Questions

Families are not able to register for MAPP classes until they have completed the eligibility process. This means completing an application and waiting to be notified by the agency about next steps. When your application is processed and backgrounds record (CORI), and personal and medical references are verified, a social worker will reach to you to schedule a home visit to ensure that your home meets the physical safety standards established by state law. This first eligibility stage might take several weeks or longer in some cases. Once your application is approved and you have had your home safety visit done you will be invited to a 10-week training known as MAPP (Massachusetts Approach to Partnership in Parenting).

Create an account with MARE to learn about the trainings offered by the contracted agencies.

After your initial application has been approved and your home inspection is completed, you will be invited to attend a 10 week course called Massachusetts Approach to Partnership in
Parenting (MAPP) training.

For a comprehensive list of DCF and contracted agencies that offer MAPP training, create a MARE account.

You can view a list of upcoming trainings here.

MAPP training is mandatory for the adults who will be the primary care providers of the
child/children placed in your home. This applies to all couples, married or partnered,
who will be parenting the child(ren). If you have difficulties with the hours of the
training you might want to explore the MAPP rolling classes or the intensive 4-5
weekends offered by some agencies.

Sometimes families get confused about these two different stages of the adoption
process. The home inspection occurs early in the process when a social worker from the
Department of Children and Families or a contracted agency visits your home to verify
that it passes the Physical Standards Check. To learn more about the Standards for
Foster/Pre-Adoptive homes please visit DCF’s website:
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/30/EligibilityStandards.pdf

The home study is the final stage of the licensing process and it is both a process and a
document. It involves a series of home visits and interviews conducted by a social
worker who will also request personal references from the family. Once interviews are completed and references are checked, which typically takes 8-12 weeks, the home study is ready to be compiled into an extensive document detailing the family’s composition, background, strengths, and child interest characteristics. This document will help other social workers match children with families that would best meet their needs.

We often receive inquiries from families who have finished MAPP training and are excited and eager to move forward but feel impatient because the home study has not been completed.

The caregiver assessment process that happens concurrently with MAPP training involves a detailed home study of your family, created by a social worker. This process involves collecting detailed information from you, multiple home visits, a home study narrative produced by the social worker, and a panel review for final licensure of your family to adopt. This process is intended to be completed within 90 days of beginning MAPP training, but may take longer depending on the staffing levels of the agency you are working with. 

Be patient and use this time to begin reading about adoption issues in our Learning Center, participate in webinars and workshops, and get matched with an experienced adoptive family through our Friend of the Family program. We highly recommend signing up for an upcoming training on trauma-informed parenting.

The first thing you need to do is to contact DCF’s Adoption Development Licensing Unit (ADLU) in your region. There are 5 ADLUs in MA: Springfield, Worcester, Lawrence, Boston, and Brockton. For more info on these locations check this link.

Then, you need to request the ADLU to do a study update as you are currently licensed for
foster care and not for adoption. This update will focus on preparing you to understand what it means to adopt through DCF versus foster care. The area office you are currently working with as a foster family should know about this change as they will need to share their impressions on your experience as a foster family.

Finally, it is possible you may have to attend a couple of MAPP sessions related to legal risk, adoption, and the various services available to you during the matching process and after you are placed with a child or sibling group.

To be eligible to adopt a child from the Department of Children & Families (DCF) you must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Be a Massachusetts resident 18 years of age or older
• Have a stable source of income
• Rent or own a home that meets DCF’s home safety standards
• Pass a background check

All household members age 14 and older will need to have a background check (CORI/SORI) completed. Less serious criminal conduct can usually be waived, but DCF will want to talk through anything that comes up on a person’s background check, whether it is sealed or unsealed. When a “discretionary disqualification” is revealed in a CORI/SORI, the Department will determine the probable effect that the misdemeanor would have on your ability to fulfil the needs of a child placed in your home and will inform you if you are eligible as a pre-adoptive family or not.

The Department of Children and Families has a clear policy with regard to regulations and breed restrictions for dogs in pre-adoptive homes. “All dogs maintained on the premises of the pre-adoptive home must have up to date vaccinations and rabies shots, and must be licensed in accordance with local authority requirements.” It also states that “No child under age 12 will be placed in a home where a Rottweiler, Pit Bull or German Shepherd dog, or a dog which mixes at least 2 of these 3 breeds, is maintained on the premises, except after a review conducted in accordance with Regulation 110 CMR 7.105 (18) and with the approval of the Area Director.”

Please check with your social worker to determine if a waiver may be requested.

Having a pool in your house will not rule you out as a pre-adoptive family however there are state laws about barriers and protection around pools and hot tubs. Swimming and wading pools must be made inaccessible to children when not in use by means of barriers or fences. Hot tubs must be made inaccessible to children at all times. If a home opens directly into the pool area, the wall of the home is an important part of the pool barrier. Doors to the pool area must be kept locked. In lieu of a fence or wall, a hot tub may be made inaccessible by covering it with a secure, sturdy cover that is held in place with a child-proof lock.

To learn more about safety regulation for pre-adoptive homes please visit https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/30/EligibilityStandards.pdf.

Yes! Any constellation of one or two parents are wanted and needed as adoptive parents. More than 25% of foster care adoptions across the country in 2017 were by single people. See this link for more information: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/single-parent/. DCF and MARE fully support single persons as adoptive parents.

An individual or couple must have a two-bedroom apartment or house that meets the standards set forth in this document before applying to begin the process. The adoption licensing process involves approving both the prospective adoptive parents and the prospective adoptive home, and one of the first steps is a safety and standard check on the home. You must move into the home with two-bedrooms before you can apply.

Two means of egress means that a bedroom on the third floor or above must have access to two separate flights of stairs from that floor all the way down to the first floor.

DCF has worked successfully with people with a diagnosis as long as their mental health is stable, they are following treatment, and have a backup plan if they were to have a crisis.

Anyone wishing to adopt from foster care will need to legally finalize the divorce before applying to begin the process. DCF in MA wants any person applying to have finalized any major life changes (marriages, divorces, births, moves, etc.) before beginning the process.

It is assumed in all older New England homes lead paint was used at some point.  However, in the years since lead paint was widely used, most paint has been repainted with non-lead paint or removed.  DCF does not ask for any paperwork showing the home has been deleaded.  However, if someone knows there is still lead paint in their home DCF cannot place any child under 6 in that home.

A foster/pre-adoptive applicant must be a citizen of the U.S. or have been granted legal permanent resident status, asylum, refugee, or other indefinite legal status by U.S. immigration officials. An H1B or L1 visa is temporary. A prospective adoptive parent needs "indefinite legal status;" usually that is at least a green card (permanent resident). 

This would need to be made clear at the beginning of the home study process and in that way your family resource worker will try to match you with a child who requires minimal or no contact with bio/extended family (which puts limits on the pool of children you are able to be matched with). Even if you move, you are required to fulfill court-ordered visitation schedule at your expense. The process could end up taking a year for you to be approved. Once you are placed with a child, that child is still the responsibility of the state and considered a foster child in your home until finalization. Finalization can take anywhere from 6 months (though very rare for it to be that short) to 2+ years – it all depends on the specific situation and how backed up the courts will be. Before finalization you would need to get permission (which is usually granted) to take the child out of state even on vacation. And like any parent of any child, you would need to take into consideration the effects of a move on the child. Children who have experienced many moves in the foster care system often need the stability of not moving again. So if you are planning to move in the next few years, you should wait until you move to the new state before starting the process there.