23 Questions to Ask When Choosing an Adoption Agency

By Jen Crowley
March 27, 2019

Once you’ve discerned your call to adoption, one of the next major decisions you need to make is which adoption agency you will use to find and adopt your child! While some couples are happy to go with whichever most popular adoption agency is near them, you should really proceed with much caution when choosing your adoption agency. You do have a choice about this. They are not all the same — and I can speak from experience with having adopted through two different agencies and having been on the prospective adoptive parent list for four different adoption agencies.

When my husband and I were discerning our call to adoption, we traveled all over our state and spoke on the phone to every adoption agency recommended to us, and we researched heavily online with more questions once we learned what it was we were even looking for and how to differentiate between agencies.

I asked the agencies all the same questions and made a spreadsheet of their responses so that it was easy to reference and use when trying to decide which agency we wanted to go with. Below are some suggested questions you might want to ask when trying to choose an adoption agency yourself. Don’t forget to take notes!

1. What kind of adoptions does your agency facilitate (i.e. domestic, international, foster-to-adopt)?
2. What are the requirements for a couple to be able to adopt through your agency?
3. Is there currently a waiting list for couples to be able to be presented to birthparents, or are we able to apply now and, upon acceptance, be presented as soon as our profile book is ready and we have met all requirements?
4. How many successful adoptions did you have last year?
5. How long has your agency been operating and facilitating adoptions?
6. What is the fee structure like? Is it a flat fee or a sliding scale fee based on our income? What is refundable and non-refundable?
7. What is the average waiting time from acceptance by the agency as a prospective adoptive couple to placement of a child?
8. Do you have any policies on prospective adoptive parents continuing to pursue fertility treatments while pursuing adoption at the same time?
9. Do you allow prospective adoptive couples to be working with additional adoption agencies at the same time as working with yours?
10. How many prospective adoptive couples do you currently have waiting for an adoption placement?
11. Do you offer or require any parenting classes or adoption seminars for prospective adoptive parents?
12. What kind of support do you provide to the birthparents before the baby is born? What kind of support do you offer to the birthparents after placement of the child?
13. What kind of support do you provide to prospective adoptive parents while they wait for a placement? What kind of support do you offer to them after they’ve been placed with a child?
14. What kind of adoptions do you most commonly facilitate — closed, semi-open, or open?
15. What would an ideal placement look like as far as the process goes?
16. Do you have any profile books of prospective adoptive couples that we can see?
17. Do you allow the prospective adoptive parents to be at the hospital at the birth of the baby?
18. How does the agency handle placements of children to a couple who lives out of town? Can we hire a caseworker local to us to do the home study and post-placement visits?
19. Did you have any failed adoptions in the last year? How do you handle failed adoptions? What kind of support do you provide to the adoptive couple?
20. Have you ever had to go to court due to complications arising out of an adoption process? How many times? What was the situation and how did it conclude?
21. What sets your agency apart from others?
22. Do you have any couples we can contact who have used your agency before and would be willing to share with us their experience working with you?
23. Is there anything else we should know about your agency or the process you use to facilitate adoptions?

Do you have any questions to suggest? Share in the comments!

Hey! I’m Jen Crowley!

I helped co-found the ministry Sarah’s Hope & Abraham’s Promise, where we seek to offer spiritual support for those struggling with infertility or pregnancy loss, as well as support for those touched by adoption. I’ve been the proud wife to a great man for over 10 years, and I’ve been blessed through the miracle of adoption to be a mama of four beautiful (and very active) children! I come from the South and love cooking, a glass (or two) of wine, and Jesus. Throw in a movie marathon coupled with snuggles with my kiddos or deep conversations with my dearest loved ones, and you couldn’t find me happier! You can find my humble thoughts on journeying through infertility and adoption here!