The adoption agency is the most critical part of ensuring that your adoption even happens, so it makes sense that you would want to choose the best one that works best for you. A good place to start is a basic internet search, compiling a list of who is local, who meets your needs, or who has good reviews. You can also ask around your community to see if any other families have any recommendations on local agencies that worked well for them. Finding the right one is absolutely crucial, so be prepared to spend some significant time searching around and deciding on the right one.

When you go in to meet with the staff, you want to be prepared with a list of questions to help determine whether or not the agency is a good fit for your family or not. These questions are some examples of questions to ask an adoption agency. General Adoption Questions How many children have you placed? Do you do international or domestic adoptions? Do you encourage open adoptions? Will you help facilitate communication in an open adoption? What states do you work in? How familiar are you with my state’s adoption laws? How many adoptive parents and birthmothers are you currently working with? What is your failed connection rate? What is your successful connection rate? What is the average wait time for an adoptive family with your agency? Do you have any restrictions on who you work with? (Some Catholic agencies may only work with Christian families, while others may give preference to LGBT adopters) What sort of counseling support do you offer adoptive families? What can we expect as far as follow-up after the adoption is finalized? Do you offer any support for the home study? How do you support your birthmothers? Do you help adoptive families find any financial assistance? What is your connection process like? What kind of screening process do you do for birthmothers? What is your return rate for families wanting to adopt a second time? Will we be working with a dedicated team or multiple people? What will be required from us throughout the adoption process? Where can we find unbiased reviews of your services? Other Questions Do your research carefully beforehand, and make sure to ask the questions that truly reflect your family’s priorities and values. Becoming a parent is a huge decision, and you want to make sure that the people helping you through it fit your values, priorities, and expectations. It’s easiest to determine this earlier in the process, so take the time you need to make sure it’s done correctly.