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Where the people adopting are not connected to the child by either biology, marriage or the foster care system, they must submit to special scrutiny intended to protect the child.  The first is an investigation of their lives by social workers.  The second is a probationary period during which the court can remove the child under certain circumstances.  

Petitions for adoption are filed in the Circuit Courts.  Where the people seeking to adopt have agreed upon the adoption directly with the parents, the case is called a parental placement or private placement adoption.  Where the people seeking to adopt have made their arrangements with an adoption placement agency, the case is called an agency adoption.

It is against the law to buy a child for adoption.  Virginia Code § 63.2-1218  Violating the financial restrictions is a felony.  

The exceptions to this prohibition are:  (1) fees charged by a licensed child placing agency and (2) a birth mother's subsistence, medical expenses, and legal expenses.  While there can be degrees of generosity in the payments made within these categories, an outright pay-off to the mother is prohibited.  

Once the petition is filed, the statute says the court must refer it to an agency to "make a thorough investigation of the matter." Virginia Code § 63.2-1208  In practice, the investigation of the prospective parents may already be complete at the time the petition is filed.  It is not unusual for people to go through several attempts before they succeed in completing an adoption.  

The investigation is frequently an insulting and humiliating ordeal.  The statute says the report should address (1) the financial circumstances of the parties seeking to adopt, (2) whether they are "morally suitable, in satisfactory physical and mental health and a proper person to care for and to train the child," (3) why the parents are giving the child up for adoption, (4) whether the child is a "suitable child" for the parties, and (5) what fees have been paid.  The report is also supposed to include the mental and physical health history of the biological parents.  

After the court has received the report, it enters a provisional approval of the adoption.  The legal term is an "interlocutory order."  The interlocutory order makes the parties the child's adoptive parents but the court retains the power to reverse its decision during a probationary period that lasts six months.  During that period, the adoptive parents are subjected to additional scrutiny by social workers during a minimum of three visits.  Virginia Code § 63.2-1212

After the probationary period has run and the visits have been completed, the court enters a final order of adoption.  Virginia Code § 63.2-1213