**Adoption is a major decision for an adoptive family. It must be carefully considered by all members of the family.**

Tell me about St. Nicholas of Myra Adoptions.
St. Nicholas of Myra Adoption Center is a non-profit organization based in Tucson, Arizona. As a program of Catholic Social Services of Southern Arizona, our mission is finding permanent, adoptive, families for children in the foster care system. We contract with the Arizona Department of Economic Security and currently have a little more than 450 children at our unit. Many of these children have been placed in adoptive homes, but over 100 are still waiting to be matched.

How many children do you have waiting for adoption and what are their gender and ages?
While most of the children have already been placed in adoptive homes, there are another 100 children who are still seeking homes. The average age range of the children who need to be placed is 7-17. We have both boys and girls. There are also “sibling groups” who need homes.

What can you tell me about the children?
The majority of these children are over the age of five. All of the children are currently in the foster care system, meaning they are in the legal care and custody of the State of Arizona. All of the children at our unit are legally available for adoption as their biological parents’ rights have been terminated. They have been victims of abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment. Due to such trauma and instability in their young lives, some of the children exhibit difficult behaviors. Their emotional needs can also be challenging for adoptive parents. However, we usually have support systems in place (such as therapy) to aid the children in adjusting to a new family.  Some of the children have medical needs such as developmental delays and/or exposure to drugs and alcohol that may require special attention. If you pursue adoption, you will receive a specific history on the child you adopt to help you work with their needs.

What kind of families are you looking for?
The ideal traits of interested families include (but are not limited to):

• Loving
• Understanding
• Open-minded
• Open-hearted
• Able to provide stability
• Patient

We are looking for adoptive families who wish to provide a child with a stable, nurturing, loving home so that the child can grow to reach his or her full potential.

How does the process begin?
The first step is to contact our offices. Our Family Recruiter will ask questions to be sure that we are the right agency for you. The next step is certification. Included in the certification process is:

• getting fingerprint clearance cards,
• passing a background check,
• showing that you are physically and emotionally able care for a child,
• demonstrating financial stability,
• providing relative and non-relative references,
• having a home study completed and approved,
• completing 30 hour of PS MAPP training (this is required by the state, even for families who have already raised children).

We have workers at St. Nicholas who help complete certification. Certification usually takes between 4 and 6 months. After the certification is issued, families and their workers must wait until they are “matched” with a child. There is no tentative time-frame for this match to occur; it depends on the needs of the children at our unit.
*Patience is a key trait from the beginning as there is a significant amount of paperwork necessary to become certified.

What is the cost of adopting with St. Nicholas?
Because we contract with the Department of Economic Security, the adoption costs for our families are minimal. The state absorbs the court costs and fees. The only expenses for the family are the home improvements (if any) necessary to have their home study approved.

What is a home study?
The home study is a series of interviews by a certification specialist. The specialist writes and sends a report to the Pima County Juvenile Court. The court then issues the order for certification. This process can take between four and six months.

Once you are matched with a child, what happens next?
Once matched, the adoptive parent(s) will receive all the information pertaining to the child that our agency is legally permitted to provide. This includes medical information on the child, as well as pertinent medical and mental health information on their biological parents (if we have it). The family can review the information and then meet with the child’s case manager to go over questions they may have. If a family decides to proceed, the transition process begins. The first step is usually a meeting in a kid-friendly environment with the child. The rest of the transition depends on the comfort level of the child. Our case managers will not rush the child or put the child in a situation for which they are not prepared. Eventually though, the visits become longer and then there are overnight visits at the family’s home. The final step is for the child to move in with the adoptive parent(s) and the paperwork for the petition to adopt is filed. By law, the child must be in the home for at least six months before the adoption can be finalized.