About Us
Downey Side has 11 area offices located in Missouri, Kansas, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Minnesota. Each area office functions as a full-service family life center, yet each office shares resources and makes referrals to each other. The Mission Office, located in New York City, provides administrative, fiscal, and corporate services.
What We Do:
- Recruit adoptive parents;
- Provide a 30(Kansas)/39(Missouri) hour training class;
- Complete a certified adoption study by a licensed social worker;
- Network with State and private child placement agencies;
- Represent family through the selection process;
- Assist, coordinate, and negotiate services with State and private agencies;
- Provide in-home visits and adoption placement reports to finalize adoption;
- 24 hour availability of adoption staff;
- Ongoing support, information and referral services to community resources.
What Is the Process:
- Attend training and make an informed decision on whether is foster care adoption is right for your family;
- Simultaneously complete home study process along with training;
- Search for children and be selected as the identified adoptive family for a child/ren;
- Locate resources needed and set up services for your adoptive child and family;
- Pre-placement placement services for with child/ren and arrange for placement in your adoptive home;
- Placement services including, subsidy, community services, supervision of placement, etc.;
- Legal adoption; 6 months to 1 year after placement.
Why Choose Downey Side:
- Qualified, dependable staff available throughout the adoption process;
- Safe and confidential adoption services;
- Fully licensed child placing agency in Kansas and Missouri;
- National organization with contacts in most states to help with matching process;
- Individualized attention. Your family is not just a number to us;
- Our focus is on those children in foster care who will otherwise be left behind if an adoptive family is not found for them.
What Is the Cost:
- There is an adoptive family application fee of $2000 for individuals and $4000 per couple.
- Federal Background Check**
- Need to have a current physical**
- Transportation (mileage) to meet child *
- Hotel and meals when meeting with child *
- Judgment and Decree and new Birth Certificates during finalization *
- TIME AND ENERGY
* These expenses may be reimbursed through subsidy
**Adoption expenses can be applied toward the federal adoption tax credit.