Adopt

Adoption SF

There are hundreds of children and youth in the foster care system in San Francisco County who need a family just like yours. Without an adoption, many will remain in the foster care system and may never have the chance to have a permanent family.

You can change a life by adopting a child and Adoption SF can help you make that connection with a wonderful child or sibling group who is waiting for your love.

Family Builders welcomes traditional families; single-parent families; both men and women; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families; transracial and multiracial families; and all other families as prospective adoptive parents.

Family Builders is committed to serving all families equally with dignity and respect. We provide all services in English and Spanish and welcome monolingual Spanish-speaking families.

All you need is a big heart and the ability to provide for your family materially and emotionally.

Join us for an Adoption SF orientation meeting at one of our two locations.

San Francisco

Time: Every second Tuesday of the month, 6pm- 8pm
Address: Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin, San Francisco

Oakland

Time: Every first Saturday of the month, 10am – 12pm
Address: Family Builders office, 401 Grand Avenue, Suite 400, Oakland

For more information call Adopt SF at 888 – 732 – 4453 or Family Builders at 510-272-0204 or log on to the official Adoption SF website.

Adoption Through Foster Care

Our core program, "Foster To Adoption", focuses on guiding families through the adoption process for children who are in foster care and available to be adopted. From orientation to trainings to home studies and post-placement/adoption-adoption support, Family Builders prepares and supports couples and single parents to meet the needs of children waiting to be adopted.

California Kids Connection

California Kids Connection features California foster children who need permanent, loving, adoptive families. Before you can be considered as an adoptive family, you must complete an approved homestudy. Go to http://www.cakidsconnection.org/ to access the program.

Family Builders Part of Collaboration for Youth Acceptance Collaborative for LGBTQ Youth and Their Families

Three agencies recently formed a collaboration in Alameda County designed to provide a continuum of services to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their families. Bay Area Youth Center (BAYC), Family Builders and Alameda County Social Services Agency, Assessment Center have partnered to form the Youth Acceptance Collaborative (YAC), to support LGBTQ youth, who are grossly overrepresented in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, and disproportionately represented among homeless youth populations.

Often, when an LGBTQ youth “comes out,” it can be a time of crisis for a family. YAC will provide LGBTQ youth, caregivers and families the education, information and support needed to move from attitudes and behaviors of rejection to acceptance. YAC staff will be co-located at Alameda County Assessment Center and will be part of the multi-disciplinary team acting as the first point of contact for youth that might need out of home placement. Additionally, youth, their families and caregivers will have access to crisis intervention services; mental health support, including family therapy and peer support groups; drop-in services, and outreach.

At YAC, families and caregivers will find the structure and support that will help program youth remain with them in the home, or move to another permanent family when that is not possible.

YAC will also offer consultation services to child-welfare workers and providers to support their ability to respond to and address the needs of LGBTQ youth in out-of-home care.

For more information on the YAC or any of its partners, please contact Jill Jacobs at 510-272-0204.

LGBT Family Support

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families are a valuable resource for the many children who are in the foster care system and who are waiting for a family to adopt them. LGBT families often bring particular strengths to meet many of the special needs of children from the foster care system.

Discrimination in adoption on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity is prohibited in the state of California. Family Builders welcomes LGBT families who wish to foster and adopt children who need loving, stable parents.

The process of adopting a waiting child is an intrusive and emotional undertaking, so if you are considering adoption, you will want to know that your adoption agency is committed to you and will be supportive throughout the process—and beyond. At Family Builders, we take pride in the fact that many of the families with whom we work are LGBT families.

Below you will find some of the ways Family Builders supports and fights for the rights of LGBT families:

We offer support groups for LGBT families, and our staff is knowledgeable about resources in the community that are available for LGBT families.
Family Builders has been in the forefront of advocating for public policy and changes in practice in the adoption field to provide the opportunity for LGBT families to adopt.
Family Builders has developed a training curriculum and has provided training locally and nationally on the subject of LGBT adoption to professionals in the field.
Our Executive Director is a nationally recognized expert in advocacy for LGBT families and youth in care and in the development of policies that protect their rights.

Support For Families

We know that raising a family can be challenging. We all need the support of other families and resources to help us on our journey as parents. That’s why Family Builders has developed different support groups, services and resources for families no matter where they fall in the adoption spectrum.

Adoption/Permanency and Post-Adoption Support

Adoption-permanency support is available to all families regardless of where they are in the permanency continuum. Below you will find some of the groups, workshops and events Family Builders organizes to help families. If you have any questions about family support services please call 510-272-0204 or click here to email a Family Builders representative.

Parent training and workshops
Families can participate in our ongoing trainings related to child development and other general parenting topics. Family Builders regularly offers trainings throughout the year on topics of interest to adoptive families such as claiming and bonding, communication, discipline, and promoting attachment.

Monthly support groups
Family Builders offers a variety of support groups that allow families the opportunity to give and receive guidance and understanding from each other. Support groups are organized based upon a specific commonality among families, (e.g. a group in Spanish, an LGBT family group, and a single-parents group).

Buddy Families
Experienced parents are available to pair up with new families to create a cohesive and genuine network of support for each other. Families get together socially to provide informal respite and share experiences. These are also opportunities for children to meet and play with other children who have been adopted.

Crisis intervention and referrals
Our social workers are available to families for crisis intervention, counseling and referrals to community therapists and other local mental health and social service resources.

Community building events
Family Builders organizes a winter holiday celebration and a summer BBQ to give families the opportunity to share their wisdom, challenges, and advice with each other in friendly and informal settings.

LGBTQ Family Support

Below you will find some of the ways Family Builders supports and fights for the rights of LGBT families:

We offer support groups for LGBT families, and our staff is knowledgeable about resources in the community that are available for LGBT families.
Family Builders has been in the forefront of advocating for public policy and changes in practice in the adoption field to provide the opportunity for LGBT families to adopt.
Family Builders has developed a training curriculum and has provided training locally and nationally on the subject of LGBT adoption to professionals in the field.
Our Executive Director is a nationally recognized expert in advocacy for LGBT families and youth in care and in the development of policies that protect their rights.

Second-Parent Adoptions

Family Builders does provide Second-Parent Adoption services. Second-Parent Adoption is for parents who are not married, but want to adopt their partner's child. The second adoptive parent is required to provide paperwork, to be fingerprinted, and to get a medical examination; an abbreviated homestudy process is also required.

Family Builders charges $2,000 per Second-Parent Adoption. (All other services at Family Builders are free of charge to families.) Family Builders does not do step-parent adoptions for married couples.