Choosing Your Agency
Choosing an adoption agency and / or an attorney is a task in which there may be several opportunities. It is important to select the adoption professional that best meets the needs of both you and your potential birthmother. Here is a list of suggestions to help potential adoptive families make the right choice for their adoption professional.
Suggestions:
- Get referrals from friends or others that have adopted or have placed their child for adoption
- Ask how long the attorney or agency has been working in adoption
- Find out what services they provide you and your potential birthmother before and after the adoption
- Make sure you have a complete understanding of the costs of the adoption including up front fees, during the adoption and up through finalization
- If interested, determine if the agency works with minority, biracial or special needs children.
- Ask the adoption agency for a list of referrals
- Make a list of adoption professionals that seem to best meet your needs.
- Ask how long the average wait is for a couple in your situation
- Find out how the adoption professional works with birth fathers or absent or uncooperative birthfathers.
- Determine if the adoption professional works with open or closed adoption and the attorney’s views and experience with both types
- Inquire about the availability and credibility of counseling for you and the potential birthmother
- Learn about the adoption plan, contract, and decrees
- Determine what the procedures are for identifying the health of the child.