1. Meet your Adoption Team and Begin the Paperwork

Once your application documents and fees are submitted, you will be introduced to our India team. These staff members will serve as your primary contacts throughout the adoption process to answer your questions and provide support. You’ll also receive a New Client packet that includes step-by-step instructions for the adoption process, information on the home study, pre-adoption training requirements, guidance on the US immigration application, and instructions for preparing your dossier.

2. Complete Pre-Adoptive Training

Gladney's pre-adoption training prepares families for the unique dynamics of adopting from India. The training covers the special needs of children and equips parents to provide a safe and loving home.

3. Complete an International Home Study

If you live in a Gladney-licensed state, a home study worker will be assigned to your case. The home study department will then contact you directly to schedule appointments. Gladney provides home study services to hopeful adoptive parents in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. If you live in one of these listed states and are ready to start your home study, fill out our home study form.

If you do not live in a Gladney-licensed state, you will need to choose a home study provider who meets Gladney’s criteria. Check with your adoption specialist to ensure the specific home study provider you choose will be eligible.

4. Prepare Your Dossier

Families create a dossier detailing the characteristics of the child (or children) they are eligible to adopt. The dossier submitted to India must include the necessary documentation required for an international adoption into the U.S. and by the India adoption authorities—all of which must be notarized, certified, and authenticated per India’s requirements.

5. Receive an Official Referral

After your dossier is completed, Gladney submits it to CARA for review and approval via CARINGS, CARA’s online portal system. Once your dossier is approved, your Gladney caseworker will work with you in matching you with a waiting child in the CARINGS portal. The time it takes for a family to be matched varies significantly depending on family openness regarding the child’s age and medical needs.

NRI and OCI families have the option to wait for CARA to match them with a child with no known medical needs or to be matched by a Gladney caseworker. Parents need to be prepared to accept mild/correctable issues and delays in children in this program.

Once matched, the family will receive the child’s file of medical and social histories. Families are required to have a doctor, preferably an international adoption medical specialist, review the child’s file in order to better understand the child’s health condition and the care involved. Upon your decision to accept the referral, acceptance paperwork needs to be completed per Gladney and India’s requirements and submitted to India.

6. Adoption Travel

Families can travel to India to pick up their child once they have completed the Hague process post-referral acceptance and the final Adoption Decree is issued in India. It may take 6-12 months before families can pick up their child after accepting the referral.

At least one trip is required, typically around ten days to two weeks. In some cases, a family may be required to appear for an adoption hearing (which necessitates an additional trip).

For married couples, both parents are required to travel.

For adoptions finalized in India, children will enter the U.S. on an IH-3 VISA prior to the family’s arrival in the country.