Pre-Placement Assessment

A pre-placement assessment is a series of meetings with an agency social worker in the family’s home or in community sites. This includes group meetings an individual interviews. The family and social worker talk about the many kinds of children available for adoption, and the family’s thoughts, hopes, and dreams about raising children. The interviews also include discussions of adoption, foster parenting, and birth parenting—and their similarities and differences, what to expect, and how to deal with issues when they arise. The process can take several months and involve multiple home visits by a social worker.

Agency Placement Adoptions

In Mecklenburg County, adoption specialists perform the following tasks:

  • Recruit for children in foster care cleared for adoption that do not have an identified adoptive family by hosting matching events.
  • Prepare the prospective adoptive parents and children for adoption.
  • Prepare the documents necessary to complete the adoption process for children in all adoptive placements.

The children waiting for adoptions are typically:

  • Part of a sibling group.
  • School-aged.
  • Minority and male.

The birth parents of children waiting for adoption have voluntarily relinquished the child to the agency or parental rights of the birth parents have been terminated by the court. The majority of the children are in the custody of CFAS or private agency. Many children adopted from CFAS are eligible for adoption assistance.

Private and Step-Parent Adoptions

In Mecklenburg County, private, step-parent, independent adoption and custody evaluations are completed by the Interstate Unit.

  • Relative adoptions are when a child is legally adopted by someone who is related either by blood (grandparents, uncle, aunt, etc).
  • Marriage (step-parent).

There is a fee for this service that is on a sliding scale and based on the families’ income. The reports are required by the Clerk of Courts Office before a decree of adoption can be issued.

Other Adoption Services

Families who wish to adopt and cannot be served through our agency can contact other adoption agencies in the community or throughout the state.  For a list of these agencies contact our office at 704-336-5437 ​for adoption agencies.