Holt Waiting Child Adoption Process
This brief summary provides a basic outline of our WCP process.

WCP Application
Fill out and submit either our online or mail-in form with WCP application fee (no fee required if you’ve already submitted your Holt adoption application). After we receive your application, we’ll give you a password to access your online WCP guidebook, which provides important information for families just entering this program. If you have questions after reviewing the guidebook or these webpages, please contact Erin Mower at 541.687.2202 ext. 150.

Identify Child
Please visit our online photolisting to view some of the children currently waiting for families. You will find a summary and photo, or silhouette, of Holt’s waiting children. If you find a specific child you are interested in, please note their number and contact Erin Mower and she will share more information with you about the child.

If interested in a specific child, we will provide you with a copy of all the child information available to us. We want to ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the child’s needs. Therefore we strongly recommend that you have the child’s material reviewed by a medical professional to enable you to make an informed decision. To assist you with this, there is a list on the WCP website of several international adoption clinics who are experienced in reviewing overseas medical material. We also maintain a list of mentor families who are willing to share their experiences of parenting a waiting child. (Back to the top of the page.)

WCP Assessment
If you would like to be considered for a specific child please contact Erin again. She will discuss your interest in the child and explain the next steps. This will involve e-mailing you some questionnaires that can be filled out and returned by e-mail. When she receives your responses, she will call you to make an appointment with you and Abbie Smith, Program Director or Jessica Palmer, Social Work Coordinator, to discuss the issues specific to the child you are considering. Your social worker’s input will also be solicited at this point. (Back to the top of the page.)

Family Selection
After this assessment, your interest in a child will be presented to Holt’s selection committee, which is comprised of three of Holt’s experienced social workers. At this selection committee your family will be presented along with any other families who are interested in the same child. The committee’s selection process is based on which family appears best able to meet the child’s needs. Please note that families who are farther along in their adoption process can be at an advantage at this point because they will be able to bring the child home sooner. Many wonderful families are not selected during their first or even their second committee for a variety of reasons. We welcome the opportunity to continue working with these families to select them for another waiting child.

We invite you to take advantage of another WCP feature--our family ‘Waitlist.’ Once you have a Holt-approved homestudy, we may be able to work with you without going through the formal committee process. When we receive referrals of children from the country a family is interested in, we look at the child’s needs and compare it to out waiting families’ strengths. If there appears to be a likely match, we call that family and discuss the child with them before the child is featured on the photolisting. If the family decides they want to adopt this child, they will not need to go through the committee process.

Families who are actively pursuing adoption of a waiting child can remain on our waitlist until they are selected for a child. If a family has not decided if they want to adopt through the WCP instead of the standard country program, we offer the option of a “parallel process.” This means that a family can actively work with both the WCP and a country program at the same time. In this situation, a family would also have to submit the Holt adoption application and fee. The $50 WCP fee will apply toward this fee, and vice versa. (Back to the top of the page.)

Adoption Process
Once you are selected for a waiting child, we will notify you and your social worker. At this point your involvement with Holt’s WCP is complete and your file is transferred to our staff working with your child’s country. (Back to the top of the page.)

Homestudy
If at this point you do not have a Holt-approved homestudy, then confirmation of the selection is contingent upon receiving your homestudy. Holt will only accept homestudies done by one of our cooperating agencies. Homestudies done by an agency not on our list will not be accepted for families who are selected for a waiting child. (Back to the top of the page.)

Grants and Financial Assistance
You will notice on our photolisting that several of our waiting children have received grants from Brittany’s Hope. This wonderful non-profit foundation provides grants toward the adoption fees for special waiting children, and helps to raise public awareness about the need for families. (Back to the top of the page.)