Illinois Domestic Adoptions

How Our Domestic Adoption Program Works - Adoption Information

Pregnant women who are considering an adoption plan for their babies come to Sunny Ridge for free counseling, assistance and support. Our goal is to present adoption as a choice without pressure, in a way that values the life of her baby and honors her as a mother making decisions for her child. If a young woman decides on an adoption plan, she selects the family she wants to place her baby with from profiles of families who have been carefully studied by Sunny Ridge. Some of these profiled families are on-line. 

Because birth parents often choose the family they want to place their babies with, the qualifications of the prospective adoptive families studied by Sunny Ridge are also determined by the birth parents. Birth parents most often express an interest in openness, religious faiths, hobbies, and leisure activities of the adoptive family. Sunny Ridge primarily works with adoptive parents who:

• are Illinois residents;
• demonstrate income adequate to support a family;
• have a secure and stable family life; and
• meet DCFS licensing standards.

Please note that preference is given to applicants with no more than one child and who are under the age of 42. Couples are required to be married or in a civil union.

Under most circumstances for a domestic adoption the prospective adoptive parent’s age should not be over 41. Although there is a wide variance, most of the couples that have been selected by birth parents have a combined age of around 70 to 75. 

When providing birth parents with profiles of adoptive applicants, their mutual comfort level of openness is considered. While there are some birthparents who prefer a "closed" adoption, open adoption is the most common choice. Most birth mothers want to meet the adoptive couple before and after the baby is born, and would like to receive pictures and letters after placement, and/or have ongoing meetings. Adoptive and birth parents are offered counseling to better understand their roles in open adoption, always placing the highest priority on what is best for the child. 

Prospective adoptive parents usually enter the adoption process after attending one or more of our free adoption information meetings. From the information you receive, you may wish to complete an application to the domestic program. A nonrefundable $250 application fee is due with your completed application.  

Upon receipt of your application and a $250 application fee, your application will be processed and a receipt sent to you. You will be placed on our "Waiting Applicants" list. In order to familiarize our agency with your application information, it will be regularly reviewed against the desired traits requested by our birth parents. You will be kept in active consideration for a period of two years. 

Our goal is to keep about 25 families with completed home studies “on profile” so as to offer a selection to our birth parents while minimizing the wait of prospective adoptive parents during the “on Profile” phase.  Each time five or six families move off of our profile list, we invite a new group of families to begin the Adoption Preparation Classes and complete their home study packets.

Families are chosen to begin the preparation classes with consideration to what they are open to, and the way these factors match with the needs of our profile list. For example, we especially need families open to adopting African American and biracial infants and families who are open to prenatal exposure to smoking, alcohol and/or drugs. 

Sunny Ridge also assists families who have located birth parents in other states. Licensing and home study services necessary to fulfill Illinois Interstate Compact requirements are provided, as well as communications between agencies, attorneys, and others.