There are important steps required after adopting a child. Read below to learn more about what to expect after adoption, including:

• Acquiring U.S. Citizenship for your Child: It is important to ensure your adopted child becomes a U.S. citizen. If you postpone documenting or obtaining your child's citizenship, he or she may have difficulty obtaining college scholarships, working legally, voting, and enjoying other rights and privileges. In some cases, the child might even be subject to deportation. 
• Post Adoption Reporting: Many countries require adoptive parents or adoption service providers to report on the child’s progress and welfare after an adoption has concluded, sometimes for several years after the adoption took place. These reports generally cover the child's development and progress adjusting to his or her new family and life in a new country. Post-adoption reports provide an important opportunity for the adoptive parents and the child to discuss the progress of the adoption. 
• Post-Placement Reporting: Some countries grant only provisional approval of an adoption pending a child’s residence for several months with the adoptive family in their country. Those countries may then require prospective adoptive parents to submit periodic post-placement reports. Based on these reports, the child’s country of origin evaluates whether the child and parents are bonding, and how well the child is settling into the new culture and family environment. 
• Understanding Reporting Requirements: The specific requirements vary from country to country, are sometimes quite detailed, and may extend until adopted children turn 18 (or even older in a few rare cases). Your adoption service provider, the country specific adoption information available on this website, and the U.S. embassy or consulate in the child’s country of origin will also help better understand reporting requirements in the specific country that you are adopting from. In addition, country specific requirements are organized by region on the following page: Post-Adoption Reporting Overview. 
• Post-Adoption Services: Post-adoption services may include: support groups, education, social and cultural activities, camps, therapists, medical resources, assistance in the search for family, and access to files. There are many public and private nonprofit organizations that provide such post-adoption resources and services. There are also numerous adoptive family support groups and adult adoptee organizations active in the United States that provide a network of options for adoptive families who wish to have contact with other adoptees or adoptive families from the same country of origin.