Every child deserves love

Adoption Process & Resources
The first step on your adoption journey is learning about what exactly the journey entails.

Adoption Process & Resources

The first step on your adoption journey is learning about what exactly the journey entails. Adoption is a unique way to build your family while changing children’s lives and enriching your own. While becoming a family is the biggest benefit, the State of Florida has many more to offer.

Basic Steps to Becoming An Adoptive Parent

♥ Orientation
Learn more about becoming an adoptive parent with our partner agencies. (REQUEST THE ORIENTATION SCHEDULE)
♥ Parent Training Series
Attend a Professional Parenting Training course.
♥ Home Study
Complete an adoption application and home study to help determine the right child for your family.
♥ Inquire
After viewing the children available for adoption on website, submit an inquiry on any child. (SEE CHILDREN AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION)
♥ Match & Visitation
Match with a Heart Gallery child, teen or sibling group. Begin meeting and visiting with a child in need of a forever family.
♥ Finalization
After a child lives in your home a minimum of 90 days, the adoption will be finalized.

Want to get Involved? Join Our Mailing List

To join the Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco mailing list, email us at heartgallerykids@gcjfcs.org.

Benefits of Adopting Florida’s Waiting Children

Affordable
Adopting one of Florida’s children from foster care costs little or nothing. The required processes including adoptive parent training class, home study, even court costs and fees, are provided free of charge.
College Tuition
Children adopted from foster care are eligible for free tuition to Florida state universities, community colleges or vocational schools in Florida until age 28. Some Florida private post-secondary schools will provide tuition stipends for children who have been adopted from foster care.
Common Interests
When you adopt one of Florida’s children, they come with a child study that summarizes the child’s history and personality. You have the opportunity to find a child with similar interests to bond over and whose needs match the strengths of your family.
Health Care
All children who receive a monthly subsidy are eligible to receive health care through a Medicaid program until age 18, and some children are eligible until age 21.
Legally Secure

The children listed on our site are all available for adoption. This means the courts have terminated the parental rights of their birth parents. Prospective adoptive parents are frequently concerned that a child’s birth parents may change their minds and want the child back. This form of adoption is very secure.

Monthly Support Groups
Families adopting Florida’s waiting children may qualify for a monthly subsidy to help offset ongoing costs through the “Florida’s Adoption Assistance Program” until the child turns 18 years old. This amount is negotiated on a child-by-child basis, depending on the child’s unique needs and the availability of funds.
Older Children
No diapers! When adopting an older child, you will (hopefully) be sharing more fishing trips and football games than sleepless nights. Adoptions after 16 years of age may be eligible for additional Education and Medicaid benefits if they spent a minimum of 6 months in foster care immediately preceding the adoption placement.
Siblings
Adopting a sibling group means instant family. The bond among siblings is the longest relationship someone will have in their lifetime. By adopting a sibling group, you are giving brothers and sisters a chance to grow up together in a forever family.
State Employee Adoption Benefits
State Employees and other eligible applicants who adopt a child from Florida’s child welfare system will receive a one-time check; however, the funding for this program varies each year.
Support Groups
Many communities have adoptive parent support groups, community-based care agencies, faith-based, civic and other organizations tasked with helping support families that adopt Florida’s children. Efforts are underway to strengthen these supports statewide.
Tax Credits
This tax credit is based on reasonable and necessary expenses associated with welcoming a new child to your home through a legal adoption. The maximum federal adoption tax credit is currently $13,400 per child. The federal adoption tax credit is a non-refundable credit, meaning taxpayers may only get a refund if they have federal income tax liability.
diverse group of children on grass happy

Adoption Orientation Schedule

Thank you for your interest in fostering and/or adoption.
Below is information regarding the basic requirements and the process

    The first step in beginning the process is to attend an information session.
    Heart Gallery partners with Family Support Services, who now host two separate info sessions: one for adoption and one for fostering. Each session is for adults only and is strictly informational. Attending does not obligate you to move forward.

    During the adoption info session, the facilitator will review the process in detail and answer any questions you may have. You will also receive an adoption info packet, which you can complete and email back to Family Support Services if you choose to continue.

    Once your application is reviewed and approved by the adoption representative, you will be scheduled for PRIDE training, the required 24‑hour preparation course for prospective adoptive parents. PRIDE is typically offered in weekly sessions over an eight‑week period. Timeframes for completing the training and home study vary depending on individual circumstances.

    Class spots are limited, and priority is given to families whose preferences meet current placement needs.

    Basic Requirements
    • Be at least 21 years old
    • Have stable and appropriate housing (renting is acceptable)
    • Be able to pass required background checks for all adults in your household
    • Complete PRIDE training
    • Have a home study completed
    • Be able to financially support your family, without relying on a child’s board rate to meet household expenses
    Frequently asked questions
    • Medical – all of the children are on Medicaid so all of their medical and dental is covered
    • Do you, as a foster parent, have any input on the children you work with – Yes, you do. You can specify an age range and gender of the children you wish to work with. You can be as specific as you want or as open, and you are free to change that profile at any time.
    • Although children 10 and older are most commonly available for adoption, the foster care system may have children of any age in need of a permanent family at any given time.
    Additional Adoption information
    • The children available for adoption through the foster system are from the age of 10 years old and up
    • In order to be pre-approved for an adoption training class you must have an identified child or be interested in adopting children in the above age range

    Because of the ongoing health crisis, we are currently only offering the online version of the orientation to complete at your convenience.

    FSS Pasco Pinellas Logo
    Request The Orientation Schedule
    diverse group of children on grass happy

    Adoption Resources

    POST ADOPTION SUPPORT – PROVIDED BY PALS

    Your adoption journey begins when you first begin researching adoption as an option for your family and it doesn’t end at finalization.

    The Post Adoption Linkage and Support (PALS) program at Family Enrichment Services provides a full spectrum of support services to Pinellas and Pasco post-adoptive families. PALS links the families to needed services, assists with post-adoptive benefits, and provides crisis management to post-adoptive families. They also offer a monthly support group for post-adoptive families.

    Family Enrichment Services is a project of Adoption Related Services of Pinellas.

    Join Our Community

    LEAD AGENCY

    Family Support Services of Pinellas and Pasco

    Family Support Services is the lead child welfare agency for our circuit. Adopting a child from foster care in Pinellas and Pasco counties means you are adopting a child through Family Support Services and one of their Case Management Organizations.  To learn more about the adoption process within Family Support Services, please go to Family Support Services’ website.

    Family Support Services Website

    CASE MANAGEMENT AGENCIES

    Every child on the Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco receives Adoption Case Management supervision through a local child welfare Case Management Organization. The child’s Heart Gallery ID will identify one the three agencies listed.

    YFA logo, "Help for today, Hope for tomorrow"
    LSF logo

    Community Support

    Family Enrichment Services

    Family Enrichment Services (FES) focuses on enriching the lives of children, youth, and families. Located in the Suncoast Region, our primary focus is supporting biological, foster, and adoptive families through counseling and related services. Our goal is to provide high-quality services that are trauma-informed and family-focused.  All of our counselors working with adoptive families complete a comprehensive Adoption Competency training course. We provide in-home services not only throughout Pinellas County but also extending into Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee/Sarasota, Hernando, and Polk Counties. We have contracts with most of the available Medicaid plans in the region and most of our services are funded by Medicaid so there is no out-of-pocket expense to our families.
    FES Pinellas

    Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association

    Important Numbers Knowing who to call when you need help shouldn’t ever be a stumbling block to you feeling supported through your adoption journey. To get a complete listing of who is answering the phones in our circuit or anywhere across Pinellas County, go to Important Numbers hosted by the Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association.

    Pinellas FAPA