Programs & Initiatives

Considering Adoption or Guardianship from foster care?

We are here to help guide you, support you and answer questions you have about the process.

Please contact us at 401-865-6000 x313 or scroll down to learn more about:

Adoption Process – RI Residents
Information Meetings – RI Residents
Adoption Process – Out of State Residents
Frequently Asked Questions
Permanency Programs
Rhode Island Heart Gallery

Adoption from Foster Care
Considering adoption but aren’t sure where or how to begin? Adoption Rhode Island will help you through the process!

Although most are school-age children, generally between the ages of 5 and 18. These children deeply want a chance for love in a happy, permanent family setting. We invite married and single adults of any race, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation to apply. Most importantly, we are looking for families that can make a life-long commitment to provide a safe, loving home to a child. There is no cost to adopt any of these children.

Client Non-Discriminatory Policy
Adoption Rhode Island is firmly committed to equal opportunity and equity of access and does not permit and takes actions to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability/ability, marital status, and/or family status in provision of serving youth, children, pre-adoptive or adoptive families, or waiting families at the organization.

We welcome and encourage LGBTQ+ families interested in adoption! Adoption Rhode Island believes that all youth deserve to be loved, cared for, and given a sense of belonging and all families have the right to provide safe and loving homes for children seeking connections. “Family” comes in all forms, without exclusion.

Allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on any of these bases should be brought to the attention of agency administration immediately by reporting such conduct to the: (1) CEO/ED, (2) COO, (3) a member of management with whom the concerned staff feels comfortable, or (4) immediate supervisor.

AdoptionPermanency youngchildren scaled
Please take a few minutes to listen to Beth Capron, Manager of Permanency Services at Adoption RI, to learn more about becoming a pre-adoptive family and the processes that follow.

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The RI Adoption Process - Step 1

Attend one of our information meetings. Staff from Adoption Rhode Island and the Department of Children, Youth, and Families will explain the legalization process in detail. You’ll also learn about the children who are waiting for families.

Because of the sensitive subjects discussed in these meetings, we feel that they are not appropriate for children to attend.

Step 2

Enroll in a TIPS-MAPP foster care and adoption training and preparation class.

Classes are designed to:
• Prepare you to parent a child who has been in state care.
• Help a family reflect on their strengths and skills and prepare for meeting the needs of a child.

Enrollment opportunities and further information about where and when classes are held will be available at the Information Meeting (see Step One), and/or if you are a Rhode Island family and would like to start the application process sooner, you can learn more and complete the required application via the DCYF “BINTI” portal at https://family.binti.com/users/signup/ri-rfa

Step 3

Background and home safety check.
Criminal and state child welfare background checks are completed. Additionally, your home must comply with all state child safety regulations.

Step 4

Training and home study.
Once your application is approved, you will choose from upcoming available TIPS-MAPP Trainings. Trainings are typically held once a week for ten weeks, however other options may be available from time to time.

After finishing the classes, the home study writer will meet with you in your home one or more times to collect homework and other paperwork from you.

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Information Meetings

    Do you have questions about adopting or becoming a guardian of a child who is in Rhode Island state care? Are you trying to decide whether it’s right for you? Or would you like to get the adoption process underway? If the answer is yes – or even maybe, to any of these questions, we suggest that you come to one of our Information Meetings. These meetings are held once a month and feature presenters from Adoption Rhode Island and the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, who will explain the steps of the adoption process and provide an overview of the children waiting to be adopted, and the rewards and challenges involved. There will also be plenty of opportunities to ask questions. Applications to start the process are available at the meeting if you decide you are interested, or if you’d like to start the application process immediately, you can access the ‘Binti’ portal via the DCYF website at https://family.binti.com/users/signup/ri-rfa. Note that only Rhode Island families can utilize the Binti portal. Families also learn about other routes they can take to become involved in the lives of waiting children.

    To register for any of our Information Meetings, please contact Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org. Click the image to the right for a printable flyer of our upcoming Info Meetings.

With the exception of ‘Special Meetings’, meetings are held virtually at no cost*.  An R.S.V.P. to Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org is required to receive the Zoom link.
Meetings begin at 6:00 pm

INFORMATION MEETINGS 2025

The 2024- 2025 Information Meeting schedule is as follows:

Nov

Thurs 7

Dec

Wed 4

Jan '25

Thurs 9

Feb

Wed 12

Mar

Wed 12

Apr

Thurs 10

May

Wed 14

June

Thurs 12

July

Wed 16

Aug

Thurs 21

Sept

Wed 17

Oct

Thurs 16

Nov

Wed 12

Dec

Thurs 11

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting.

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

PLEASE NOTE: Meetings are held virtually via Zoom until further notice. Please email Allison Forte at aforte@adoptionri.org to request the Zoom link prior to the meeting

Out of State Adoption Process

Adoption Rhode Island welcomes families living out of state to be registered with us and be considered for RI youth waiting to be matched with licensed adoptive families.

We can only accept a home study from a licensed child-placing agency adoption or licensing worker, who will need to send the following documents:

For out of state inquiries, in order to have a completed home-study packet the following elements must be included:

01

A completed, up-to-date home-study with signatures of the family and agency representative

02

Documentation that background checks have been completed and contain no disqualifying results (this can be indicated in the home-study)

03

Copy of the child placing agency's license to verify they are a licensed child placing agency

04

Agency cover letter, email, or fax cover letter

05

A completed Rhode Island Matching Form Found here

    Once Adoption Rhode Island receives the above documents from the family’s agency, we will email the family a welcome letter. We enjoy meeting all registered families and look forward to getting to know them through virtual Meet & Greet meetings where families learn about the matching process and waiting youth.

    If you are interested in adoption but have not begun the process yet, the first step is to locate an agency in your own state to get a home study. National organizations like AdoptUSKids.org may be able to help you locate an appropriate agency.

Building a New Family
Building a New Family

Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a list of many commonly asked questions about adoption.

Must I be married in order to adopt or become a guardian?

No. Adoptions and guardianships by single people are on the increase, and some children actually do best with a single parent. Married and single adults from any race, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation are welcomed as parents.

Are there age requirements for adoptive or guardianship parents?

In Rhode Island you must be over 21 years of age.

How old are the children you work with in foster care?

We serve children and youth ages 0-17 and young adults 18-21 who deeply want a chance for love and a sense of belonging  in a happy, permanent family setting. We invite married and single adults of any race, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation to apply. Most importantly, we are looking for families who can make a life-long commitment to provide a safe, loving home to a child or young adult

What about infants?

It is not often that infants are registered with Adoption Rhode Island.

Are the children shown on the website the only children waiting for families?

No, the children you’ll meet in our Photo Gallery are children who are seeking adoption or other permanent connections. There are additional children seeking families who have some restrictions around recruitment and whose photos can not be displayed. If you would like more information regarding any of the children waiting for families, please contact our Adoption & Permanency team.

How much does it cost to adopt or become a guardian of a child?

There is no fee to adopt or become a legal guardian a child in state care through Adoption Rhode Island.
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What kind of income must a prospective parent have?

There are no income requirements for families.

Must an adoptive or guardianship parent be a homeowner?

No, you do not need to own a home. You will however, need to have at least two bedrooms in your home.

What is a home study?

A home study is an official document, written by your home-study writer, about you and your family that legally gives approval for adoption. To be more precise, it’s a series of group and individual meetings between a home-study writer, prospective parents, and family members.

How long will it take?

Once you have been accepted into a training group, the process takes three to five months to complete. The waiting period to be matched with a child varies depending on how flexible your expectations are regarding the demographic of a child you are willing to consider.

Where are the children while they are waiting to be adopted?

Most of the waiting children are living in foster homes, group homes, and residential treatment facilities.

Learn about our Adoption and Permanency Programs

Adoption and Guardianship Services

The Adoption and Guardianship Services program is a contract with the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families to provide a range of recruitment strategies to identify potential families for children in foster care, raise awareness about the needs of children in foster care and assist with matching children and families. Some of the strategies include general, child-focused, child-specific and targeted recruitment strategies, case mining, family search and engagement, education and support to families, adoption, guardianship and permanency work with children and families to help prepare them for permanency and promote best practices in adoption and guardianship. Children are referred to these services by DCYF.

Funded by DCYF logo
Funded by DCYF logo

Tuesday’s Child

Tuesday’ Child is an award winning news segment featured on WJAR-Channel 10. Adoption Rhode Island partners with Channel 10 to create and produce features of children waiting to be adopted as well as stories about foster care and adoption. This partnership has provided enormous visibility for children who would otherwise not have a voice. Hundreds of inquiries about a child or the adoption process occur because of the partnership. The segment airs on Tuesdays during noon and 5:30 shows.

Extreme Family FindingSM

The Extreme Family Finding program is an innovative and promising model that pairs an experienced adoption social worker with a private investigator to identify extended family members for children and youth in foster care. This program is very prescriptive in it’s approach and when implemented to fidelity, is very successful. In less than a year after launching the program, the EFF team has helped to identify hundreds of lost and unknown relatives and other supportive adults for high- need children in the Rhode Island foster care system. Originally funded through the Children’s Bureau as a pilot program, Adoption Rhode Island’s program was one of several programs to offer this model throughout the country. Because of the success, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families ( RI DCYF) has continued to fund the program and remains a strong and critical partner in achieving the positive outcomes. All referrals for this program come from RI DCYF.

Wendy's Wonderful Kids®

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids is a signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. It is the only evidenced-based model of adoption recruitment in the country.

Adoption Rhode Island’s WWK Recruiters implement this evidenced-based, child-focused recruitment model that is proven to be up to three times more effective at serving children who have been in foster care the longest, including teenagers, sibling groups and children with special needs. In part, due to our staffs’ successful implementation and fidelity to this model, Adoption Rhode Island has more than tripled the size of the RI WWK chapter. For more information about the model click here.

Permanency Services Overview

To download a printable one page overview of our Permanency services, click the image below.

Permanency Services One Pager – updated

For a comprehensive summary of all major ARI programs and services, click below:
Provider_Content

The Agency:

Adoption Rhode Island’s mission is to create safety, belonging, and permanency for adopted and foster children, vulnerable youth, and families through compassionate services, advocacy, and education.

Heart Gallery

The Heart Gallery is a recruitment and awareness building initiative of Adoption Rhode Island. The Heart Gallery is a traveling exhibit of professional portraits of children waiting in foster care for adoption.

View Gallery

This initiative is only possible through the generous support of the community. Thank you to our Heart Gallery photographers – Allison Forte, Gene Hutnak Photography, Joan Corey Photography , Oggi Photo/Julie Brigidi, Diane Miller Photography, Options Photography, and Sabrina Scolari Photography

Since the Heart Gallery started in 2005, it has helped to bring the faces of children to almost every city and town in the state. Because of this visibility, approximately 50 % of the featured children were matched with adults who were interested in providing mentorship, foster care, adoption or guardianship of the child and many members of the community decided to come forward to foster or adopt another child in foster care

Adoption RI offers an array of counseling services for pre and post adoptive children, teens and families.

For more information