New Jersey post-adoption support

Below are post-adoption support services available to families who live in New Jersey. Services may not be available in all areas and/or may be dependent upon the circumstances of the placement. Please check with your post-adoption services provider about the availability of specific post-adoption or guardianship support services for your family. You can also visit Child Welfare Information Gateway for information on Adoption and Guardianship Assistance, as well as additional information on post-adoption support.

On this page:

Post-adoption/guardianship support services

In New Jersey, adoptive families have access to the following services through a post-adoption support program:

  • Information (websites, fact sheets, articles, etc.) 
  • Referral to services
  • Training/other development
  • Birth family mediation and/or adoption search
  • Peer support for parents
  • Community-based therapeutic services
  • Crisis intervention

The following services may be available as part of an adoption/guardianship subsidy agreement based on the needs of the individual child: 

  • In-home therapeutic services 
  • Residential therapeutic services

Who is eligible for these services?

  • Families who have adopted from the state’s foster care system
  • Families who adopted internationally or privately
  • Families who have guardianship of a child from the state’s foster care system

Who provides these services?

The New Jersey Department of Children and Families contracts with Children’s Aid and Family Services to provide post-adoption and guardianship support services through the New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearinghouse

Parent support groups

Below are support groups for adoptive, kinship, and foster families. Support groups may be offered as part of a state’s post-adoption/guardianship support program, through a statewide or regional foster or adoptive parent association, through specific agencies, or may be run independently. If we have additional information about the group’s purpose or the community served, it’s provided under the group’s contact information.

To add a group or make a suggestion, email the AdoptUSKids family support team.

Adoption Connections
Location: Holmdel

Adoptive Parents Committee
apc2007@optonline.net
Location: Ridgewood

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark
Location: Union City

Children’s Aid & Family Services, Inc.
info@cafsnj.org
Location: Fair Lawn

Concerned Persons for Adoption
paben48@gmail.com
Location: West Orange and Whippany

Downey Side, Inc.
seagirtnj@downeyside.org
Location: Sea Girt

Families for Russian Ukranian Adoption - New Jersey
Location: Belle Mead

Family Options
info@famopt.org
Location: Ocean Township

Golden Cradle Adoption Services, Inc.
adoptions@goldencradle.org
Location: Cherry Hill

Homestudies & Adoption Placement Services, Inc.
info@haps.org
Location: Teaneck

Infertility and Adoption Counseling Center
Location: Pennington

Morristown Post-Adoption Support Group
jfoster7@optonline.net
Location: Morristown