Once you make the decision to build your family through domestic infant adoption, one of the first things you need to do is to find a good adoption agency and attorney. You may even want to find two or three that will help you match with a prospective birthmother as soon as possible.
Here are some reasons why you need a good adoption agency and attorney:
—Completing a home study: every hopeful adoptive family needs a home study completed before you can have a child placed with you.
—Finding (and screening) potential birthmoms: this will likely take up most of your waiting time. Having a professional help you find and match with a potential birthmom will save you money, time and stress.
—Avoiding adoption scams: working with experienced professionals will help because they are trained to spot scams. They deal with a lot of situations so they are better equipped to avoid adoption fraud.
–You’ll have to get help from an adoption attorney for placement, ICPC, and finalization.
Here are five websites that will help you find an adoption agency or attorney:
1. AdoptionAttorneys.org : This site allows you to search for licensed adoption agencies all over the U.S. They’ll show you the professional’s name, contact info, services they provide, the states in which they are licensed, and how long they’ve been helping adoptive families.
2. Adoptive Families Magazine : The popular magazine provides a map of the U.S. where you can click on your state to find an adoption agency or attorney that is close to where you live.
3. AdoptionAgencyReviews.com : This site allows you to search for adoption agencies by name and location. They also allow you to compare multiple agencies. Another cool feature shows their top reviewed agencies. You can sign up for free to add your own review.
4. MyAdoptionAgencies.com : They show 478 domestic adoption agencies. You can search by state and each listing shows the agency description, location, contact info, and rating.
5. AdoptionAgencyRatings.com : They list over 1200 adoption agencies that are rated by adoptive parents, birthparents, and adoptees. You must register if you want to post a review, but you can browse current ratings without having to register. They list agencies by zip code, by map location, by the top 20 agencies, and more.
When you get ready to contact an agency or attorney, be sure to check out the list of questions I have put together. You can view, download, and print the 12 questions for adoption professionals. I also have a set of three blog posts that go into the questions in more detail.
What do you think? Have you found any other great adoption sites that help you search for adoption agencies or attorneys? Post a comment below to let us know or you can email me.
