What is it?

Private domestic adoption is the process of adopting a child in your own country of residence through the private sector versus adopting through the government (out of the foster care system). A person can adopt a child through an adoption agency or through some sort of adoption facilitator, such as an adoption attorney.

How much does it cost?

In the United States, the cost of a private domestic adoption varies widely. A less expensive private domestic adoption is generally under $10,000, while a more expensive private adoption can run over $30,000. The average cost for most private domestic adoptions falls somewhere in the middle.

What are the requirements to adopt?

In the United States, each state has its own specific laws that regulate the requirements for adopting in that state. The hopeful adoptive parents must undergo a screening process, which is called an adoption home study, before they are eligible to adopt a child. A social worker screens the hopeful adoptive parents and makes sure that they meet the state's requirements for adopting in that state.

State laws vary widely about eligibility to adopt. States might restrict a person's ability to adopt based upon a variety of factors, such as age or criminal record.

Particular adoption agencies might add additional restrictions. For example, some religious-based adoption agencies might require the adoptive parents to be a member of a church. Some adoption agencies might also restrict the profile of the hopeful adoptive parents with whom they are willing to work. For example, they might not facilitate adoptions into single parent or homosexual households, even if there is no state prohibition. 

What types of children are available for adoption?

In most cases, private domestic adoption focuses on placing infants for adoption. While there are exceptions, most domestic adoptions for older children are facilitated through the foster care system in the United States.

Children of all races and gender are available for adoption, with the majority being Caucasian, African-American, or bi-racial.

What is the process for adopting a child?

The first step is to complete a home study with a social worker. This can be done through an adoption agency or through the state. If you are adopting through an adoption facilitator, such as an adoption attorney, your facilitator will tell you where to have your home study done.

After your home study is completed, then your adoption agency or facilitator can match you with an expecting mother. Most adoption agencies or facilitators will ask you to put together a parent profile, which is a scrapbook that tells expecting mothers something about your life. The adoption agency or facilitator will present your parent profile, along with the parent profile of other waiting adoptive parents, to expecting mothers. The expecting mother will choose which profile she likes best. (In the case of a closed adoption, the adoption agency or facilitator might select the family that has been waiting the longest and bypass this step.)

If you are adopting through an adoption attorney, you might be responsible for locating an expecting mother on your own.

Matches most commonly happen late in the pregnancy. However, some matches are made earlier in the pregnancy while others do not happen until after the baby is born.

After an expecting mother chooses you, you then might be invited to meet the expecting mother in person. This is an opportunity for you and the expecting mother to get to know each other and become more comfortable with the match. Also, if you plan to have an open or semi-open adoption, you might discuss the details during this meeting.

After the baby is born, you will take physical custody of the baby. When you take custody varies by state as well as by adoption agency or facilitator. In some states, the placing mother has the legal right to choose to parent, even after signing voluntary termination of parental rights papers, for a period of time. For this reason, the baby might be placed into a foster situation through an agency until the birth mother's parental rights fully terminate.

If you are adopting through a different state from your state of residence, then you will need to comply with Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) regulations. Your adoption agency or facilitator will walk you through the extra paperwork that will be required. Until you meet all ICPC requirements, the baby may not legally leave his birth state.

After the baby is placed into your home, you will have post-placement visits by a social worker to make sure that the baby is doing well in your home. The number of post-placement visits that are required varies by state.

After all legal requirements are met; your adoption attorney (often provided by the adoption agency in an agency adoption) will file a petition to adopt with the court. If all legal requirements have been met, then the judge will issue an adoption decree. This process is called finalization. After an adoption is finalized, then the child becomes your legal child.

How long does it take to adopt a child?

The home study process generally takes a couple of months to complete, although a home study can be fast-tracked or proceed at a slower pace. After the home study is completed, a hopeful adoptive parent can be matched with an expecting mother or infant in a matter of weeks, or the process can takes several years.

After a child joins the home, the time period for finalizing the adoption (when a judge enters an order stating that your child is your legal child) varies depending upon which state you live in.

Do the hopeful adoptive parents meet the expecting mother or birth mother?

This depends upon the type of adoption you choose. Private domestic adoptions are broken down into three types:

•    Open adoption – The birth mother and adoptive parents meet and exchange full identifying information. They often choose to continue contact after the baby's birth, either through pictures and letters or through visits.
•    Semi-open adoption – The birth mother and adoptive parents might meet but do not exchange full identifying information. They often choose to exchange pictures and letters after the baby's birth but without any personal contact.
•    Closed adoption – The birth mother and adoptive parents have no contact with one another.

The trend is toward open and semi-open adoptions, with closed adoptions being much less common.

How is this form of adoption different from other forms?

Private domestic adoption is much more expensive than adopting out of the foster care system, which is free. The cost of private domestic adoption is generally less expensive than an international adoption.

When adopting out of foster care or internationally, timelines for how long you will have to wait to adopt tend to be more specific because private domestic adoption can take anywhere from a few weeks to several years.

Private domestic adoption is the most common way to adopt an infant. While a limited number of infants are available through foster care, the wait to adopt an infant is generally shorter through private domestic adoption.