Choosing an Adoption Agency: 7 Questions Every Family Should Ask

Choosing an adoption agency is one of the first important decisions prospective adoptive parents will make, and it can feel overwhelming.

Adoption agencies may offer a variety of programs, services, training, and levels of support. Beyond asking “How long will this take?” or “How much will it cost?” there are other questions that can help you understand not only how an agency facilitates adoption, but also what type of support it offers for everyone involved, including adoptees, birth parents, family members, and others.

Here are some questions worth asking:

1. What types of adoption does the agency facilitate?

Start by understanding the agency’s programs and whether they align with the way you’re considering growing your family. Depending on the agency, options may include domestic infant adoption, international adoption, or adoption of older children and youth from foster care.

Ask about eligibility requirements, the adoption process, typical timelines, and what happens if your circumstances, capacity or interests change along the way.

2. What preparation and education will we receive?

Adoption requires much more than completing paperwork.

Ask what training prospective parents receive around topics such as attachment, trauma, identity, race and culture, birth-family relationships, openness, and other issues that may become important throughout a child’s life.

Preparation shouldn’t simply help families complete an adoption. It should help them become better prepared to parent an adopted child…for life.

3. How does the agency support expectant and birth parents?

This is a vital question for prospective adoptive parents to ask.

Learn what adoption counseling, education, and support are available to expectant parents as they consider their options, and whether those services will continue after placement.

Look for an agency whose practices respect the needs, rights, and experiences of expectant and birth parents throughout the adoption process, including before, during, and after placement.

4. How does the agency approach open adoption?

Ask how the agency prepares adoptive families for relationships with birth families and how conversations about openness begin.

You may also want to understand what support is available if relationships or circumstances change over time.

5. What happens after the adoption is finalized?

This question can tell you a great deal about an agency.

Adoption doesn’t stop when the legal process ends. Children grow. Parents encounter new questions. Adopted people may explore identity, birth-family relationships, search, and reunion, or other aspects of their adoption throughout their lives, even into adulthood.

Ask what post-adoption services exist and who can access them.

6. What experience does the agency have?

Ask about licensing, accreditation where applicable, staff experience, and how long the organization has provided adoption services.

However, longevity alone isn’t the whole story. Ask how the agency’s practices have evolved as the understanding of adoption and the experiences of adopted people, birth families, and adoptive families have evolved.

7. Can we ask difficult questions?

A good adoption agency should welcome thoughtful questions about ethics, fees, timelines, birth-parent support, disruptions, openness, race, identity, and the realities of adoption—not just the parts that are easy to talk about.

Start by learning

You don’t need to choose an adoption agency before you understand your options.

Barker’s Adoption Information Meetings offer an opportunity to learn about Barker’s programs, understand the adoption process, and ask questions directly of experienced staff.