Infant adoption, also known as baby adoption, domestic adoption, birth mother relinquishment adoption, and sometimes private adoption, is the most common form of adoption in the US. Our Domestic Infant Adoption Chart has a great summary of the 25 Factors to consider.
It is possible to adopt a baby in the US using either an adoption agency or an adoption attorney. In most infant adoptions in the US, the expectant mother (or couple) chooses the adoptive parents for her child. The vast majority of baby adoptions in the US are open.
The average cost to adopt from an adoption agency adoption is typically about $43,000. Some adoption agencies have a sliding fee scale where adoption costs are based on your income.
An independent adoption through an adoption attorney usually costs an average of $38,000.
See the Creating a Family page on the Cost of Adoption in the US, which breaks down the cost by type of adoption and analyzes factors that affect the cost.
Adoptive parents often feel a lot of pressure to make the perfect profile book in order to be chosen. While there is no such thing as perfect, Creating a Family has many resources to help you prepare your adoptive parent profile and know what to include and what to leave out. These radio shows, fact sheets, blogs, videos, and expert Q & A’s can be found by clicking the icons at the bottom of this page. Here is a sample of what you will find:
- Preparing an Adoptive Parent Profile (video)
- Top Ten Tips For Preparing an Adoptive Parent Profile (Dear Birth Mother Letter) (fact sheet)
- How To Create a Compelling Adoption Profile (1 hr. radio show w/ expert)
Creating a Family has many additional resources on domestic infant adoption. A few we think you will find particularly helpful are:
- The 5 P’s: Warning Signs that An Expectant Mother May Have Abused Alcohol During Pregnancy (blog post)
- Basic Tips for Feeding Your Newly Adopted Baby (blog post)
- Adopting a Child from Another State (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
- Legal Process of Domestic Adoption (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
- 7 Core Issues in Adoption and Foster Care (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
- Evaluating Risk Factors in Domestic Infant Adoption (1 hr. radio interview w/ expert)
Many more Creating a Family radio interviews with experts, videos, blogs, fact sheets, and Q and A’s with Experts on adopting a baby in the US can be found at the icons below.
Sources: Creating a Family Radio shows below, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, National Council for Adoption
Image credit: Papermoons