CHOOSING AN ADOPTION AGENCY
Tanya Sturman, Director - A Child’s Desire

The journey of adoption is miraculous, and uniting with your forever child is a joy which equals participating in the birth of a biological child. In spite of the awe-inspiring nature of adoption, the process will be one of the most stressful events of your life, and choosing an agency will be one of the most important decisions you make during this process.

Be a good consumer. If you already know which country you’d like to adopt from, then you’ve given yourself some parameters to narrow down your choices. You can find agencies listed in magazines and on the internet. Join some adoption list-serves specific to the country you’ve chosen. Believe it or not, most adoption professionals will not share your sense of urgency and passion in regards to your adoption. Pick out several agencies to contact, because many of them will be slow in responding. You can rule the slow ones out first. Get a feel for how quickly they respond to you, and find out how easy it will be for you to reach them when you have questions or concerns.

Once you have a short list of agencies you want to research, request references from each of them. Don’t be disappointed if you hear things that are discouraging. Be glad you didn’t find out the hard way. You’ll also want to seek some references from parents who are not on their list. Send a message to the list-serve you joined asking for parents to contact you at your private email address if they can provide you with any information on any of these agencies. Weigh your responses carefully. Every agency will have at least one customer that was not 100% satisfied. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak.

Find out what licenses they hold, and contact the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and see if any of these agencies have reports of complaints on file. Also, check to see if they are members of the Better Business Bureau. The BBB has strict membership standards.

Ask for a detailed break down of their fees. Make sure you’re not comparing apples and oranges. Also ask for an estimate of the total adoption costs and the break down of fees you will be required to pay in addition to your agency fees. This list should include immigration fees, home study fees, post adoption reports, medical exams, FBI and state fingerprinting, visa fees, travel fees and mandatory donations to the orphanage.

There are lots of agencies and thousands of children waiting to be adopted. These tips can be applied to interviewing attorneys as well. This is going to be a major emotional and financial expense, don’t settle.

Tanya Sturman is the volunteer Director for A Child’s Desire (www.aChildsDesire.org) which is committed to easing the financial burden of the adoption and post-adoption processes through fundraising efforts.