This is the first of several posts showing you the questions to ask as you search for the right adoption professional (agency/facilitator/attorney) to help you.
Finding the right adoption professional to work with on your adoption journey is one of the most important things to do. Selecting the right people will make the process go smoother, give you a lot less stress, and help your birthmother as well.
When my wife and I started our domestic infant adoption process, we felt overwhelmed by all of the choices and places to find information. We spent a lot of time researching online, reading books, and calling adoption professionals (and their references).
Our real world experience will help you select the right people, so here is part 1 of the questions you need to ask:
How long have you been helping adoptive families?
At the root of this question you are trying to find out if this agency/facilitator has been around long enough.
This is important because there is reason to believe they will continue to be helping families for many more years. Also, this means they have helped lots of people adopt if they have been around for years. Which leads us to the next question.
How many infants have you placed in recent years?
A follow up to this is: how many did you place last year? You want to know how busy they are. If they only place a handful per year, how fast are they going to place a baby with you?
You want to see how much effort they put into successfully placing children with families. Find those who place at least 50 per year, especially if they are working with birthmothers nationwide.
What is the average wait time to match with a birthmother or place a child?
How long you have to wait is a big question. This is where some professionals may stretch the truth because they also know this is very important to you.
What you are looking for here is some timeframe that is reasonable and you can live with. We chose to work with a professional that rarely had anyone wait more than two years. This made us feel good that most likely within 2 years we would be bringing home a baby.
Remember to be careful and a little skeptical. Most professionals are going to be honest with you, but it’s like the old adage: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Take your time to ask plenty of questions. It is important that you feel comfortable with those who are helping you on this process.
These are only some of the questions that you need to ask your adoption professional. Check out the next few posts to get the rest of the questions.
Here is a site that shows ratings of adoption agencies and facilitators: AdoptionAgencyRatings.com
Here’s a great place to start looking for your adoption professional.
