[tweetybirdus]

Before signing with an agency, what questions should we ask them? What should we know about the agency before putting our trust and $$$ into their hands?

TIA

Kat

[Emster]

ask what their philosophy on adoption is--open, closed, semi-open. As what they truly provide for their expecting parents (do they solicit for "birthmothers" and then become angry if the mother chooses to parent, do they truly offer support and counseling before during and long after the adoption...).

Ask how much $ they expect up front--you should never have to put out money for a service that has not yet been done.

Ask for a list of references from other families that have gone before you and see if their answers and those of the agency match.

Thre's about 50 more ?s to ask, but this will hopefully start the list and some others will chime in.

Good luck on starting your adoption journey!

[babydubs5]

I'd go in and sit down and talk to them... usually they answer questions without having to be asked. If you don't get a good feeling from them, I'd say keep looking. When we went in to chat with our agency, we sat there and talked for an hour.... it was a good chemistry between all of us, which is always a good thing!

Knowing what they expect (money wise) and when is a good thing to ask

How many placements they've done in the last year

Support they provide, for you and Bmom

Legal issues... do they handle it, or do you need an outside attorney... who do they recommend.

Good luck!!!

[StorkWatcher]

If you live in a state that allows birthmother expenses, ask how they handle that.

Ask what fees are refundable, and at what points are they.

Ask what counseling they provide the adoptive couple to - both during the wait and after placement, and if these are free.

Ask if they have a support group for waiting parents.

Ask how many couples are currently waiting, how many expectant moms are currently planning to place, and the average annual number of placements plus the actual number for the past couple of years.

Average wait time.

Are you responsible for hiring/finding the attorney, or do they assist with that?

Also, how often and by what means do they prefer you check in to see how things are going? (email once a month? Call whenever you feel like it?)

What happens if you are matched, but the match fails either before or after baby's birth (but before placement)?

Ask how many of their placements are open/semi-open/ closed. We were also interested to learn the statistics of how many birthmoms had/were already parented/parenting and the average age of a birthmom.

Ask how you are matched - does the agency pick you? Is there a waiting list based on length of time? Or does the expectant mother/family get to choose the potential adoptive couple?