Foster Care and Adoption

Bellefaire JCB’s foster care and adoption programs provide children and youth with safe, nurturing, and stable homes when they cannot remain with their biological families. Our services promote healing, healthy development, and lasting connections with families who can meet each child’s emotional and physical needs. We are committed to ensuring that every child experiences security, compassion, and a true sense of belonging.

Bellefaire JCB’s foster care program provides a safe, stable, and nurturing environment for children who cannot remain with their biological families due to safety concerns, instability, or other challenges. Foster care allows children to heal and grow while maintaining continuity in education, relationships, and daily routines. The program protects children during vulnerable times, supports families working toward reunification when possible, and ensures that every child experiences consistent care, compassion, and security.

Adoption provides children with the love, stability, and permanency they deserve. It can also fulfill the desire of families to expand or complete their circle of love, or help birthparents place their child in a safe, supportive, and nurturing home.

Founded as an orphanage in 1868, Bellefaire JCB is now one of the nation’s longest-established child placement and adoption agencies. We provide adoption services to prospective adoptive families, expectant parents, and adoptees, guided by experienced, degreed, licensed social workers, counselors, and certified Adoption Assessors. Our specialists provide individualized support throughout every step of the adoption process.

Our services and support extend though every step of the adoption process and include:

  • Pre-and post-adoption counseling
  • Facilitating adoptive placements
  • Counseling/financial assistance to birth parents
  • Home study services for domestic and international adoptions*
  • Post placement supervision and reports

*Bellefaire is a Hague-Accredited International Adoption Program.

Speak with an Adoption Specialist today: Call 216-509-9020 or request more information.

For Adoptive Families

Adoption is a lifelong decision that requires guidance, support, and professional expertise at every stage. Our team offers years of experience to help ensure a positive experience and smooth transition before, during, and after adoption. Services for adoptive families include:

  • Pre-adoption counseling to define hopes and expectations
  • Comprehensive services including home study, post-placement supervision, and court finalization
  • Post-finalization counseling and related support

Bellefaire JCB support a wide range of adoption types:

  • Waiting Child
  • Identified Infant
  • Self-directed Infant
  • International

We welcome single adopters, married couples, and LGBTQ+ families. We do not discriminate based on age, race, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Prospective families receive guidance through paperwork, virtual trainings, interviews, family profile creation, and child placement.

For Expectant Parents

Expectant parents are partnered with a Birth Parent Counselor to explore all options and receive compassionate, judgment-free support. Services include:

  • Options counseling to explore all choices for the child’s future
  • Non-judgmental counseling and emotional support
  • Financial assistance as regulated by the State of Ohio
  • Referrals to community resources
  • Ongoing support navigating open adoption relationships

All services for expectant parents are provided at no cost.

 

 

Bellefaire Adoption Program Staff:

Susan Darden Kautz, MA, LPC
Adoption Director
kautzs@bellefairejcb.org
216-320-8563

Alexa Lipp, LISW
Licensing Specialist/Assessor/Birth Parent Counselor
lippa@bellefairejcb.org

Shelia Crowe
crowes@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor
Cincinnati and surrounding areas

Kristen McLaughlin, LSW
mclaughlin@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor/Birth Parent Counselor
Cleveland/Northeast Ohio 

Deborah Downing, LISW
downingd@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor/Birth Parent Counselor
Cleveland/Northeast Ohio

Tina Knaley, LISW
knaleyt@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor/Birth Parent Counselor
Dayton and surrounding areas

Taranna Francisco
franciscot@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor
Akron/Canton and surrounding areas

Timothy Davidson
davidsont@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor
Akron/Canton and surrounding areas

Andrea Connell, LISW-S
Connella1@bellefairejcb.org
Assessor
Columbus and surrounding areas

Our Treatment Foster Care program serves youth up to age 21 who have experienced chronic trauma, abuse, or significant mental health challenges and require a family-based placement. Bellefaire JCB equips foster parents with extensive training, ongoing support, and access to a full array of wraparound services across the agency. This ensures that youth receive individualized, high-quality care in a loving, stable home, helping them heal, grow, and thrive.

Wraparound Services
Each foster youth is treated as an individual. Their needs are carefully assessed at intake and monitored throughout their time in the program. Youth receive individualized treatment planning and coordinated services. Our team of social workers, therapists, and case managers provides weekly case management, ongoing diagnostic assessment, and psychiatric consultation. Additional services include:

  • Psychiatric and pharmacological management
  • Co-occurring mental health and substance use treatment
  • Alcohol/drug assessment and treatment
  • After-school group therapy
  • Individual and group therapy

Each foster youth is treated as an individual. Their needs are carefully assessed at intake and monitored throughout their time in the program. Youth receive individualized treatment planning and coordinated services. Our team of social workers, therapists, and case managers provides weekly case management, ongoing diagnostic assessment, and psychiatric consultation. Additional services include:

  • Psychiatric and pharmacological management
  • Co-occurring mental health and substance use treatment
  • Alcohol/drug assessment and treatment
  • After-school group therapy
  • Individual and group therapy

While the primary goal of Treatment Foster Care is reunification with a child’s family, this is not always possible. Foster parents can become certified as Foster-to-Adopt homes, providing youth with permanent families to support and nurture them into adulthood

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