Every child needs – and has a right to – a stable and loving environment. When you choose adoption, you enter a lifelong process that will affect the lives and well-being of everyone involved.
The Village Family Service Center offers life-changing adoption opportunities to North Dakota residents. Our caring, professional staff will help you understand all your options and make decisions that are right for you. This includes explaining types of adoption, the process for each, and helping you determine what level of openness will work best for you.
If you decide adoption is the right journey for you, The Village Family Service Center can assist you with a variety of adoption options:
- North Dakota Infant Adoption
- Identified Adoption
- Relative Adoption
- Interstate Adoption
- International Adoption
- Embryo Adoption
We help families all across North Dakota. For more information about The Village's Adoption Services, contact the North Dakota office closest to you.

This video provides an adoptive family's perspective on the experience.
Openness in Adoption
Openness in adoption means there is some type of communication between birth and adoptive family. It recognizes the child's need to know his or her biological history; and the birth and adoptive parents need to show their love to the child of adoption.
Typically, birth and adoptive families meet, select each other, and work together toward the placement of a child. They plan for an ongoing, active relationship in which they will communicate with each other through letters, pictures, phone calls, emails, and /or meetings.
Open adoption recognizes that birth parents will never forget their children. It offers the opportunity for birth parents to have a voice in choosing their child’s future, to know their child is being raised in a warm, loving environment, and most importantly, to be connected to that child as he or she grows up. To be successful, every open adoption must be built on respect and trust, and all involved must be honest and candid with one another.
It is important that the roles of birth parents and adoptive families are clearly defined. Open adoption is not shared parenting. There is a difference between being a child’s birth parent and parenting the child day-to-day. Open adoption is intended to serve the best interests of the child, and those interests should always be held sacred.
Openness in Adoption ...
- allows birth and adoptive families to mutually create their own unique adoption plan.
- allows communication between birth and adoptive parents. This communication can begin before the child is born, in order to facilitate a smooth transition for all parties.
- is practiced in degrees. It is not all or nothing, rather an opportunity to grow.
- allows for birth and adoptive families to begin to develop a relationship that may last a lifetime. As in any relationship, there are periods of change.


Adoption Resources
Recommended Reading for Adoptive Families
Lists of books geared toward adoptive parents and adopted children >
Success Stories
Stories and photos from families who grew through adoption >
Pregnancy Options Counseling & Parenting Support Services
Learn about the free, confidential, non-judgmental services we provide to women and couples facing an unintended pregnancy >
Waiting Family Profiles
Meet families who have been approved and are waiting to adopt >
Post-Adoption Search and Disclosure Services
Are you searching for your biological parent or sibling or for a child placed for adoption? The Village Family Service Center offers Post-Adoption Search and Disclosure Services to help adopted adults, birth siblings, and birth parents establish contact with one another that is mutually agreed upon. These services can also help adopted adults receive non-identifying information from the adoption record, such as physical descriptions of birth families and their education, interests, and health. Call 701-451-4900 or contact us online to learn more.
PLEASE NOTE: With the closure of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, The Village Family Service Center will handle search and disclosure services for LSSND clients. Records of these adoptions have been transferred to The Village for permanent storage. To learn more, read about the history of our partnership >
Types of Searches
Under North Dakota law, adopted adults 18 years of age or older may request non-identifying information from our agency records, and/or search for identifying and contact information. Genetic parents who terminated parental rights may request our agency to search for the child they released for adoption, once the adopted individual is 21 years of age. Birth siblings may also search once the adopted individual is 21 years of age, with the consent of the living, biological parent.
- A Non-identifying Information Search will provide you information from our records that was generally received at the time of the adopted individual’s birth, and may include such things as physical description of birth family, education, interests and health at the time of placement.
- An Identifying Information Search is requested when you wish to establish contact with your birth family/adopted adult, or you want to obtain updated medical information. We can serve as the intermediary and search for your birth family or adopted adult to see if they are open to contact with you. Our staff will assist you in mediating contact and establishing an exchange of information that is comfortable for all parties.
For more information or to request Adoption Search paperwork, call The Village Family Service Center at 701-451-4900. If you are a member of the adoption triad and wish to update your information with us, please fill out this form >

Contact Us
Village Office Locations
The Village Family Service Center offers adoption, pregnancy options and parenting support and post-adoption search and disclosure services across North Dakota. We can meet with you at our office, your home, or wherever you are most comfortable. Online appointments are also available.
For more information, contact the location nearest you:
Pregnancy and Adoption Social Workers
Sue Grundysen, LMSW
Program Director | Pregnancy and Adoption Social Worker | Post-Adoption Search Social Worker
701-451-4940 or 1-800-627-8220 | Email Sue
Amber Herbranson, LBSW
Pregnancy and Adoption Social Worker
701-451-4913 or 1-800-627-8220 | Email Amber