A Place To Call Home provides all necessary training and supports to become a certified adoptive home for identified children with developmental disabilities that are legally free for adoption placed by the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). A Place to Call Home recommends any family interested in adoption become a licensed foster home as well because of the training and experience gained through foster care. In addition, many foster placements become legally free for adoption while in the care of their foster parents and the foster parents are commonly one of the first to be considered to adopt the child. Adopting a child through A Place to Call Home is a service provided at minimal or no expense to the family as adoption fees may be waived for financial hardship.

On-going support and supervision is provided by A Place To Call Home as well as any specialized or individualized training that is deemed necessary to enhance the skill level of the adoptive parents, in particular, for the special needs of foster children with developmental disabilities available for adoption. A certified adoptive home for the DDD Adoptions program may adopt an unlimited number of children. All adoption placements are made by DDD, with A Place To Call Home advocating for the child and adoptive family’s best interests. Finalized adoptions are ordered by the Juvenile Courts in Arizona, based on the recommendations of DDD.

Adoptive placements are permanent, therefore A Place To Call home places great emphasis and takes diligent time in assisting families and DDD when matching potential adoptive children to an adoptive family. In an effort to contribute to a successful family dynamic, a child (ages 0 to 18) profile is constructed during the adoption certification process to identify the child best suited for your family as well as the best family suited for the child. The child profile information is collected from the adoptive family, incorporating the special needs of an adoptive child with developmental disabilities, the family’s skill level and the family’s care interests.

The DDD Adoptions program is a specialized program for children with developmental disabilities in foster care who are legally free for adoption, ranging in age from newborn up to a child’s 18th birthday. A child placed in an adoptive home has formerly been removed from the legal custody of their parents or guardians by the State of Arizona’s Child Protective Services (CPS) or voluntarily placed in foster care by their birth parents or legal guardian. The DDD Adoptions program is for children in the State of Arizona’s custody that are legally free for adoption, meaning, their birth parents’ rights have been severed or relinquished. Children with developmental disabilities that are available for adoption require very special care and extraordinary commitment from their adoptive parents. Developmental disabilities are characterized as having one or a component of the four primary disabilities: Mental Retardation, Epilepsy, Autism or Cerebral Palsy. Children with developmental disabilities commonly experience delays and operative limitations in learning, language, self-care, mobility and in their capacity for independent functioning. Children with developmental disabilities require extra assistance with activities of daily living, vigilant supervision and adoptive parents that will support their development and growth both in the home and through services provided by DDD to increase their level of functioning.

Children with developmental disabilities who are available for adoption may not have received sufficient care from their former caregivers for their special needs and could have experienced some form of abuse, neglect and/or abandonment. Other times, the child’s birth parents are seeking expert, loving and permanent adoptive homes to assure that all the care and developmental needs for their child are met. Children with developmental disabilities thrive in adoptive homes because they provide care and stability by a loving and committed family.