Home Evaluation & Placement Services Section

Adoption & Home Study Services Unit

This unit conducts individual and family assessments for adoption, child custody cases, family foster care placements, termination of parental rights and guardianship. Off-island requests from other agencies are received to conduct home assessments for placements to determine suitability. Post placement services are conducted as needed. Adoption services are also provided for children relinquished to the agency or who are up for adoption for matching into prospective adoptive homes.

Licensing/Certification, Child Care Facilities & Family Foster Homes Unit

This unit provides the certification of family foster homes for children requiring substitute care in foster homes. This unit also monitors and licenses child care facilities within the provisions mandated by law.

Foster Care

Foster care is temporary care provided by individuals and families who open their homes to become temporary parents to children whose birth parents and families are unable to care for them. Foster care is more than having a child in a foster home on a temporary basis. It is an opportunity for the foster parent to help build a child’s future. While a child is in placement, the foster family offers the child those family life experiences that are essential in promoting healthy growth and development. Children who are moved from their family home for foster care are those whose safety or health are at risk. Often they continue to visit their families until they can be reunited. So in addition to food, housing and clothing, they need emotional support, guidance and hope.