What’s Better? Private or Agency Adoption
If you are considering adoption for your baby and trying to navigate the overwhelming information available about private vs. agency adoptions, you have come to the right place. We’re here to help you find the answers you need and discover which option will work best for you and your circumstances.
Below you will find an overview of what each option entails along with a list of the pros and cons.
Private Adoption
Private or independent adoption is when contact between a pregnant woman and a hopeful adoptive family is made directly and they manage the adoption themselves. An attorney is hired by both or one party to facilitate the legal aspects of the adoption, depending on your state laws.
Pros:
-Direct contact with adoptive families, whether someone you know personally or found online.
-Can be a simplified and sometimes quicker process if you already know the parents you want to adopt your baby.
-Get to know the family you have in mind on a more intimate level.
-More freedom in your relationship with the family.
-Personal information may be kept more private.
Cons:
-Unethical approaches tend to be more common in a private adoption without a licensed and professional agency involved.
-Adoptive families are not required to adhere to procedural standards and best practices, which can leave pregnant women vulnerable to coercion.
-Depending on your state laws, adoptive families are limited in what they can offer when it comes to helping an expectant mother. Medical bills and legal fees are usually all that are allowed to be paid for by an adoptive family.
-Unknown breeches in the law are more frequent without the expertise of an agency, for example: Birth Father rights are acknowledged in each state and information about a pregnancy must be recorded in a way that will protect an expecting mother, her baby and the family she chooses from any high-profile lawsuits where birth fathers were not notified of the adoptive placement of the child.
-Needed counseling and support from licensed social workers could be limited for an expectant mother. Professional counseling can be expensive and is often overlooked by adoptive families.
-Expectant mother and adoptive family relationships can be highly emotional, and at times it can be confusing, too. An adoption attorney most likely won’t be able to talk through the expectant mother’s situation with her and work to understand her life and her adoption decision. It can be difficult to communicate your desires and needs when you fear how the other will respond. Private adoptions do not have someone to guide and direct these conversations throughout the process and relationship afterward.
Agency Adoption
Agency adoption provides an adoption specialist to handle all of the legal and medical aspects and serves as an advocate to guide and protect a pregnant woman and an adoptive family throughout the entire process.
Pros:
-Agency adoption provides the greatest assurance of monitoring and oversight because agencies are required to adhere to licensing and procedural standards.
-State laws allow agencies like A Guardian Angel Adoptions to offer financial, emotional and educational support to an expectant mother during and after her pregnancy. Pregnancy related finances like a safe place to live, rent, groceries, legal fees, medical care, grief counseling and your own personal case manager to be with you every step of the way are all a part of the support an expectant mother receives through an agency.
-Matching with families. Because there are so many families out there hoping to adopt, an agency can offer you a variety of options to choose from and help match you with exactly what you are looking for in the family who raises your child. You get to be in control of this process without having to worry that a family might not be the people they say they are. An agency requires adoptive families to go through a rigorous process of background checks, in-home visits, interviews and detailed paperwork so that no information will be withheld from you.
-Adoption agencies like A Guardian Angel Adoptions can help you to facilitate contact with adoptive parents. It can be difficult to know just how to communicate with the family you choose, which is why having an adoption specialist around to work with you through the process, or even mediate that contact for you, is a very valuable asset to an adoption.
Cons:
-A more detailed process that will require access to your medical records and health history for the best interest of you and your child.
-If you already know the family you want to adopt your baby, they would have to go through the same agency and it can be a considerably higher cost for them.
-Agency rules and regulations will need to be followed to insure yours and your child’s safety and privacy.
A Guardian Angel Adoption Agency
We hope this helps you understand the differences between an independent and an agency adoption. Which option you choose will depend on how comfortable you are with the idea of navigating the adoption process by yourself or if you feel you could use more guidance and support. At A Guardian Angel Adoptions we believe women who find themselves in such difficult circumstances need and deserve all the support they can get. We love and respect expectant mothers for the hard decisions they are making for their precious babies and want to help them find peace and security through this process.
Contact A Guardian Angel Adoptions for a full range of services, including, financial assistance, medical care, home study services, adoption plans, placement, legal work, and more. Our knowledgeable and caring staff can help guide you through any situation you may be facing and can help you every step of the way. At A Guardian Angel Adoptions, we want you to know you are never alone.