Three checks, not one — and the one nobody warns you about
Most people preparing to adopt expect a background check. What surprises them is that there are three, they are not the same check, and they do not always travel together.
- The California DOJ check — your state criminal history.
- The FBI check — your federal criminal history.
- CACI — the Child Abuse Central Index. A separate California database of child abuse investigation reports, maintained by the Department of Justice. It is not a criminal record check, and a clean criminal record tells you nothing about what it holds.
CACI is the one that catches people out, because it is specific to placements involving children and most adults have never heard of it before they adopt. It is a standard part of adoption and foster approval in California.
How those three are requested is where the real confusion lives, and it depends entirely on whether you are adopting domestically or from abroad.
Domestic adoption: who requests it, and who gets the result
For a domestic adoption the check is requested under a specific agency code, and the results are returned to that agency — not to you. You are not being kept in the dark arbitrarily: the requesting agency is the authorised recipient, and results are routed to whoever is entitled to receive them.
For an independent or petition adoption in California, that recipient is the California Department of Social Services, and the request we most often run looks like this:
- Applicant type: Petition for Adoption
- ORI: A1772
- Agency: California Department of Social Services, 744 P Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
- Mail code: 09990
- Databases searched: California DOJ, FBI, and the Child Abuse Central Index
Note the last line: all three searches run from that single submission. This is the case where the three checks do travel together — which is exactly why people assume the same is true of a foreign adoption, and it is not.
Confirm your details before being fingerprinted. A licensed private adoption agency will normally have its own ORI and its own request form, different from the petition route above. If you are working with an agency or an attorney, ask them for the form and use theirs. Fingerprints taken under the wrong applicant type or the wrong ORI do not count, and you will pay to have them taken again.
Foreign adoption: a Record Review, and three separate requests
Adopting from another country works differently, and this is the distinction that costs families the most time.
A foreign adoption background check is not the agency-requested check above. It is a Record Review, requested by you, on the California DOJ’s Record Review form. And unlike the domestic route, the three checks are three separate requests:
- The DOJ check is submitted with the Record Review form.
- The FBI check is arranged separately, directly with the FBI.
- The CACI search is requested separately again, from the DOJ’s Child Protection Program.
They are not bundled. Assuming one submission covers all three is the single most common reason a foreign adoption dossier stalls, and it is usually discovered late — when the receiving country asks for a document nobody ordered.
The results of a Record Review are mailed to you, and also to the foreign government you identify on the form. Which is exactly why the next step exists.
Why the apostille comes in — and why it comes last
A foreign government will generally not accept a California background check on its own. It has no way to know that the signature on it belongs to a real California official. So it asks for an apostille from the California Secretary of State, which authenticates that signature.
This is why the apostille is the end of the process and not the start. You cannot apostille a document you do not yet hold, and you cannot hurry it into existence. The background check has to be run, returned, and in your hands first.
Note also which office does what. A California DOJ result is apostilled by California. An FBI background check is a federal record and is authenticated by the U.S. Department of State instead — a different office, a different queue, and worth starting earlier than anything else in the file.
The rest of the dossier
Background checks are the part people underestimate, but they are not the whole file. A foreign adoption dossier typically also needs:
- Birth certificates for the adoptive parents, and a marriage certificate where applicable — certified copies from the county recorder, never the ceremonial or hospital version
- A divorce decree, where either parent was married before — a certified copy from the court
- The home study report, signed by the licensed social worker who prepared it
- Reference and employment letters
- Financial statements and medical letters
- Agency documents and powers of attorney
These split into two routes, and mixing them up creates rejections. Documents issued by the state — birth certificates, marriage certificates, court decrees — already carry an official signature and go straight to the Secretary of State. Never have them notarised. Documents created by a person — the home study, letters, affidavits — carry no official signature, so they must be notarised first, and the notarial certificate must name the person who actually signed.
The certified-copy rule matters here more than anywhere, because a dossier is submitted as a set. A photocopy of a certified document is not a certified document, even when the stamp is visible on it — and one rejected item can hold up the whole file.
Discretion, and why it is not a small thing
This is the part of adoption paperwork nobody writes about, and it matters to more families than you would guess.
Adoption is intensely private. Some families would simply rather not have it known — because of the stigma that still attaches to not being able to conceive, because a same-sex couple does not want their family discussed at work, or because they are in public life and their circumstances would become other people’s news. Sitting in a public waiting room, in a queue, with a form that announces why you are there, is not a neutral experience.
We take fingerprints at people’s homes and offices for exactly this reason. It is not only about convenience — it is about the appointment happening somewhere of your choosing, with one person rather than a room. Where clients need a non-disclosure agreement in place before we attend, that is a normal request and we are glad to sign one.
What to start first
Sequence is what you control, and starting in the right order saves more time than anything else.
- Ask your agency, or the receiving country, exactly which checks they require — DOJ, FBI, CACI, or all three — and get the correct request form before booking anything.
- Start the federal check first. It has the longest chain: request, return, then authentication by the U.S. Department of State.
- Order certified copies of birth, marriage and divorce records early. They sit in someone else’s queue, and out-of-state records take longer.
- Notarise the created documents once they are final.
- Apostille last, when the documents actually exist.
- Translate after the apostille, so the translation matches the final document including its stamps.
We do not publish processing times. They move, and adoption timelines are painful enough without a number in a blog post being treated as a promise.
Where we fit
We handle adoption fingerprinting in both directions — agency-requested Live Scan for domestic adoptions, and Record Reviews for foreign adoptions, including the separate CACI and FBI requests that go with them. We also handle the apostille at the other end, and the notarisation of the documents in between.
If you are not sure which checks your agency or your receiving country requires, that is a short conversation rather than a quote — and it is a much cheaper conversation to have before the fingerprints are taken than after.
Frequently asked questions
What is CACI, and why is it being checked?
The Child Abuse Central Index is a California Department of Justice database of child abuse investigation reports. It is separate from your criminal record, and it is checked as a standard part of adoption and foster approval in California. A clean criminal history does not substitute for it.
What ORI and applicant type does an adoption Live Scan use?
For a California petition adoption we most often submit applicant type Petition for Adoption under ORI A1772, to the Department of Social Services at 744 P Street, Sacramento, mail code 09990, covering the DOJ, FBI and Child Abuse Central Index searches. A licensed private agency will usually have its own ORI and form instead — always use the one your agency or attorney gives you.
Why did my background check results go to the agency instead of me?
The requesting agency is the authorised recipient, and results are returned under its identifying code. On a California petition adoption that recipient is the Department of Social Services in Sacramento. It is how the request was submitted, not a decision about you.
Can I use a background check I already have?
Usually not. A check run for one purpose, under one agency’s code, does not transfer to another. Ask which form and code apply before being fingerprinted, so the submission counts.
Do I need an apostille on my background check?
If it is going to a foreign government, almost certainly yes. A California DOJ result is apostilled by California; an FBI check is a federal document and is authenticated by the U.S. Department of State instead.
Should the home study be notarised?
Generally yes — it is a document created and signed by a person, so a notary can witness that signature. Birth and marriage certificates are the opposite: official records that must not be notarised and go straight to the Secretary of State.
Can fingerprinting be done at my home?
Yes. We travel across Los Angeles for exactly this, and we are glad to sign a non-disclosure agreement where that is what a family needs.
