Pierce County Juvenile Court

***** On National Adoption Day, 12 Families Grow in Pierce County Courtroom *****

Pierce County Adoption Services is responsible for processing all adoptions regarding minor children in this county. The Pierce County Adoption Investigator is appointed by court order in every adoption. This department is charged with reviewing, making a recommendation and keeping statistics on all adoptions. A file is made on every adoption.

Important Document:
Referral Contract

Independent/Private/Newborn Adoptions: This department provides pre-placement adoption investigations for private adoptions as well as post-placement services to facilitate finalization. If a family has used a private social worker to complete a homestudy, the report is submitted to this department for approval and is then routed to the court. This office coordinates information with the attorney, family, birth parents and the court.


Step-Parent/Relative Adoptions: All step-parent and relative adoptions are referred to this office for adoption investigations and court reports. Relative reports are completed as a full homestudy and post-placement report combination because usually the child has been in the home for months or years. Step-parent adoptions are done as a post-placement report.

Agency Adoptions: All agencies submit their pre-placement and post-placement reports to this department prior to finalization of the adoption. The reports are docketed, reviewed and sent to the court with approval. This process is the same for foreign re-adoptions.

Pierce County Adoptions charges a fee for all homestudies/reports. The process starts when we receive the Referral Contract, the fee, and the legal pleadings from the Petitioner. An adoption packet is sent to the Petitioner to begin the homestudy. (There is no fee for processing agency reports.) The Petitioner or an attorney provides legal pleadings.

This department also works with Confidential Intermediaries doing adoptive searches (with court orders) and adoptees requesting Non-Identifying Information. There is no fee for this service.

Pierce County Adoptions is located at the Juvenile Court building (Remann Hall), 5501 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98406. The Adoption Investigator is Joni Irvin (253-798-7978) and her secretary is Lisa Tennison (253-798-7976).