All children available for adoption are in the care of the State.  The State meets all the costs for the child e.g. medical costs.

Children that have come into the care of the State because of neglect, ill treatment or abandonment. The children may have suffered emotional or psychological trauma. Children requiring an adoptive placement have been living in an institution.

For children between the ages of 0 - 6 years the aim of the State is to strengthen the child's biological family with a view to sending the children back to the biological family. If this is not possible then the child is placed for adoption in Chile.  If the child has then not been adopted domestically then that child may then be available for adoption intercountry as adoption prevails over indefinite institutionalisation except in exceptional circumstances.

For children for whom adoption is the only option the children undergo a psychotherapeutic program to prepare them for adoption.