When you plan to adopt, one of the first things that you have to decide on is whether to adopt domestically or internationally.  If you decide on doing a domestic adoption, the next thing that you must decide on is whether to work with an adoption agency or to do an independent adoption.  I get asked all the time the difference between a domestic adoption and an agency adoption.  There are many differences, but generally speaking the 4 main differences involve how you are connected with a Birthmother, what kind of contact you have with a Birthmother, who receives legal custody when Birthparents sign a surrender and the fees involved.

Every adoption, whether independent or agency, involves both an agency and a lawyer at some point in the process.  If you are working with an agency, they conduct your Home Study, you go on their waiting list, you are chosen by a Birthmother or Birthparents who are getting counseling at the agency, the agency is responsible to work with their attorney to take care of the Birthparent’s legal rights and you have to hire an attorney when you are ready to finalize the adoption.  If you do an independent adoption, you still have to have a Home Study conducted by a licensed adoption agency, you are connected with a Birthmother or Birthparents independently without the help of an agency and you hire an attorney or agency to work with the Birthparents to surrender their parental rights and have either the same attorney or other attorney to finalize your adoption.

The way you are connected with a birthmother varies greatly between agency and independent adoptions.  When you are working with an agency, you typically put together a picture profile and packet of information that Birthparents will view when making an adoption plan and choosing a family.  When you do an independent adoption, you are connected with Birthmother or Birthparents independently either by your own means, a mutual friend or acquaintance, an attorney or some other way other than using an agency.

In an agency adoption, the agency is usually a go-between between Birthparents and adoptive parents, at least in the beginning and possibly throughout the whole process and until your child is an adult unless you have an open adoption.  In an independent adoption, there is typically more contact between Birthparents and adoptive parents; after all you were connected independently without the agency as a go-between. Sometimes a mutual friend or your attorney will still act as a go-between.

When Birthparents sign a surrender in an agency adoption, they surrender their parental rights to the agency.  When you are ready to finalize the adoption, the agency fills out an Agency Consent to Adoption.  When Birthparents sign a surrender in an independent adoption, they surrender their parental rights directly to the adoptive family.

Fees involve vary between agency and independent adoptions.  Typically, in an agency adoption, you pay either a flat placement fee or a placement fee based on a sliding scale fee.  This placement fee covers such things as living expenses for the Birthmother, legal expenses for the Birthparents, medical expenses for the Birthmother, maternity clothes, counseling fees and generally a small portion also goes to the agency because that is how they continue to provide adoption services.  In an independent adoption, you only pay for services or expenses that actually occur.  This means, typically, an independent adoption is not as expensive as an agency adoption but this is not always the case.

As you begin to decide whether an agency or independent adoption is right for you, I hope that these general guidelines help you in your decision.  Every adoption is different, whether they are through an agency or not.  This means that no two adoptions that you do will be the same either.  For this reason it is good to explore adoption agencies and attorneys in your area so that you will have a support system in place if you need it to help your adoption go smoothly and to ensure that both you and your child’s Birthparents have their needs met.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 9th, 2006 at 4:58 am and is filed under Adoption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.