The Essentials of Sibling Adoption: Building Stronger Families

Separating siblings is supposed to be the exception. Illinois law protects siblings, placing brothers and sisters together whenever doing so serves their best interests. Yet thousands of sibling groups still wait in foster care, watching families pass them over for single children.

The reluctance makes sense on paper. Adopting siblings means more space, more resources, more complexity. But here’s what that calculation misses: these children already have their most important relationship. They share history that can’t be replaced, and they support each other through trauma in ways that no other relationship could.

Sibling adoption isn’t just about giving multiple children a home. It’s about preserving bonds that have kept them going through circumstances no child should face. Organizations like Let It Be Us help families navigate this journey. The question isn’t whether you can do it. The question is whether you’re ready to understand what makes sibling adoption different and what resources exist to help your family succeed.

Understanding the Importance of Sibling Adoption

Siblings who enter foster care share more than genetics. They share history and memories, often along with a protective bond that helped them survive difficult circumstances. These relationships provide emotional continuity that can’t be replaced.

Research consistently shows that siblings placed together experience better outcomes. They maintain their identity, support each other through transitions, and have someone who understands their story without explanation. For many youth in care, a sibling is the only family connection they have left.

Illinois DCFS recognizes this reality. Under state law, DCFS must place siblings together whenever possible and in the children’s best interests. When placement together isn’t feasible, caseworkers must create Sibling Contact Support Plans to maintain those relationships and explain why joint placement couldn’t happen.

The Heart Gallery of Illinois showcases many sibling groups waiting for permanent families. These are children, like sibling sets of three or four, who need homes willing to keep them together. Their profiles make clear how deeply these bonds matter.

Benefits of Keeping Siblings Together

Sibling relationships serve as protective factors during stressful transitions. Brothers and sisters who stay together through adoption maintain emotional support systems that help them process trauma, adjust to new environments, and build resilience.

Shared history matters. Siblings validate each other’s experiences and memories. They don’t have to explain why certain sounds or situations trigger them. They remember the good times before foster care and can grieve their losses together.

Practical benefits show up in daily life:

• Older siblings may help younger ones with homework and school routines
• Brothers and sisters model appropriate behaviors for each other
• Siblings provide translation (literal or cultural) when families have different backgrounds
• Children problem-solve together about how things work in their new home

These daily supports make the entire household adjustment smoother.

Challenges When Siblings Are Separated

Separation compounds the trauma children have already experienced. Losing contact with siblings means losing the people who knew them before everything changed. That grief is real and lasting.

Children separated from siblings often struggle with guilt, wondering if their brothers and sisters are safe and cared for. They may act out behaviorally as they try to process another significant loss. Some spend years searching for siblings they lost track of in the system.

Illinois law requires DCFS to maintain sibling contact even when children can’t be placed together [1]. But supervised visits can’t replace daily life together. The relationship changes when visiting siblings become scheduled events rather than shared bedrooms.

Navigating Illinois Sibling Adoption Laws and Policies

Illinois has specific statutes and policies designed to prioritize sibling placement. Understanding these legal frameworks helps you move through the adoption process more effectively.

Illinois Legal Requirements

Illinois statute (Ch. 20, § 505/7) explicitly requires DCFS to place siblings together when doing so serves the children’s best interests [2]. This isn’t just policy. It’s state law. Caseworkers must document why siblings are placed separately if that happens.

The law defines relatives broadly to include not just biological family but also fictive kin: people with significant emotional bonds to the children. This expanded definition creates more placement options for sibling groups.

Court proceedings for sibling adoption follow standard Illinois adoption procedures. The court appoints a Guardian ad Litem to evaluate whether adoption serves each child’s best interests.

Kinship Pathways and the KIND Act

The KIND Act (Kinship in Demand Act), signed into law in February of 2025, created separate certification standards for relative caregivers [3]. This law recognizes that family members who step up for siblings shouldn’t face identical requirements as traditional foster parents.

Under the KIND Act, relatives who want to provide permanency through adoption or guardianship follow a certification pathway designed for their situation. The training requirements and approval process acknowledge the existing family relationships and cultural connections relatives bring.

Kinship adoption makes particular sense for sibling groups when extended family can keep brothers and sisters together. Grandparents and other relatives (aunts, uncles, or adult siblings) can petition for related adoption [2].

Benefits and Challenges of Adopting Siblings

Adopting siblings brings rewards and complexities that single-child adoption doesn’t. Going in with realistic expectations helps you prepare effectively.

Supportive Benefits

Siblings provide comfort and companionship for each other. They create their own play, solve boredom problems together, and provide built-in friendship and social circles.

Siblings also help each other adjust to your family’s routines and expectations. The older child often models behaviors for younger ones, and they problem-solve together about how things work in their new home. This peer learning accelerates everyone’s adaptation.

If your family decides to parent multiple children at once, for many adoptive parents, this feels like an instant family rather than a years-long process. The children come with existing relationships, which means you’re building on bonds that already exist rather than starting from scratch.

Consideration of Challenges

Sibling groups need more space, more resources, and more logistical coordination. Three children means three school schedules, three sets of medical appointments, and three different sets of emotional needs that might surface simultaneously.

Sibling dynamics can be complicated. Sometimes older siblings took on parental roles before foster care and struggle to let adults lead. Other times, siblings compete for your attention in ways that feel intense. These patterns make sense given their history, but they require patience and sometimes professional support to navigate.

The financial considerations matter too. While Illinois adoptions through DCFS are free [4], raising multiple children simultaneously requires larger homes and vehicles, plus increased budgets for daily expenses. Adoption subsidies help offset these costs, but families should calculate realistic expenses.

Practical Steps for Adopting Siblings in Illinois

The path to adopting siblings involves specific steps, from initial inquiry through finalization. Here’s what to expect.

1. Initial Consultation with Let It Be Us

Let It Be Us serves as Illinois’s premier foster and adoptive parent recruitment agency. They manage the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois, which connects families with children waiting for adoption, including sibling groups.

Your role at this stage is exploration. Let It Be Us provides pre-licensing support to help you determine whether fostering and adoption align with your family’s situation. In addition to adoption consultations, they explain the different foster care pathways available (traditional, specialized, emergency, and therapeutic foster care) and help you select an agency if you decide to move forward.

Bottom line: Let It Be Us doesn’t coordinate the licensing process itself. They help you understand the commitment and make informed decisions about whether this journey fits for you and/or your family. They connect you with the right agency to fit your needs and, in the case of foster care adoptions, they help match children to the right homes. Their unique process of recruitment and matching ensures that children are not simply placed, but thoughtfully connected with families whose capacity, commitment and lived experience align with each child’s specific needs [4].

2. Preparing Your Home and Family

Foster care licensing in Illinois takes 8-9 months typically. You’ll complete PRIDE training (30+ hours, available in-person, online, as webinars, or self-paced modules), undergo background checks, and have your home evaluated for safety.

Training requirements include LGBTQIA+ affirming care modules, which are mandatory for all foster parents in Illinois. These prepare you to support youth in care regardless of their identity or expression.

Licensed foster parents are often in strong positions to adopt siblings already placed with them. You’ve built relationships, the children have adjusted to your home, and continuity serves everyone’s best interests. Many sibling adoptions happen this way.

3. Completing the Adoption Process

Once you’re matched with siblings and ready to adopt, the legal process involves filing a petition with the circuit court. The court will appoint a Guardian ad Litem to assess whether adoption serves each child’s best interests [5].

For related adoptions, you’ll typically file in your county’s circuit court. Cook County, for example, handles multiple adoption types (related and agency adoptions, plus private and other types) with specific forms and procedures [6]. Your adoption attorney or agency will guide you through the paperwork.

The finalization hearing is when adoption becomes permanent. Many families describe this hearing as joyful and emotional: the official moment their family becomes permanent.

Emotional and Relational Support for Adoptive Families

Adoption finalization is a beginning, not an ending. Sibling groups need ongoing support to build healthy family bonds and process their experiences.

Building Strong Family Bonds

Creating family rituals helps siblings feel they belong. The specifics matter less than the consistency. Ideas that work for many families:

• Weekly pizza nights or game nights everyone can count on
• Monthly adventure days exploring new places together
• Holiday traditions that blend children’s cultural backgrounds with your family’s practices
• Bedtime routines that give each child predictable connection time

Individual attention makes a difference. Each child needs time with parents separate from their siblings. Even 20 minutes of dedicated one-on-one time helps children feel seen as individuals rather than as “the sibling group.” There are many, many resources that remain intact for each family with the goal of helping the family meet the unique needs of the children they adopt.

Accessing Community Resources

You don’t have to figure this out alone. Illinois has established support networks specifically for foster and adoptive families raising siblings.

Community support groups connect you with other families raising siblings through adoption. These peer connections provide practical advice, emotional support, and the reassurance that comes from talking with people who understand your situation firsthand.

Therapy matters. Many adopted siblings benefit from individual therapy to process their trauma and family therapy to work through new relationships. Don’t wait for problems to escalate.

FAQs about Sibling Adoption

How does sibling adoption impact legal guardianship arrangements?

Adoption and guardianship are different legal pathways. Guardianship maintains some parental rights while giving you custody and decision-making authority. Adoption permanently terminates previous parental rights and grants you full legal parenthood [3]. For sibling groups, adoption provides the most secure permanency because it can’t be dissolved as guardianship sometimes can. The KIND Act now offers subsidized guardianship options for relatives who want permanency without adoption, but adoption remains the most legally stable option for most sibling groups.

What training is available for adoptive parents of siblings?

All Illinois foster parents complete PRIDE training (30+ hours) covering child development and trauma, plus foster care systems navigation. LGBTQIA+ affirming care training is required for everyone. Once licensed, specialized foster home training becomes available for those fostering children with complex behavioral or medical needs. This specialized track is post-licensure training designed for already-licensed foster parents taking on higher-needs placements. Many agencies also offer sibling-specific workshops addressing dynamics like sibling rivalry, birth order changes, and managing multiple trauma responses simultaneously. Let It Be Us and other agencies provide ongoing training opportunities as your family’s needs evolve. Explore all further educational opportunities through Let It Be Us at www.letitbeus.org/events.

Can single parents adopt sibling groups in Illinois?

Yes. Illinois adoption law doesn’t require adoptive parents to be married. Single parents can and do successfully adopt sibling groups. The key factors are having the stability and resources to meet multiple children’s needs simultaneously. During the home study process, caseworkers assess whether your support network, financial situation, housing arrangements, and emotional bandwidth align with the specific sibling group’s needs. Single parents often benefit from strong extended family support and community connections.

What happens if siblings don’t get along after adoption?

Sibling conflict is normal, whether children are adopted or not. Siblings who experienced trauma together sometimes have complicated dynamics: protectiveness mixed with resentment, or intense loyalty mixed with competition. Family therapy helps everyone work through these relationships while attachment develops. The goal isn’t perfect harmony but healthy conflict resolution and secure attachments with parents. Most sibling conflicts improve as children feel safer and trust that they’ll stay together permanently. Adoptive families who utilize their continued resources find the most successful paths.

How long does the sibling adoption process take in Illinois?

Timeline varies based on your pathway. If you’re already a licensed foster parent with siblings in your care, the process can take 6-12 months from deciding to adopt through finalization. If you’re starting from scratch (getting licensed then matched with siblings), expect 18-24 months total. Relative adoptions sometimes move faster because they bypass some licensing requirements [5]. Factors affecting timeline include court schedules, whether parental rights need termination, and how quickly paperwork gets processed.

Are adoption subsidies available for sibling groups?

Yes. Illinois offers adoption subsidies for children adopted through DCFS, and sibling groups often qualify for enhanced subsidies. These subsidies can cover medical assistance, mental health care, and sometimes specialized services the children need. The subsidy amount depends on children’s ages and needs. Families negotiate subsidy agreements before finalization, and subsidies typically continue until children turn 18 (or through age 26 if they remain in school or meet other criteria). Financial support helps families afford the real costs of raising multiple children.

Does YouthCare medical insurance continue past adoption? Yes, it can. As the adoptive parent you are also able to transfer medical care to your own insurance. The bottom line is that you have options for medical care that continues past adoption.

References

[1] Illinois DCFS. “Keeping Siblings Connected.” dcfs.illinois.gov. https://dcfs.illinois.gov/loving-homes/fostercare/keeping-siblings-connected.html

[2] Child Welfare Information Gateway. “Placement of Children With Relatives – Illinois.” childwelfare.gov, September 2022. https://www.childwelfare.gov/resources/placement-children-relatives-illinois/

[3] Illinois DCFS. “Adoption and Guardianship.” dcfs.illinois.gov. https://dcfs.illinois.gov/loving-homes/adoption.html

[4] AdoptUSKids. “Illinois Foster Care and Adoption – AdoptUSKids.” adoptuskids.org. https://adoptuskids.org/adoption-and-foster-care/how-to-adopt-and-foster/state-information/illinois

[5] Illinois Legal Aid Online. “Adoption of a child common questions.” illinoislegalaid.org, Last revised May 21, 2025. https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/legal-information/adoption-child-common-questions

[6] Circuit Court of Cook County. “Adoptions.” cookcountycourtil.gov. https://www.cookcountycourtil.gov/case-type/adoptions