Post Adoption Services

Why Post-Adoption Support Services Are Important

Children who have been neglected, or physically or sexually abused by people they trusted often don’t know they are lovable or valuable. Many have trouble trusting others. The pain of past abuse or neglect can make it difficult for a child to adjust to being a part of a healthy home. Problems caused by traumas may surface many years after an adoption has occurred.

One-third of adoptions at risk for disruption

The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) has contracted to offer services to adopted children and their families that will help them understand and cope with the effects of past abuse and to manage the lifelong process of being adopted. Many may need assistance in dealing with handicaps, disabilities or developmental delays. Of all the adoption cases where a family adopts a child that is considered a “ward of the state,” one-third of those adoptions are at risk for disruption, or some sort of problem in the relationship directly or indirectly caused by the child’s past abuse or neglect.

Centers for Children and Families is the agency that coordinates services for families living in TDPRS Regions 2 and 9. Families living out of state who adopted while living in these other areas also qualify for Centers’ services.

Services available

• Casework and Service Planning
• Parent Trainings and Support Groups
• Counseling
• Therapeutic Camping
• Respite Care
• Residential Placement Services
• Information and Referral
• 24-Hour Crisis Intervention

Qualifications

Post-Adoption Services may be available to your family if each of the following conditions are met:

• Either TDPRS served as the child’s court appointed managing conservator and placed the children for adoption OR a licensed Texas child-placing agency served as the child’s court-appointed managing conservator and placed the child for adoption, and TDPRS is currently providing Title IV-E adoption assistance to the child.
• The TDPRS or child-placing agency placement resulted in a court-order consummating the adoption.
• The adoption is intact and the adoptive parents have requested post adoption services.
• The adopted child is under 18. Exception: If services begin during a child’s 17th year, they may continue for as long as six months after the child’s 18th birthday.