DOMESTIC

Chrysalis House is fully licensed to support an adoption from beginning to end. We’ve been providing newborn adoption services as a fully licensed California adoption agency since 1985.  Domestic adoptions, also known as voluntary adoptions, occur when an expectant parent chooses to make an adoption plan for their child. Chrysalis House's domestic adoption program pairs a waiting adoptive family with an expectant parent who is choosing adoption for their child.  


Chrysalis House prepares families for domestic adoption by conducting an adoption home study and also offers an Adopting in Partnership Program for families who have been Home Study approved by another licensed Adoption Agency.  All families accepted for our domestic adoption matching services are presented with placement opportunities that match with their unique levels of openness.  It’s important to Chrysalis House, Inc. that the expectant parent only considers family options that closely resemble their specified preferences.


The following are key services that we provide that can help families like yours complete a domestic adoption:


1. Options Counseling:  An adoption journey can be emotionally challenging for adoptive parents and is especially hard for the expectant mother experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.  Upon learning of an unplanned pregnancy, expectant parents often deal with shock stress, denial, anger, guilt, fear & grief.  The expectant parents’ complex emotions are normal and need to be sorted.  Our staff offers round-the-clock support for expectant parents.  We prioritize and provide options counseling and education to ensure expectant parents are making an informed decision regarding their pregnancy. This level of support is paramount to both the expectant parents and any potential adoptive parents they may elect to consider placing with.  


2. Outreach is part of our mission:  We make continuous effort to educate local resources about our mission and to create effective partnerships.  We regularly deliver in-service opportunities and educational materials to administrators, medical and social work staff at hospitals, pregnancy care centers, universities and high schools.   It’s our goal to increase awareness that “Adoption is an option” within in the local community – so that those facing a crisis pregnancy have resources to make their best informed decision.


3. Full-Service Process: Chrysalis House, Inc, is licensed as a “Full-service” agency which means we can complete your adoption from start to finish. This is convenient because it means you won’t have to locate other professionals to complete certain parts of the journey and your adoption related costs remain more predictable.  

In most cases, newborn children are placed at the time of birth, and the adoptive family is able to take the child home from the hospital. Many times, an adoption plan is created over the course of pregnancy, allowing the expectant mother to choose the adoptive family and get to know them before she gives birth. In other cases, a mother is not sure about adoption until after she has given birth, or she makes the adoption plan while still in the hospital.  Regardless of the timing for matching and placement, Chrysalis House, Inc. will support your family throughout your post-placement monitoring and finalization processes. Chrysalis House, Inc. also aims to support the complex relationship between adoptive families and their placing parent for a lifetime.


4. Chrysalis House is licensed and regulated by the State:  All families should be aware that effective January 1, 2024; facilitators, consultants and law centers are prohibited from engaging in matching services in the State of California.  Chrysalis House’s adoption professionals have a heightened responsibility to ensure that each adoption is handled with the utmost care, ethics, and transparency, and that the child’s best interest is paramount to every decision made on their behalf.  Therefore, we must forego the opportunity to be involved with any cases referred by unlicensed adoption intermediaries. Chrysalis House, Inc. may work in partnership with licensed agencies to mutually support a family when an inter-agency working agreement has been created.