Advantage Adoptions-OCOC is a child placement agency.
Advantage Adoptions-OCOC provides services as a licensed child placing agency in North Texas. Families are recruited, trained, licensed, and offered support services throughout the foster and adoption process. Additional services are provided to kinship families through collaboration with other parent leadership groups in North Texas.
“We do not need to know the beginning of a child’s story to change the ending.”
- Fi Newood -
Adoption
The following steps generally occur once you decide to consider adoption:
For more information, visit: State Adoption and Foster Care Information
GUIDANCE
The Advantage Adoptions-OCOC staff will talk with you about adoption and provide information covering such things as child discipline and guidance. Time will be spent talking about you and your family. You will also have the opportunity to talk about the child you think would best fit into your family. An Advantage Adoptions-OCOC case manager will be assigned to work with you during the adoption process.
PREPERATION
Your preparation for adoption will include 30 hours of group meetings to learn about the issues common to children in foster care. An in-home interview or home study will be conducted prior to having children placed with you. A criminal history and child abuse registry check are part of the home study. If a criminal history is found, you will be asked to document resolution prior to approval as an adoptive parent.
COMPLETION
At completion of all training and documentation requirements, you and the Advantage Adoptions-OCOC counselor will be ready to determine which child would best fit in your family.
The Director of Family Services will work with you, your case manager, and DFPS staff through the matching process. Your home study will be submitted to appropriate DFPS agency staff for consideration of a child or children.
NEW HOME
When your family is selected, you will be given more information on the child’s history. After you decide to move forward, a series of visits will be arranged between you and the child. This will give you time to meet and get to know one another before the child is placed in your home. When planned visits between you and the child are ready to proceed, arrangements are made for the actual move of the child into your home.
“The world may not change if you adopt a child, but for that child their world will change.”
Kinship
You are NOT alone!
Based on data from the Kids Count Data Book published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, nationwide there are 2.5 million children living with their relatives. For many of these children, grandparents are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren. In Texas, there were over 300,000 children in kinship care in 2022.
Challenges, Concerns and Issues Grandparents Face
The number of challenges, concerns, and issues facing grandparent and relative caregivers is overwhelming. They include a wide range of issues: legal problems, school issues, financial concerns, medical needs, housing, daycare arrangements, and effective discipline.
A kinship support group can help caregivers find answers to these and other pressing issues through the support of others who face the same challenges. Attending a support group gives caregivers time away from their children, and time with other adults and professionals who can offer encouragement and help with identifying resources in the community.
Foster Care
Basic Requirements for Foster/Adoptive Families
The prospective foster/adoptive parents may be single or married and must:
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Be at least 21 years of age, financially stable, and responsible, mature adults
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Complete an application (staff assistance is available)
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Share information regarding their background and lifestyle
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Provide relative and non-relative references
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Show proof of marriage and/or divorce
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Agree to a home study which includes visits with all household members
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Allow staff to complete a criminal history background check and an abuse/neglect check on all household members 14 years of age and older
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Be willing to complete an electronic FBI fingerprint check
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Attend free training to learn about issues of abused and neglected children. This training provides an opportunity for the family and Advantage Adoptions-OCOC to assess whether foster care or adoption is best for the family. The family may withdraw from the meetings at any time. Foster/adoptive parents generally train together.
Some Additional Foster Care Requirements
In addition to the basic requirements, foster parents must have
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Adequate sleeping space
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Not provide foster care or day care for more than six children in your home
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Agree to a non-physical discipline policy
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Permit fire, health and safety inspections of the home
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Vaccinate all pets
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Obtain and maintain CPR/First Aid Certification
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Obtain TB testing as required by the local health department for household members
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Attend 20 hours or more of training each year
Training
Advantage Adoptions OCOC foster and adoptive families will receive training in the following areas:
Issues dealing with child abuse/neglect & abandonment
Child care & development
Discipline & self esteem issues
Loss & separation
Providing positive experiences to children for developing healthy, stable and nurturing environments
Super Saturday (in-service training) is offered quarterly for parents. Training components will include, but not be limited to:
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CPR and First Aid
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Shaken Baby Syndrome
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Medications
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Healthy Brain Development
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Managing Aggressive Behavior
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Love and Logic (principles on positive parenting)
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Effective Black Parenting
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Child Development Stages and Phases
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Dealing with the Sexually Abused Child
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Alternatives to Physical Discipline
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Emergency Behavior Intervention
Visit our events page for more information on upcoming classes.
Support Groups
What are Support Groups?
Support groups offer a safe atmosphere in which to share information, concerns, feelings, solutions, and coping strategies with others going through similar experiences. While there are many joys and challenges that caregivers face, being part of a support group helps you know you have assistance in meeting the daily challenges. Our support groups are here to help you meet your challenges and gain confidence in a group environment.
Adoption Support Groups
S.A.F.E.T. NET (Sharing Adoptive Family Experiences Through Networking) is a parent support group that is open to both adoptive and foster families. Families can participate in the support group at any stage of the adoption process. The support group welcomes adoptive, foster and kinship families.
S.A.F.E.T.Net collaborates with other parent leadership groups in the Metroplex to help families find support groups in their area. Support group services include training, respite activities, referral resources and in-home services to identify specific needs. Child care is provided at most meetings.
Please complete the form at Contact Us to receive information on upcoming meeting locations, dates, and times.
Kinship Support Groups
The OCOC Kinship Program supports grandparents and other relative caregivers in order to allow their children to remain within their extended families and communities.
The program is open to any relative caregiver living in Tarrant County. Caregivers who live in other counties will not be turned away when it is determined that our meetings will better meet their needs or when a support group is not available in their home county. Self-referrals are encouraged, as well as referrals from community-based organizations.
The agency leads a collaborative of partners of the Tarrant County Kinship Network who offer an array of services from which caregivers can choose. Support is provided to the caregivers, as well as for their kinship children through our Youth Program. Available services include:
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Family advocacy
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Case management
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Supportive counseling and crisis intervention
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Linkage with community resources
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Legal services
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Respite
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Support groups
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Workshops and trainings
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Youth activities (including community service, leadership and recreational activities)
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Family Sponsorship Opportunities
At Advantage Adoptions-OCOC we do everything we can to help our clients create a healthy, secure environment for their entire family—children and parents alike. Our Sponsor-A-Family program gives donors the opportunity to provide for the specific needs of one or more families.
We invite corporations and individuals to show their support of families by donating gifts or making a monetary contribution to help make a family’s life more joyous. Whether you choose to donate groceries, gifts for needy children, or send a child to camp, your gifts are crucial to helping keep a family together, safe and happy. Contact us and we will be pleased to provide you with a family's "Wish List."
If you would like to sponsor a family in Tarrant County,
please contact us at (682) 708-7375 or by email at the Contact page