Becoming an Adoption Service Provider

Adoption Services Award Notification, Oct. 4, 2021

The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) is the agency responsible for the delivery of health, human/social and related regulatory services for the state of Georgia. The major service divisions within DHS are Aging Services, Child Support Services and Family & Children Services. In partnership with local communities, DHS assists individuals and families in achieving safe, healthy, independent and self-sufficient lives. Many DHS programs have seen record numbers of enrollment in this recent economic downturn. Please refer to the DHS website at http://dhs.georgia.gov for more information about the Department, its responsibilities/functions and organizational structure, etc.

The Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS), State Adoption Unit is charged with promoting, developing and supporting quality adoption services for Georgia’s children and adoption families. Over the years, the unit has impacted the number of children adopted through increased adoptive placements of children who were in the custody of DHS and increased collaboration with non-profit and for-profit organizations to serve children and families with adoption services.

The Department of Human Services, DFCS State Adoption Unit is seeking child placement agencies to recruit, train and develop adoptive families and provide placement and supervision services for children who are defined as hard to place. For the purpose of this Statement of Need, DFCS defines hard to place children as those that are children thirteen (13) years and older, children designated by adoption assistance as having significant medical needs and/or emotional/behavioral needs and sibling groups of three or more. The objective of this process is to obtain the services of qualified child placement agencies that are licensed by the state of Georgia to provide adoption services for hard to place children within the state of Georgia. The services would be provided for an initial six-month term beginning January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2022. At the sole discretion of DFCS, the contract may be renewed annually for four (4) one-year terms.

Minimum Requirements

To have its proposal considered pursuant to this Statement of Need, a supplier must:

Be an adoption agency licensed by the state of Georgia
Have a minimum of three years of experience in providing placement service for the hard to place population as defined in Section 3
Provide a copy of its Georgia adoption license as part of its proposal
Certify in writing that it has the minimum three years of experience as required above
Certify in writing by completing the adoption certification document that it has a minimum of three years of experience as required above

If the supplier cannot substantiate its experience in providing placement services for the hard to place population as defined in Section 3, the supplier will be disqualified, and its proposal will not be considered.