Adoption Agency

An adoption agency is either a state-licensed or for- and non-profit organization or company that places adoptable children with adoptive parents. There are two locales from which to adopt: domestic and international. Domestic agencies can be public or private. Public agencies are state-run and place older children from the United States foster care system. Domestic private agencies, on the other hand, place infants and facilitate placements with birth mothers and adoptive parents. International agencies place older children (although they may be under a year in some cases) that are in foster care, orphanages or institutions abroad.

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As a prospective adoptive parent or birth mother looking to place, the decision to work with an adoption agency may be due to a lack of options, as is the case with older child adoption and public agencies, or as a means to arrange a placement with the mediated middle man an agency plays in private or international adoptions.

Every adoption agency will conduct home studies, however some will also provide child placement and services to adoptive parents that independently seek out a birth mother (this is called an identified adoption).

Adoption is and expensive endeavor and although adopting domestically is generally cheaper than international adoptions, agency fees can range from $2,500 to $30,000. Certain agencies, such as those with religious affiliations, are more selective about who can adopt but there is a good chance they will also have lower adoption fees.

The cheaper of the two domestic options is a public agency. Public agencies are run by the government, generally take longer to place a child and may give potential parents the option to apply for federal and state aid or reimburse adoption fees. Public agencies usually place children with special needs or those within the foster system, meaning the children may be older. Although there are thousands of children from under 6 months and up to 20 in state foster systems.

Private agencies tend to facilitate infant adoptions via pregnancy placement. These adoptions are more involved and many couples prefer private agencies because they provide an attorney, birth mother counseling, child birth fees and any post-adoption supervision that is necessary.

Couples seeking to adopt may also choose to work independently and without an agency. However this option is usually the most expensive and time-consuming option.