A current listing of children awaiting adoption can be found here on our website under the “Waiting Children” tab. In order to submit a formal inquiry about a specific child, you must have a current, approved adoption home study completed. If you have a current home study and are touched by a child’s story and feel that your family may possess the qualities the waiting child’s team is looking for, please go to the inquiry form found at the bottom of the child’s profile on our Idaho Wednesday’s Child secure page and submit an inquiry on the child. The inquiry will be received by the Idaho Wednesday’s Child Recruitment Coordinator and will then be forwarded on to the child’s Permanency (Adoption) Caseworker for consideration. Please see the information related to home study cost below if you do not have a home study and would like to get started on one in order to inquire about a youth.

As inquiries are received for our waiting children, the child’s caseworker will assess each inquiring family’s home study, as well as the information provided in the inquiry form that you submit for the child. The child’s Permanency Team will be looking for characteristics of an inquiring family that would be a good match for the child. Some of the things they are assessing include your family make-up; whether your home is rural or you live in town; how much experience, information or knowledge you have regarding the needs of children who have gone through significant trauma, grief and loss; whether you reside in or near the child’s current community; whether your parenting style is a good match for the child and whether you have things in common with the child that would make for a good fit.

If the child’s Permanency Team finds that you may be a potential good fit for the child, they will contact you to learn more about your family, and to further discuss the child’s needs. Once a determination has been made that a family is a potential good match for a child, the process of the family getting to know the child begins. This process generally has no set timeframe and how it will move forward is decided upon by the child’s caseworker based upon the child’s needs.

As fees and timeframes can vary greatly, we recommend that you contact several home study providers to determine the one that will best meet your needs. You have 3 options in which to complete a home study. You can contact an adoption agency in your area from a list of approved IDHW home study providers and pay to have a home study done through them. In general, private agency home studies can range from approximately $1,200 to the $5,000 range, depending on the services you choose to have them provide. Agency providers provide ample training to families that helps to ensure that they’re prepared to care for children with complex trauma. We can provide you the list of providers, or it can be found on the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare adoption page. Your second option is to use a CAP (Certified Adoption Professional) provider for your home study. A CAP list can also be sent to you by us, or you can find the info on the IDHW website. The cost of using a CAP provider can range from approximately $800-$2,000. A CAP provider will provide you with only the basic home study itself, and in general will not provide you with any further type of training, knowledge or support for your adoption journey. The last option for obtaining an Idaho foster care adoption related home study is to request that the IDHW foster care Licensing Team in your region complete an “adoption only” free of charge home study for you. Utilizing this route does not mean that you will be expected to provide general foster care, unless you wish to do that while awaiting the right adoptive fit for your family. Though this home study is done free of charge, please note that there may be a wait for it to be done for you in some regions of the state as the Dept. must prioritize completing general foster care and relative home studies for children already in care before completing the adoption only home studies. You can find the link to fill out an application for this type of home study on the IDHW’s adoption page. Whichever path you decide to take to complete your home study, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare does have a program in place that may reimburse you up to $2,000 in costs related to you paying for your home study and other qualified adoption expenses IF that home study is at some point used to finalize the adoption of an Idaho child in foster care.

Not every child in foster care will need an adoptive family. Most children in foster care are eventually reunited with their parents or other biological family members. Though there are a large number of children in foster care in Idaho, most of these children already have a permanency plan in place. Some children who cannot reunify with family may end up being adopted by the foster family who are their current caregivers. Children who may not have other family members or other supports in place who can become a permanent option for them, often end up benefiting from the efforts of the Idaho Wednesday’s Child Program to help them find their Forever Family.

Not every family who inquires about a child will be the right match for that child. The child’s Permanency Team has a great deal of knowledge concerning that child’s emotional, behavioral, educational, developmental, social, relational, and medical needs. All these things are weighed heavily when determining whether or not an inquiring family is the right adoptive family for the child. Sometimes a family may believe that they would be a great match for the child, given the information they know about the child that is shared on our Idaho Wednesday’s Child website. Permanency workers may not always have the time to reach out to every family that has inquired on a child. Due to time restraints and heavy caseloads, workers are sometimes only able to reach out to a family when they are interested in learning more about that family. If you have submitted an inquiry and have not heard anything back from the IDHW caseworker within two weeks’ time, please feel free to reach out to us for an update at mlloyd7@ewu.edu or swhite52@ewu.edu

Each child has a unique history, personality, and characteristics. The child’s permanency worker takes all of this into mind as they consider what could be the best fit for the child’s growth, health, and safety. They also try their best to consider the growth, health, and safety of other children in the adoptive home. In some cases, it is in the child’s best interest to be the only child in the home, due to past circumstances or the overall needs of the child.

For families interested in adoption only, completing your home study is all that you need to do for now, until/unless you are directed by an IDHW caseworker to complete other tasks. If/when you are matched for an adoption of a waiting child through our program, and the child’s IDHW caseworker is moving forward in the process of having that child placed in your home, the caseworker will ensure that you are enrolled in any required or recommended training course, licensing processes, etc. and will direct you through that process.