Most Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs

What is a home study?
The laws of each state in the United States and adoption require propsective adoptive parents to obtain an approved home study. The purpose of a home study is to prepare the adoptive family for adoption and to evaluate a family's ability and readiness to adopt. This does not mean that a family or individual must be perfect. It just means that a person can offer a child a stable and loving environment. Typically, a report will be prepared by a licensed social worker. Typically, the process may involve training requirements, interviews, home visit, background checks, review of medical information, income statement, answering a set of autobiographical questions, and references. Once all of this is completed, the social worker will write a report, aka, home study. In general, the report will discuss issues such as: family background, employment, education, relationships, daily life, spiritual life, neighborhood, parenting, feelings about adoption, a statement concerning the risks inherent in adoption, and finally the recommendation.

Must we work with one agency for both our home study and our adoption?
Absolutely not. In fact, many adoptive parents have two different agencies, a home study agency and a placement agency. Often, the placement agency is not located in the adoptive parent's state of residence and therefore, two agencies are required.

What is an Adoption Service Plan?
This is an important element of a successful adoption process that many agencies don’t take the time to do. When we have identified a birth mother that appears to be a good match, we begin the process of evaluating estimated birth mother expenses, legal issues concerning the Consent of the birth mother, termination of parental rights, including birth father’s rights, medical expenses, etc. Once you are matched, the Service Plan serves as a roadmap to your adoption process.

What is a match?
The birth mother chooses the family that she wants as parents for her child by looking at your profile, talking to you on the telephone and in some cases, meeting with you in our offices. Depending on where you live and where your birth mother resides, you should get an opportunity to meet her before either of you makes a decision. Birth mothers can choose the family and the family has a right to turn down the selection. When the birth mother and the family agree to go forward with the placement, we call it a ‘match’.

What if I turn down a match?
You must feelcomfortable with your decision to go forward with a particular adoption situation and if it does not feel right, then you should not move forward. If you do turn down a match, you do not go to the bottom of the list. You will remain on our active list, (we do not use ‘waiting lists’) and your family will continue to be shown to birth mothers. We understand that this is your decision and you will know when the match is right.

How do the Birth Mother and Adoptive Family stay in touch?
This is going to depend on the type of adoption situation you choose to pursue. We match you with birth parents who have very similar desires regarding contact before birth and after birth. We will explore your options, how they may affect your wait and what to expect in the future with various options.

What happens at the birth?
When the birth mother is ready to give birth, you will travel to where she will deliver and likely be in the delivery room when ‘your child’ is born. The majority of our birth mothers want the adoptive mother and/or father to be with her in delivery.

After the delivery, you will wear a baby bracelet (same as the birth mother) so that you can have access to the baby in the nursery or bonding room. This will give you permission to speak to your baby’s pediatrician on its behalf. Most babies, depending on their health, the mother’s pre-natal history and the hospital policy, are able to leave the hospital 24 to 48 hours after its birth. The mother will have to sign a third party release in most hospitals. This releases the hospital from any liability about the placement of this child. After this is done and the pediatrician has released the child from the hospital, we will prepare the necessary paperwork for the next steps in the process.

What if we live in a different state than where our birth mother lives?
If you reside in a state other than the one in which your baby is born, Adopt America will go through an Interstate Compact (ICPC) agreement regarding the movement of children from state to state. An agency in each state is charged with making sure that the laws of that state have been complied with before the child can be allowed to cross the state line from the sending state to the receiving state. We will do the ICPC documents and make sure to have these available for our agent in the state in which your baby is born. Please expect to wait at least 1-2 weeks after the birth of your child before ICPC allows you to go home. In some cases this will be less and in some cases this will be longer. Before the birth of your child, the agency will discuss with you the laws and policies of that particular state and how long the process should take.

What is the difference between Termination and Finalization?
Termination of parental rights involves the process whereby the birth parents either voluntarily consent to the termination of their rights or action is taken to terminate rights (in the case of birth fathers). Each case is different and we will review this process during the initial phases of the adoption and matching process.

Finalization is the process whereby after a post placement supervision period after your baby is placed with you, the court is petitioned for you to become the permanent parent(s) of your child. There will be options as to where the finalization will occur when different states are involved in the process and we will discuss this with you as well at the time of initial matching. You will not need to make a final determination as to where you will finalize the adoption until the child is born and we are preparing ICPC documents.

What about my baby's birth certificate and social security number?
Your baby will have a birth certificate completed by the birth mother. She can name the child anything she chooses at that time. You can call him what you want and change his name officially at finalization if desired. However, many of our parents and mothers agree before birth on a name everyone is pleased with. After you have finalized, you will receive an ‘amended birth certificate’. It will list date of birth, state of adoption, and adoptive parents. This is usually mailed by your attorney direct to you in about six to eight weeks after finalization.

Social Security Cards are usually requested at the time the birth certificate is ordered by the hospital. Your baby’s social security card will be in the name that is on his original birth certificate until you finalize and ask the governing state for a name change. The social security card is generally mailed to our office and forwarded to you.

What exactly is post placement?
All states require that the adoptive family have a home study and follow up visits by their social worker after the baby comes home to live with them. Each state has different specifications and time frames for these requirements.

During this time, a social worker is required to visit with you and your baby face to face after placement and before finalization. He/she will report on specific issues such as the child’s development and his health. The social worker is there to help you with any problems that may arise and to make a report for us so that we can feel comfortable in consenting to the adoption when the six months time frame is complete.

Will our birth mother require medical care paid for by us?
It is not likely that your birth mother will need to have her medical care paid for by you. Most birth mothers qualify for Medicaid and we enroll them before they begin their pre-natal visits with the doctor.

Occasionally a birth mother may require a procedure such as an ultrasound before her Medicaid is received. We pay for those costs and a copy of the actual bill will be given to you for reimbursement. If for some reason, Medicaid is not available, we will discuss these issues with you prior to matching.

What if our birth mother changes her mind?
This is a difficult and unfortunate situation of course. If this does happen, our agency will continue to work with you.

What are the eligibility requirements for Adoptive Families?

• Couples or singles including gay and lesbians. If married, there are no requirements of how long you have been married.
  
  
• Demonstrate a stable employment history, sufficient financial resources and adequate living conditions conducive to a child’s well being.
  
  
• Demonstrate that you are free from communicable disease and in sufficiently good physical and mental health.
  
  
• Demonstrate that you are emotionally and mentally capable of understanding the needs of a small child and being able to meet them. This is demonstrated by a recommendation for adoption in your home study.

I have a DUI conviction on my record. Will this hurt my chances for adoption?
A DUI will not automatically preclude you from being able to adopt. Every adoption agency has their own policy regarding convictions. Our agency looks at each situation individually. In most cases, if a significant amount of time has passed since the DUI occurred, and the individual has followed all of the steps required by the court, this is not an issue.

A DUI, or any other conviction, will need to be addressed during the home study process. Please explain to your social worker the circumstances of your conviction and the details of how the court handled it. The social worker will summarize the situation in your home study report. Your home study report will be a part of the court proceedings for your adoption. This is not something that birth parents would ever see or know about your family unless you choose to inform them.

Will a medical condition preclude someone from adopting?
We look at medical conditions on a case-by-case basis. As part of the home study process you will be required to have a current medical statement from your doctor. The medical statement asks your doctor to rate your physical and mental ability to parent a child. Every family who adopts completes this part of the process regardless of their health. We have worked with many people with special health considerations that have successfully adopted.

Why Do Bi-racial and African American adoptions cost less?
We need to bring attention to the need for families to adopt African-American or part African-American children in the U.S. Across the nation, there is a vast shortage of families seeking to adopt children of an African-American descent. By providing fee incentives, our agency has been able to locate more families for this program, as well as help make parenthood a reality for many couples hoping to adopt on a limited budget.

Can we choose the gender of our baby?
We do not allow our families to be gender specific. In the majority of traditional adoptions, the adoptive family is matched with the birth parents prior to the birth and the gender is unknown. We would never want a family to reject a baby because is ends up being the “wrong” gender. This would be very offensive to the birth mother.

Will we receive any medical or background information on the expectant mother?
Yes, hospital records and extensive medical and social history forms are completed by the birth parents, which provides a wealth of information. This type of information is extremely important and is a valuable tool to you and your child as they grow.

At what point can the birth parent(s) sign over their parental rights?
In most states birth parents cannot sign over their parental rights until after the baby is born. A common time frame is 48 – 72 hours after birth. Once you are in a match, you will be educated as to the legal process for the state in which your adoption will occur. Once the birth mother signs the legal paperwork or goes to court, her rights are terminated. This means she can change her mind up until the specified time frame, after the baby is born. Once she signs the paperwork, or her case goes through the court process, her rights are permanently terminated.

What does it mean when your internet available situations mentions that the mother used daily cigarettes, weekly marijuana usage, etc.?
We have of our birth mothers fill out a social and medical history form that includes drug exposure. Each birth mother fills this out according to her interpretation and level of honesty. Our social workers work hard to obtain all pertinent drug exposure information, but we cannot guarantee that the information we are provided is true and accurate.