Domestic Adoption




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To request a domestic information packet you can fill out our contact form or email us at bcsfairlawn@bethany.org and we will send you a link to download the packet in PDF (Adobe) format.

Embrace A Child
Many children today need adoptive homes. Adoptive families offer birthparents facing an unplanned pregnancy a way to choose life for their child. Through adoption these birthparents can give their child the security and nurturance of a stable family. Most of the children entrusted to Bethany by birthparents for adoptive placement are infants and young children. We also work to find homes for older waiting children from the state foster care system. Many are healthy children of Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, or multi-ethnic heritage. Other children have special physical, mental, or emotional needs. They all need the love and guidance that caring, mature and adoptive parents can provide.

Enrich Your Family
Thousands of people who have adopted children through Bethany have found that adoption is a positive, practical way to build a family. Some people who come to Bethany are childless, while others simply would like more children in their family. By reaching out to a child who needs a home, adoptive families find their lives immeasurably enriched. They experience the intense satisfaction of giving a child a secure and loving home and watching that child grow and develop.

How Bethany Can Help
For more than 60 years Bethany has helped build families through adoption. Recognizing that adoption involves the emotions and expectations of many people, Bethany’s professional staff balances the needs of birthparents and adoptive parents. We assist birthparents who desire to plan an active role in choosing their child’s adoptive parents. We help adoptive parents understand and prepare for adoption. Through the entire process we work to achieve our mutual goal of a secure placement in the best interest of the child. Bethany’s staff guides adoptive parents through all the steps of the adoption process and provides continuing support services following placement.

Adoption Plans At Bethany
Bethany offers a number of adoption plans. Bethany social workers will explain the options to birthparents and adoptive parents and help them decide which option is best for the child and for themselves.

  • Semi-Open Adoption: Birthparents select adoptive parents from non-identifying profiles and often meet on a first name basis. Birthparents and adoptive parents share non-identifying information and agree to a schedule of pictures and letter updates to be exchanged through Bethany.
  • Open Adoption: Birthparents and adoptive parents share identifying information and together design a plan for continuing direct contact after placement. They work out the nature and frequency of ongoing contact they desire and establish a degree of "openness" that is comfortable for all involved.
  • Confidential Adoption: Birthparents and adoptive parents exchange only non-identifying information. There are no face to face meetings and no planned ongoing communication.
  • Independent (or Identified) Adoption: Birthparents locate an adoptive family without agency assistance for their child and authorize Bethany to handle the legal adoptive process. Or, adoptive parents initiate the process by networking to locate a releasing birth parent. Bethany then works with the birthparents and adoptive parents to legally complete the adoption plan.
To apply to our domestic program please call 201.703.4371 and request a preliminary application be sent to you via e-mail or regular mail.

Service Area:
We serve the entire state of New Jersey with the exception of Camden, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, and Burlington counties who are served by the Audubon, NJ Bethany office. In New York, Bethany serves the following counties from our main office of Fair Lawn, NJ and satellites located in Manhattan, Rochester, and Warwick, NY:

Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx, Manhattan
And the Following Counties,
Allegany
Cattaraugus
Cayuga
Chemung
Dutchess
Erie
Genesee
Livingston
Monroe
Nassau
Ontario
Orange
Orleans
Putnam
Rockland
Schuyler
Seneca
Steuben
Tomkins
Wayne
Westchester
Wyoming
Yates

For more information please call us at 201.703.4371 or fill out our contact form.