My Adoption Agencies

There are many factors to think about when considering adoption as a means of starting or growing your family. There are several different types of adoptions that may occur that you need to understand before going further into the process. These include closed, semi-open, open, domestic, and international.

• Closed adoption - occurs when the adoptive parents and birthparents do not have any contact with each other. The two parties don’t every meet in person or have any information about each other. This type of adoption is no longer very common as today’s birthparents generally wish to have at least some say in who will raise their child.

• Semi-open adoption – occurs when the birthparents select the family that will raise the child. They review profiles of families wishing to adopt and are able to select the one that best meets their desires. In this case, there may or may not be personal contact made between the birthparents and adoptive parents. However, in a semi-open adoption, personal identifying information is not shared and there is no contact after the adoptive parents have the child with them.

• Open adoption – occurs when there is complete contact between the two parties and all identifying information is shared. Once a family is selected from profiles and meetings, contact information is shared and many adoptive parents participate fully in the birth of the child. Following the adoption, regular contact is then established based on the desires of the two parties.

• Domestic– the adoption of a child born in the United States.

• International – the adoption of a child from another country than the United States

• Infant/Toddler – the adoption of a child that is a few days, weeks, months or years old (generally under 4 years of age)

• Older Child – the adoption of a child who is generally at least 5 years of age

• Special Needs – the adoption of a child that has medical or psychological issues or could be at risk for developing issues. This could be things like mental retardation, blindness, physical disabilities, exposure to drugs/alcohol before birth, etc.

Types of Adoption Agencies

There are also several different ways that a family can choose to adopt. For domestic adoptions, there are private agencies, both nonprofit and for-profit, and also state agencies that facilitate adoption.

Private agencies will generally be more expensive, ranging anywhere from $7,500 to $15,000+, in addition to legal fees of anywhere from $500-$10,000 or more. In deciding whether to go with a for-profit or non-profit agency, it is really a matter of the family’s comfort level. Private agencies will often have staff that are less busy and are able to devote more time to the family. Nonprofit agencies tend to have staff that are overworked and handling many cases at one time. However, for some families, working with a for-profit agency gives them the feeling of trying to “purchase” a child and they decide to work with an agency that is not profiting from the placement. The waiting period with a private agency is generally anywhere from six months to two years or more depending on the preferences that you have in the child that you adopt.

State agencies are usually much cheaper and often only require court fees and sometimes home study costs. However, state agencies are generally handling the adoption of older children, those with special needs, etc. who have been removed from a parent’s care. They do not often deal with the adoption of newborn children. Surprisingly, state adoptions can often take as long, if not longer, than private agency adoptions due to the shortage of staff to deal with all the paperwork and steps involved in adoption.

For international adoptions, you will need to work with an agency and the costs are usually much higher (in the range of $7,000-$30,000 total) in order to cover trips to the child’s country, as well as the standard types of legal and adoption costs.

Options for Children to Adopt

The first question that you will need to answer is whether you wish to do a domestic or international adoption. With domestic adoptions, you will generally be given more information about the child’s background and family history. In international adoptions, the country often does not know who the parents were or what conditions they may have had in their family. They may not even know the child’s true date of birth. In addition, even if a family is adopting an infant, it will often take several months before the child is able to gain admittance to the United States.

However, some families desire international adoptions as they feel that they are providing a life to a child that otherwise might not have those opportunities. Another advantage for some families is that there is not the possibility of contact with a birth family in most cases as children are often orphans. Also, there are some countries that are actually less strict about the types of families/people that can adopt compared to agencies in the United States that may not work with unmarried couples or gay/lesbian parents.

You must also think about the age and characteristics of the child that you want to bring into your family. Do you want to adopt an infant, a toddler, an older children, a special needs child, etc.? Do you want a child of the same race as your family or different?

What to Look For in an Adoption Agency

If you are choosing to go with a private agency, you will want to make sure that they are fully licensed, which means they’ll have to be following government rules and will also be doing regular reporting on their activities. You can call a state licensing board to verify a license. In addition, you’ll want to ask about how long the agency has been doing adoptions, the qualifications and number of staff, services that are provided, etc.

You can also ask to speak with families that have successfully adopted through the agency and ask them about their experiences with the agency, whether they experienced any problems, and if they would recommend that you work with the agency in your adoption.

The process of adoption can be a long and expensive one that is filled with anxiety at times, but by learning the terminology involved and choosing a strong agency to assist you, your dream of growing your family can be achieved.