What Expectant Women Look for When Choosing Adoptive Parents

Each expectant woman considering placing her child for adoption is looking for something special in the adoptive parent she chooses. What common factors do adoption agencies and adoption lawyers see in how birth mothers choose adoptive parents? How does age, marital status, health, and sexual orientation affect their choice? Host Dawn Davenport interviewed Lark Cooper, the Intake Coordination for Children’s Connection Inc, an adoption agency with offices throughout Texas; and Danielle Goodman, an adoption social worker in the Delaware office of Adoptions From the Heart. Both work extensively with birth mothers when deciding on placing a child for adoption.

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Which of the following factors are most important when expectant women are trying to find adoptive parents for their baby:
- Age of adoptive parents
- Marital status of adoptive parent
- Health of adoptive parent
- Sexual orientation of adoptive parent
- Religious affiliation
Does having children already in the home help or hurt when trying to adopt?
Does it usually matter if the pre-adoptive parents have biological children already?
How often are expectant fathers involved in the selection of adoptive families?
How often are expectant grandparents (parents of the birth mother) involved in the selection of the adoptive parents or choosing the adoption profile?
How much information on the physical and mental health of the adoptive parents is shared with the birth mother?
What are the primary reasons some people looking to adopt wait so much longer than others to be selected?