A certain number of visits are required by the courts before the adoption can be finalized. This is when the court takes the necessary action to make the child a legal member of your family. Usually, your whole family will go to court with your adoption worker or lawyer. These organizations are designed to provide connections between prospective adoptive parents and adoption agencies that place children. Many states have their own state-operated exchange that keeps a listing of adoptable children waiting in their foster care system, as well as families who have completed their adoption home study with a state agency.
Many states publish a photolisting book of the children waiting in their state.
Regional, national, and international exchanges are non-profit organizations that serve waiting children and families in more than one state. They often publish in print or on the Internet a photolisting of waiting children, provide other services to help recruit adoptive families, make connections between prospective adoptive families and the agencies who have custody of the waiting children, and provide adoption information to prospective families. Some exchanges also list families who have completed home studies and are waiting to adopt. Now that the Johnsons and Riveras are familiar with some of the adoption vocabulary, they have even more questions. They want to know what will be involved in the adoption process.