn before the entry of a decree of adoption if the court finds, after notice and opportunity to be heard is afforded to petitioner, the individual seeking the withdrawal, and the agency placing a child for adoption, that the withdrawal is in the best interest of the individual to be adopted and the court orders the withdrawal. A consent to adoption cannot be withdrawn after the entry of a decree of adoption.

*Rights of Presumed (Putative) Fathers:  If the mother relinquishes or proposes to relinquish the child for adoption, the birth father is given notice if he is a presumed father, he is a father whose relationship to the child has been determined by a court, or if he is a father to whom the child is a legitimate child under law.

You may be looking for the differences in the waiting period, effort, cost, and success rates involved in adopting children within your state or in other states (domestic adoption) or even from other countries (international adoption) in order to determine which type of adoption will work for you.  Some specific choices you may want to consider, as the waiting lists tend to be shorter, are special needs adoption, bi-racial and trans-racial adoption, and older children (generally from one to 15 years of age) from the North Dakota child welfare and foster care systems. The more open you are in the type and age of child you are looking to adopt the better your chances of success. You should also decide before contacting an adoption agency whether you want an open adoption or closed adoption.

In addition to the adoption support groups shown below, there are many sources of help available to you in North Dakota. For example, we are always happy to take your calls and offer you help and information (contact us). There are local and private as well as state and federal government resources that can provide financial and medical information and help.  North Dakota also has the North Dakota adoption exchange or photo listing program and an North Dakota adoption contact office.

You may also be looking for information on special problems in raising an adopted child and being the best possible parent you can be. This may include explaining adoption to your child, family, friends and others. It could also include dealing with special emotional and developmental issues, or adoption and school problems, or issues involving adoption therapy and finding a therapist who specializes in working with adopted children and their families. Then again you may be looking for information on infant nutrition or birth records or one of a myriad of other questions.

If you are specifically interested in an international adoption support group, you may want to visit the support groups for Russian adoption, as well as the groups for Guatemala adoption and China adoption.

American Adoption Congress is composed of individuals, families and organizations committed to adoption reform.

Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA) is for families who have adopted, or are in the process of adoption, from Russia and former Soviet Union countries.

Families with Children from China is a non-denominational organization of families who have adopted children from China.

Guatemala Adoptive Families Network initiates and supports the adoption of Guatemalan children.

National Adoption Center attempts to facilitate the adoption of children in the U. S., particularly children with special needs and those from minority cultures.

North American Council on Adoptable Children is committed to meeting the needs of waiting children and the families who adopt them.

Our Chinese Daughters Foundation (OCDF) is a non-profit foundation that supports families with children adopted from China.

Resolve is dedicated to providing education, advocacy, and support to those who face infertility.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway provides information on all aspects of both domestic and international adoption.