• The minimum age to adopt is 25 years of age. Couples must be married for 1 year or have been partnered and living together for at least 2 years at the time of the home study application.
• The prospective parent should be in sufficient health to be expected to raise a child to adulthood.
• Sufficient financial resources are required at the time of home study approval to afford adoption expenses and to provide adequate care for the adopted child. All family members need to be covered by medical insurance. The primary earner must have life insurance to cover one year of salary. The reason for these financial guidelines is to protect both the adopted child and the family from serious financial distress.
• Families must be open to adopt a child of any gender.
• At Paths for Families, our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community is both deep and enduring—an integral part of our mission for over 30 years.  As a private adoption agency, we require all prospective adoptive families to affirm this commitment. Families must agree to respect and support their child’s gender identity and sexual orientation, and to provide affirming resources that honor their child’s unique journey and reject unethical and harmful practices such as conversion therapy. Our goal is to ensure every child is embraced fully and given the opportunity to thrive in a safe, inclusive, and loving environment.

Children are in foster care because they were removed from their biological family due to abuse, neglect, and/or parental substance use or mental illness. If these issues are not remedied with their biological parents, parental rights are terminated and children are considered available for adoption. These children are typically 8 years and older.

Parents must attend 30 hours of training, complete a home study, work with a foster care adoption team member to locate a child, be placed, and proceed toward finalization. You can begin the process of finalizing your child’s adoption after the child has been in your home for a minimum of six months. The process takes at least one year or more.

Foster Care Adoption Process

Adoptions Together, a program of Paths for Families, works with families to successfully complete training, a home study, and adoption. We work with parents of all races, genders, sexualities, marital status. We also provide counseling to support you through the process. To begin the process, we encourage you to attend one of our scheduled information meetings and contact us for an inquiry.

Contact Us

We host a photo gallery which provides a brief biography and pictures (when available) of local children and teens available for adoption. Inquires are welcomed; we provide home study services and updates when needed.

The Heart Gallery

Paths for Families partners with Kidsave to provide accreditation for families to become hosts or mentors for children currently experiencing foster care in Virginia or children available for adoption in Colombia.

If you’re interested in learning more, attend a Kidsave Weekend Miracles or Summer Miracles Program Orientation session!

More details can be found on Kidsave’s website.