From Adoption 101: How to Adopt a Child:

2. Attend an adoption orientation.

While not all agencies, attorneys, and facilitators hold adoption orientations, be sure to attend one if they do. You can learn a wealth of information about an adoption professional by attending the orientation.

Personalities of Adoption Professionals

You will meet the people with... more

From Adoption 101: How to Adopt a Child:

1. Contact the adoption agency, attorney, or facilitator.

The very first step is to find an adoption agency, attorney, or facilitator. What is the difference between the three?

Adoption Agencies

An adoption agency is an organization, either public or private, that is licensed by the state to facilitate adoptions. Adoption... more

When choosing an agency in the United States, you need to decide whether you want to work with a local adoption agency or with an agency in another state. There are several reasons why you might choose to work with an agency in another state. The agency might have a wonderful reputation or more reasonable fees. You might be in the process of moving from one state to another and want to affiliate with an agency in the location where you will be moving.

The agency might be located in a state with more “favorable”... more

One factor to consider when choosing an adoption agency is how the agency treats its placing mothers and birthmothers. Does the agency pressure women into placing their babies for adoption, or does it help the placing mother to consider all of the options and pursue what is best for her situation? Our agency offers free parenting counseling to any pregnant woman who comes through their doors. Of course, the agency discusses adoption as an alternative, but it also provides free counseling to prepare the mother... more

Once you have determined the type of adoption you want to pursue, you need to choose an agency or facilitator (or contact the appropriate agency for adopting out of foster care). Since I adopted through an agency, I do not have experience with adopting through a facilitator or adoption attorney. I would imagine that many of the issues I discuss would apply to facilitators and attorneys as well. I welcome comments from people who have adopted through facilitators, adoption attorneys, or any other private adoption... more

I called around, using the Yellow Pages, and found one agency that I liked. They said that they begin showing hopeful parent profiles to placing mothers as soon as the home study is completed, so we could become parents in a matter of months. The longest that any couple had waited with them was just under 2 years. SOLD! I asked CSS what their policy was on signing with 2 agencies, and they said that was fine with them. They said that we could adopt our first child from another agency, and the timing would work out just right for adopting our second child... more

The adoption orientation started out with a basic history of the agency, none of which mattered to me. I came with two questions in this order:

How long will it take to adopt my baby? How much is this going to cost?

That’s pretty much all I cared about. Neither of those questions were answered during the presentation, so they were the first two covered in the Q&A session.

Somebody asked how long it would take to adopt a baby through Catholic Social Services (CSS). The leader said... more

To find an adoption agency, I figured that the first step was to get out the yellow pages and look under “A.” How else would you adopt a baby? I had never heard of private adoptions or newborn foster care adoptions. The little I knew came from watching TV shows where birthfamilies always seemed to be popping up to reconnect with their long lost birth relatives who had been placed for adoption years ago. There were not that many places listed under “Adoption Agencies,” and I did not have a clue how to even get started.

Fortunately, a co-worker... more

So, you've decided to adopt.

Now what?

Well, let's say you've decided to go domestic. And you've decided you'd really like the assistance of an agency. How to choose? What to ask?

This article on the adoption.com website is quite thorough. First, here's their main advice: "Experienced adoptive parents strongly recommend keeping two things in mind: You are the potential client and your comfort level is top priority. Trust your instincts. If something doesn't seem "quite right," look elsewhere"

Excellent advice, IMHO. My husband and I were given the name of a very respected... more