Adoption Team

Children are waiting for families!

Children generally come to Mesa County Department Human Services (MCDHS) as a result of abusive and neglectful backgrounds. They may need temporary out of home placement until the situation of the family improves. Many of these children have special needs such as medical conditions, emotional or behavioral challenges, educational or developmental delays, yet will blossom and thrive with consistent care, nurturing and specialized services. If a child is unable to return home, our agency will consider placement with a foster or kinship family who is willing to permanently commit to the child if s/he becomes legally free for adoption.

• Each year approximately 50-60 children are available for adoption in Mesa County.
• MCDHS believes that all children have an inherent right to a committed, permanent family.
• Permanency promotes healthy physical, social and emotional development.
• Families are needed to provide a loving and stable home for children through adoption.
• If you are interested in becoming a permanent family for a child, please visit FosterAdoptMesaCounty.org or call 970- 248-2869.

If a family is interested in adopting a child through MCDHS, they will need to become a certified foster or kinship care home.

Requirements for certification include

• Training
• Completing background clearances
• Home study

Once a family is designated as the concurrent family for a child, services and support will be provided by the placement resource manager and ongoing case manager. If the child becomes legally free for adoption a permanency planning case manager will assist the child and family in preparing for and completing the requirements necessary to finalize the adoption. This includes providing information on the child’s history and special needs, identifying and accessing services, determining if the child is eligible for financial and other post adoptive services.

For more information, visit FosterAdoptMesaCounty.org website.

This program is designed for children ages 0-6 years who have been placed in foster or kinship care due to abuse or neglect.  The initial permanency goal for children in out of home placement is reunification with birth parents.

• Concurrent planning is the case management approach that is utilized in these cases and is intended to provide an alternative permanent plan for the child in the event the child is unable to return home.
• Families who want to adopt through MCDHS are called permanency planning families.
• They are expected to support efforts toward reunification while at the same time are willing to make a lifelong commitment to the child should reunification not occur.
• Permanency families are willing to adopt the child if and when termination of parental rights occurs.
• They are prepared to transport a child to visits with birth family, medical or therapeutic appointments and are active participants in various staffing that could potentially involve contact with birth parents.

Without permanency families many children might wait indefinitely for a family willing to provide a permanent, loving home.

A national day of celebration of adoptive families and an opportunity for courts to open their doors and finalize the adoptions of children from foster care. Since 2000, more than 25,000 children have had their adoptions finalized on National Adoption Day. This year on November 21, families, adoption advocates, policymakers, judges and volunteers will come together and celebrate adoption in communities large and small all across the nation.

For more information on this event, please visit the National Adoption Day website.

Adoption training is designed to provide specific information to certified foster and kinship families who are planning to adopt about the legal process and requirements for adoption, services available and core adoption issues that children and families may experience such as grief, loss, self-identity. The goal of this training is to help families gain understanding about the emotional, behavioral and other special needs children may have as a result of abuse or neglect, the impact this may have on the adoptive family and potential strategies that can be utilized to address issues that may arise. The MCDHS is committed to helping families experience and maintain successful adoptions.