Provides accurate information on adoption, and lifelong support, so the family is successful in meeting the child's best interest by offering the following services and resources:

Provides free and confidential pregnancy counseling for families, every step of the way; before, during, and after the birth of the child.

Assistance with making an adoption plan or parenting plan.

Parenting education.

Support and education for baby's father on request.

Home studies for prospective adoptive parents.

Newborn care home for baby as a safe haven.

Recruits and prepares adoptive families. Offers services for identified adoptions, foster care adoptions, and post placement services.

Provides contractual home studies for domestic and international adoptions.

Provides services to couples and singles in all three programs:

- Agency Assisted Adoption: Includes home study and collaborating with another agency to place through the partnering agency.

- General Domestic Adoption Program: Includes home study and placement of infants, also offer the Sayers Center program which seeks to find homes for African American babies and promote adoption awareness within the African American community.

- Intercountry Program: Includes home study and working with another agency internationally.

Provides guidance and support during periods of match and placement. Conducts post placement visits and reporting in accordance with the placing state or country's requirements.

Offers domestic, international, and interstate adoption programs for families wishing to adopt a child. A social worker will assess the family prior to adoption. Adoption competent therapy available for adopted children & teens, adult adoptee's, adoptive parents, birth parents, and families.

Serves families interested in adopting a legally free child.

Allows birth parents and adoptive parents to design an adoption plan that is in the best interest of the child, and recognizes the importance of the adoptive parents and birth parents developing an on-going relationship. Services include:

-- Counseling young women who are pregnant.

-- Adoption orientations.

-- Adoption home studies for domestic and international adoptions, as well as for special needs adoptions.

-- Post-placement supervision.

-- Finalization services.

-- Ongoing support groups.

-- Adoption searches.

Services are designed to support and strengthen the lives of adoptive parents, adult adopted persons, and birth parents by providing compassionate profiles, searches, and intermediary services.

Services include:

-- Individual and Family Counseling by request from anyone involved in an adoption plan made through Catholic Charities at any time.

-- Mutual consent registry.

-- Background histories and non-identifying profiles.

-- Post adoption search and intermediary service in the form of indirect and direct contact between interested parties.

Provides a list of referrals for adoption agencies in the area.

Provides a licensed child placing agency, finding adoptive homes for both infants and special needs children.

Provides a list of referrals for adoption agencies in the area.

Recruits and prepares adoptive families. Offers services for identified adoptions, foster care adoptions, and post placement services.

Provides contractual home studies for domestic and international adoptions.

Serves all Nebraska adoptive families - international, domestic infant, private, step-parent and foster adoptive families. Advocates for the special interests of adoptive families and connects families to one another. Six core services include Permanency Support Services, Respite Care Connections, Parent2Parent Network, Mental Health Connections, Training, and Support Groups and Family Activities.

Case management available for up to 180 days. Individualized family plan designed and implemented with the family's input.

Assists post adoptive and guardianship families in locating formal and informal respite providers and can provide financial assistance for respite services (limited). All families who receive financial respite assistance through the program will be asked to attend a training.

Mentoring in partnership with Nebraska Foster and Adoptive Parent Association (NFAPA) to assist in providing peer mentoring services to post adoptive and guardianship families.

Mental health services - locates and refers families to professional post adoption and guardianship providers.

Training opportunities that can support skill building on issues related to adoption.

Support groups and networks for families and youth where social networks can be created and peer support can be achieved.

- Adoption: Offers relative and non-relative, second parent, stepparent, adult, and DCFS foster parent adoption services.

- Post Adoption: Families are connected with resources meant to aid in adoption preservation.

- Legal Custody: Helps to provide legal custody to caregivers, whether for a child or disabled adult.

- Guardianship: Helps to provide legal guardianship, which allows the caregiver to make decisions for the child in their care.

Serves families interested in adopting a legally free child.

Allows birth parents and adoptive parents to design an adoption plan that is in the best interest of the child, and recognizes the importance of the adoptive parents and birth parents developing an on-going relationship. Services include:

-- Counseling young women who are pregnant.

-- Adoption orientations.

-- Adoption home studies for domestic and international adoptions, as well as for special needs adoptions.

-- Post-placement supervision.

-- Finalization services.

-- Ongoing support groups.

-- Adoption searches.

Offers help for families to adopt American children, both with and without unique challenges. The children assisted are not only from Illinois, but they can also reside anywhere in the United States. OCH works with other agencies to assist with the matching process and to assess the needs of the child to determine whether the child and family make an appropriate match.