Crawford County Children Services - Adoption

Sometimes, although Children Services has been involved with and worked with a family, children cannot safely be reunited with their biological parents. In those cases, the court may terminate the biological parents’ rights, and grant “permanent custody” to children services. In these cases, all legal ties to the biological family are severed. The agency’s goal transitions from reunification to identifying a “forever” family - an adoptive home - for the child. There are over 3,000 children in Ohio who are awaiting forever families through public children services agencies. Children waiting to be adopted are all ages, genders and cultures. Some children are brothers and sisters who want to be together in a forever home. The majority of these children have been removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect or abandonment. These children dream of belonging to a family and having someone to call mom or dad. These children are in need of people like you to give them a forever family where they will feel loved, cared for and kept safe for the rest of their lives. Adoption is a lifelong promise of care and love and should be supported and welcomed by all members of the adoptive family. In addition to parenting skills such as patience, perseverance, resourcefulness, and tolerance, families who step forward to adopt should be able to put the needs of the children first. Families that work with Children Services receive free “pre-service” training. “Pre-service” training sessions are meant to help the family prepare for the unique needs of children who have been abused or neglected, and provide good parenting information. Completing the home study process is designed to be a mutual assessment process where the agency and foster caregivers work together to determine if foster care and/or adoption is the best option for the prospective foster caregivers. Foster caregivers do not pay for the home study process, unless any repairs or changes are recommended to ensure the home’s safety.