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www.FredParent.NET 41 Sponsored Material Join us for the live conversation on delays in court proceedings or back-logged paperwork due to the high caseloads at many local departments of social service agencies. Most adoptions take longer than six months to finalize. It's more realistic to expect a child to be in your home for about a year before the adoption will be final. Q: Can anyone adopt? What are the restrictions? While there are restrictions to adoption, it is a much more inclusive process than many people may realize. You need to show you can provide a nurturing and stable home environment for child. The home study process is in-depth and challenges individuals and couples to test their personal histories, the physical environment of the home, their parenting styles, plans for childcare, and many other factors. Besides completing a home study, anyone adopt- ing needs to complete a criminal background check. This does not mean you have to have spotless record and never have commit- ted even a minor criminal offense. However, there are some seri- ous offenses they consider "barrier" crimes to being approved as an adoptive parent, which include many felony level offenses or offenses against children. Many people think only hetero-normative two-parent families can adopt, but this is not true. Both single men and single women can adopt, as well as same-sex couples and couples who are married or unmarried. There are no restrictions based on sexual orientation, age, gender or any other demographic. What's important is being able to provide a permanent, stable family. There are many children who are waiting for permanent families through adoption and many of them, depending on their personal history, may benefit from finding an adoptive family that does not look like the "traditional" family. Anyone interested in adopting, who believes they can pro- vide a healthy home environment, should reach out and learn more about the process. Do you have questions for Children's Home Society of Virginia? Be sure to join our Facebook Live chat! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for information and updates. Facebook: @fredericksburgparent Twitter: @FredParent Instagram: @fredparentmagazine a sk t h e e x p e rt Q: What are the costs associated with adopting a child? Are there places we can look for fi nancial support? The biggest cost of adopting a child is the added cost of having another person in the home, such as higher utility costs, food costs or transpor- tation costs. There are sometimes fees associated with home studies, trainings, other administrative costs or court costs. However, when you adopt a child from the foster care system, there is financial help avail- able from the government to help offset these costs. This includes both ongoing adoption assistance payments and an adoption tax credit that can be claimed the year in which you adopted. The purpose of this is to help lower financial barriers to adopting foster care youth, so that good, loving parents don't shy away from adoption just because of financial concerns. This does not mean you will never spend your own money on an adopted child, but it helps. CHS works with families to understand the costs associated with adoption and navigating through the system to get the support they need. Q: How many children are waiting for families? Currently in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a little over 1,000 youth in foster care seek permanent adoption. About 80 of those youths are from the Greater Fredericksburg region. Virginia ranks 49th out of 50—second worst in the nation—for youth who age out of foster care without finding permanency families. Q: How can the community support Children's Home Society? Even if adopting a child is not the right thing for your family, you can still support children and families in Virginia through volun- teering your time or donating to financially support the work of adop- tion. Anyone interested in donating can go to our website (www.chsva. org) to learn more about donation options, which could include one-time cash donations or donating specific items from our wish list. Donations go directly toward therapeutic activities with our youth and families. We love having volunteers and eagerly put them to work in a variety of ways, such as helping supervise our post-adoption Kid's Club days or helping during our fundraising events. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Lauren Weidner at lauren@chsva.org. Children's Home Society of Virginia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so donations are tax- deductible. Every Child Deserves a Home " " Virginia ranks 49th out of 50 for youth who age out of foster care without finding permanent families.