SERVICES   •   ADOPTION SERVICES

CSSM provides education, preparation, and home study services for the various kinds of adoption.

Adoptive couples may be adopting the child of a relative or friend, or may know the birth mother in some other fashion. By law, the adoptive parents must know the birthmother. In these identified adoptions we provide services to the birth mother of counseling and collecting medical and social information. The home study of the adoptive family includes preparation and information about the adoption experience. (The written assessment, by Montana law, must be read by the birth mother before she may sign a relinquishment.) CSSM will conduct the follow-up report six months after the placement so that the adoption may be finalized. There is no religious requirement for this program.

Adopting from overseas can seem a formidable task when a family first sees the paperwork to complete and the documents to supply. CSSM is a cooperating agency with many of the agencies conducting international adoptions, who are also licensed in the U.S., and we can help you select a licensed agency that best meets your needs. Even if we have not worked with an agency before, we will make the necessary adjustments to help you through the process. We prepare a family, or a single person, for the issues involved in adopting from another country through written materials and discussion. We work cooperatively with the international agency and the adoptive family to assure that the home study and other materials meet the requirements of the U.S. government, the foreign government, and all appropriate state regulations. CSSM conducts the follow-up visits and reports (which vary greatly from country to country) that are sent to the international agency and to the placing country. There is no religious requirement for this program.

Adoptions sometimes occur across state lines, as the birth parents may live in one state and the adoptive family in another state. Two adoption agencies become involved as one must provide the counseling to the birth parents and one must conduct the required home study. CSSM has a long history of working cooperatively with other agencies. We assist families in Montana to complete the home study and supply other documents that are necessary to satisfy the adoption laws in the other state, and that meet the requirements of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (the laws and regulations that apply to a child from one state being placed with an adoptive family in another state). We conduct the follow-up visits and reports that are sent to ICPC and the placing agency. There is no religious requirement for this program.

There are many U.S. agencies specializing in the placement of minority children. We can help you select a reputable agency out-of-state agency. CSSM provides education on the issues present in a transracial adoption, and can refer you to others who have adopted minority children. We assist families (or single persons) in Montana to complete the home study and supply other documents that are necessary to satisfy the adoption laws in the other state, and that meet the requirements of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (the laws and regulations that apply to a child from one state being placed with an adoptive family in another state). We conduct the follow-up visits and reports to satisfy the requirements of Montana law, with copies sent to ICPC and the placing agency. There is no religious requirement for this program.

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