Criminal history and child abuse background checks are required for all prospective adoptive parents and adult members of their household.  Legal parents are exempted from these background checks.

• For agency adoption and non-related (independent) adoption that require a home study, the adoption agency doing the home study assists in processing the required background checks.

   

• For other categories of adoption that require these background checks in connection with the request for waiver of the home study, the subject individuals, assisted by their attorney (if applicable), request the criminal background checks on their own.  DHS conducts the child protective service (cps) check.

Out-of-State residents requesting these clearances to comply with the Adam Walsh Law and/or the Hague Convention.

• Contact the department's Criminal Records Unit at
  http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/chc/Pages/contact_us.aspx​

Out-of-State residents finalizing adoption in Oregon

• Background checks, including the cps clearance, must come from the state where subject individuals reside at the time of filing the adoption petition in Oregon.

Oregon residents finalizing in Oregon

• Agency or Independent (non-related) Adoption
  The Oregon licensed adoption agency, which is conducting the home study, obtains the Oregon criminal history, FBI report, and cps report for the prospective adoptive parents(s) and for other adults in the home.

   

• Step-parent or Relative Adoption
  The prospective adoptive parents or their attorney must request directly the criminal background check from the Oregon State Police if the petitioners are Oregon residents. The request for criminal history background check form, with instructions written on the form, can be downloaded at http://dhsforms.hr.state.or.us/Forms/Served/CE0249g.pdf.
  
  However, the child protective service (cps) or child abuse check is conducted by the department (DHS), using its cps registry information database.

   

  Additionally, an FBI report is required if the subject individual and other adult household members (except bio/legal parent) have not lived in Oregon for 5 years immediately preceding the filing of the adoption petition. The procedures for obtaining the report are:

   

  1. Get fingerprinted at the Oregon State Police or by any authorized person or entity.  Fingerprint cards are provided at the site.

      

  2. The fingerprint card is returned to the subject individual, who must send it to the FBI office in West Virginia, for processing. Follow the rest of the instructions from this link: How to Obtain a Copy of Your FBI Record.

      

  3. The result of the FBI report is sent to the subject individual, who must forward it to his attorney (if applicable) who, in turn, must forward it to DHS. If no attorney is involved, the subject individual must send the original FBI report to DHS.