Post-Adoption Services

All adoptive families in Illinois, including domestic private, intercountry, foster care adoptions, and subsidized guardianship families can receive free services from the Illinois Adoption Support and Preservation (ASAP) Programs. Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) provides ASAP services in 18 counties in Central Illinois. The LSSI ASAP Program’s approach includes in-home individual and family therapy, advocacy, skill-building, parent support groups, child therapy groups, and a crisis line.

LSSI’s Adoption Support and Preservation Program uses the START approach for a stronger family after adoption or guardianship:

• Start early. Prevention and early intervention are key to building strong families after an adoption. You don’t have to wait to ask for help!
• Trauma-informed. Providers are trained on how trauma impacts children and families.
• Attachment-focused. Services are designed to build strong connections and a foundation for lifelong relationships and positive outcomes.
• Resiliency-building. Families learn how to work through challenges together.
• Therapeutic Services. Trained mental health professionals provide evidence-based interventions to meet your family’s needs.

Benefits of the START approach for families:

Families don’t have to wait, and they shouldn’t. Resources are available to help your family. Therapeutic services to adoptive and guardianship families can help with small, short-term issues or more serious concerns.

• Customizable and flexible services to meet your family’s specific needs.
• Relationship-building activities with youth and parents.
• Family-focused interventions offered in the home, office, or in the community.
• Links to experienced clinicians trained in working with complex situations.
• A strong support system early, so that your family can come back when needed.

With the START approach, families can thrive, not simply survive, when issues arise that are related to or complicated by an adoption or guardianship.

Call 309.671.0300 to learn more about how LSSI’s ASAP team can help your family.

LSSI is an Illinois Licensed Child Welfare Agency – License #013005.

Adoption is a lifelong experience, and all the people involved in adoption—the birthparents, adoptive parents, and adopted person—are forever bound together.

Adoption Search Services

Adopted individuals under 18 may receive non-identifying information with their adoptive parents’ written permission. Adoptees between the ages of 18 and 21 can request non-identifying information without the permission of their adoptive parents.

Search services for the release of identifying information are prohibited until the person making the request has registered with the Illinois Adoption Registry. Information regarding use of the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange can be found by accessing the Illinois Department of Public Health’s website.

Once an individual has registered with the Illinois Adoption Registry, contact the Midwest Adoption Center (MAC), whose staff will assist in the search process. Information about the Midwest Adoption Center can be found at macadopt.org. Available options for contacting the Midwest Adoption Center include phone – 847.298.9096 or 1.800.526.9022, or email – mac@macadopt.org.

While Lutheran Social Services of Illinois does not directly provide adoption search services, we will make every effort to assist individuals in facilitating the appropriate connections to help in their search process.

Confidential Intermediary Services of Illinois

Confidential Intermediary Services of Illinois is one of the options administered by the Midwest Adoption Center to assist in the search process. A confidential intermediary has access to information from court files, adoption agency files, and birth/death/marriage/divorce files. Using this information, the confidential intermediary can provide an assessment regarding whether sufficient information exists to locate the individual for whom you are searching. The Confidential Intermediary service is free and information about this service can be accessed through the Midwest Adoption Center site.

Illinois Adoption Law Allows Adoptees Access to their Original Birth Certificates

Illinois adoption law allows adopted adults who are born in Illinois to request non-certified copies of their original birth certificates. These changes impact the following individuals:

• Adopted adults born before January 1, 1946, may now obtain non-certified copies of their original birth certificates upon written request.
• Adopted adults born after January 1, 1946, (now older than age 21) will be able to request copies of their original birth certificates beginning November 15, 2011.

Requests for an original birth certificate may be made by filing a form with the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange.

Birth parents of adopted persons who were born after January 1, 1946, may request that their names be removed from copies of the original birth certificate during their lifetime by filling out a form with the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange.

All birth parents may share background information or indicate a desire for contact though the Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical Information Exchange.

For more details or to download application forms, go to NewIllinoisAdoptionLaw.com or www.idph.state.il/us/vitalrecords/adoptioninfo.htm, or call 877.323.5299 (toll free).

Should you have questions not answered by the information provided above, contact LSSI at adoptions@LSSI.org, and we will do our best to provide additional support.