What Is Adoption?
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When a child is placed in your home for adoption, he or she remains in the legal custody of the agency that has guardianship of the child until the adoption is finalized in a court of law. With Domestic adoption WV State Law requires the child to be placed in your home for at least six months before you may finalize the adoption. Although it will be your responsibility to secure an attorney for the court proceedings, the social worker will assist in guiding you through the process. In the case of an older child in the custody of the state placed in your home from foster care, he or she will remain in the legal custody of the WV Department of Health and Human Resources until finalization in court.
Once a child has been placed with your family, our social worker will make an appointment to visit your home within seven days. Subsequent visits will be made at least once each month until finalization. You should not be nervous about these scheduled visits to your home. The social worker is not looking for reasons to keep you from adopting. Our responsibility is to make sure the child continues to be in an environment where the child is nurtured and receives his or her basic needs. You may utilize the social worker for support in answering questions about childcare, development, and adoption issues, a resource that most other families do not have.
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