Choice Mom Valerie offered up these questions to ask any prospective adoption agency before considering them for your single-parent adoption...
Posted April 7, 2011 at 6:45 AM
Checklist for Single Parent Adoption
Tips
Selecting an agency may be the most important decision you will make in the adoption process. The job of the agency is to guide you through the adoption process and help you meet the child that will become your son or daughter. Make sure whoever you select supports your goals and will advocate for you as a prospective single adoptive parent.
1. Go to the Website - Evaluate the website to see how visible services are to single parents. This will uncover how much the agency has thought about and works with single women.
- Is there information specifically for singles? Are singles given their own webpage within the site?
- Do the forms read "I/We" or are they only written for married couples?
- Is the eligibility for singles specifically spelled out for each adoption program offered?
2. Ask the Yahoo Groups - Yahoo and other sites have multiple list serve groups for adoption of every description (each international country, domestic, foster care). For the options you’re interested in, join the group(s) and ask the experience of other single women with agencies you are considering. There are also groups that maintain databases and rating systems of agencies based on adoptive parents feedback.
3. Call the Agency - A phone call is better than an e-mail in evaluating how you will be treated by the agency. Listen to what they say and what they don’t say as they answer these questions.
- Do you accept single applicants? Are there additional requirements for singles?
- How many programs do you have that accept singles?
- For the program(s) I’m interested in and the age group and gender I want to adopt when was the last placement you made to a single woman? How many have you made in the last year?
- Do married couples have priority over singles on waiting lists?
- Are there quotas for singles in the program I’m interested in?
- If a program for singles closes, what are my options?
- Is the cost/fee structure for singles different from that of married couples?
- Can I have a list of the singles that have adopted with your agency so I can contact them myself?
- Do you support single parent adoption? Why?
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