Adoption Information & Support

Children's Friend & Service has extensive programs to support families in Rhode Island. Please see website for details. 
Programs include:
Early Head Start
Head Start
Child Care

Adoption Support and Preservation
Foster Care
Fatherhood Initiatives
Provider of Family Care Community Partnerships FCCP

Home Visiting Programs including:

First Connections
First Connections at Children’s Friend provides free, voluntary, confidential home visits in Central Falls, Cranston, Pawtucket and Providence to pregnant women and families with young children, birth to age three.
Healthy Families America

Healthy Families America is a national evidence-based maternal and child home visiting program that provides free, voluntary, confidential services. The program pairs expectant mothers or families with newborns with a Family Support Worker, who provides home visiting services to the family and their child until the child’s fourth birthday.

Nurse Family Partnership

Nurse-Family Partnership is a national evidence-based maternal and child home visiting program that provides free, voluntary, confidential services to expectant first-time mothers and then their newborns. The program pairs expectant mothers with a registered nurse, who provides intensive home visiting services to the mother and her child until the child’s second birthday.

Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program

WIC offices have temporarily moved to 153 Summer Street in Providence. Please call ahead to check hours. 401.752.7781 

Early Intervention at Children's Friend is listed separately in the directory. 

Children's Friend provides a comprehensive array of social services that strengthen families, are culturally relevant and support the healthy development of children.
Across Rhode Island, our staff provides services to help over 31,488 individuals annually.
Sites in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls, we provide a broad array of services for children and families.

Foster Care and Adoption Information

The goal of foster care is to safely reunite children with their birth families whenever possible. When reunification is not possible, DCYF works with its partner agencies to match a child with an adoptive family. Many children who are adopted from foster care find their “forever families” in the homes of their foster parents.

Child Protective Services Information

CPS operates 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Investigators receive and screen reports of suspected abuse and neglect on the Department’s hotline (1-800-RI-CHILD) and conduct associated investigations, as needed.

Family Service Unit Information

The Family Service Units division (FSU) of the Department becomes involved with families after a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation has been conducted and a determination made that services are needed to address abuse, neglect, or dependency within the family.

Division of Community Services and Behavioral Health Information

Community Services & Behavioral Health (CSBH) is responsible for developing a continuum of care for children's behavioral health services that supports children to live in family settings. CSBH encourages services to prevent hospitalization and reviews services to ensure proper matching of services to needs and to improve the quality of and access to services.

Juvenile Corrective Services Information

The Division of Juvenile Corrections consists of the Rhode Island Training School and the Office of Juvenile Probation. The Division of Juvenile Corrections promotes the rehabilitation of youth through a continuum of flexible, innovative, and effective programs for male and female youth. The Division of Juvenile Corrections strives to promote positive outcomes for youth and to reduce recidivism for youth within the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

Licensing Information

The Department of Children, Youth and Families is charged, under RI General Law §42-72.1, with the licensing, monitoring and enforcement of regulations in all foster homes, residential facilities, and for agencies who place children

The Department of Children, Youth and Families is the state child welfare, children's mental health and juvenile corrections services agency which promotes safety, permanence, and well-being of children through partnerships with family, community, and government.

Mission: Partner with families and communities to raise safe and healthy children and youth in a caring environment.

Adoption Rhode Island’s Mission is to facilitate, promote, and support the permanent placement of children waiting for adoption and to improve the well-being of foster and adopted children and their families. We provide pre and post adopt services to children and families, educate and advocate for a child’s right to a safe environment, and increase public awareness of the unmet needs of children and families impacted by foster care and adoption.

During this time, though our office is closed the ARI team continues to work remotely during normal business hours.

The National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) is a non-profit organization established in 1972 to address the concerns of several independent groups of foster parents and child welfare professionals to provide foster families with opportunities for advocacy, networking, and education.

Primary Activities:

• Promote the delivery of services and supports to foster families
• Support quality foster care by promoting excellence and best practice
• Provide services and supports to state and local foster parent associations
• Develop and provide education and training, information, dissemination of information to the public
• Advocate at the local, state and national level; promote networking and collaboration
• Promote positive image of family foster care; greater visibility; encourage active involvement