Professionals to Avoid

The adoption professional you choose can drastically affect your adoption.

Families who work with us experience:

• Transparent adoption wait times.

• A 100% success rate for families that remain active.

• Financial protection as an active family with our agency.

Time and cost are crucial; we believe you deserve the best adoption experience. Unfortunately, this is not what you’ll find with every type of adoption professional. We encourage you to complete our free online form to get more information about our adoption services and learn more about dangerous professionals to avoid.

Over the years, our staff has heard from many families who have endured years of frustrating adoption attempts. In most cases, the main culprit is that the family placed their trust in the hands of the wrong people.

We have noticed several common characteristics in these families' stories, and they have helped us put together this list of adoption professionals to avoid so that you don't experience the same disappointment.

Professionals to Avoid

Like most adoptive families, you’re doing your due diligence in researching potential professionals. Adoption is a big decision filled with emotion and a significant financial commitment. With that in mind, we’re here to answer an important question: “What is adoption fraud?”

Adoption fraud, also called adoption scams, results from a family working with unverified and unlicensed professionals who sound, look and act reputable.

Unfortunately, they aren’t, and too many families are subjected to financial loss and disappointment in not seeing their dream of becoming a mom or dad become a reality.

These professionals offer unrealistic expectations, false wait times and misleading cost quotes because they are unregulated by state licensing officials. In more than 30 years of providing licensed adoption services, we have seen many families hurt by trusting unregulated providers. We want to make sure your family avoids this fate.

When pursuing adoption, it’s imperative that you work with a fully licensed adoption agency.

Before deciding on a professional, call 1-800-ADOPTION or complete this free online form to learn more about American Adoptions and how we protect your emotional and financial investment.

How to Spot Adoption Scams

Our priority is ensuring our birth parents and adoptive families’ safety and protection. 

Here’s one common example of how we have seen false wait times cause harm to hopeful parents:

If an organization is vague about the number of waiting families they are working with, you can’t get a realistic assessment of the actual adoption wait times.

If a professional has 100 waiting families but only completed 5-10 adoptions per year, your wait time could be upwards of 5 years. By hiding how many families are waiting, an unlicensed professional may attempt to convince new families to join.

Adoptive families pursue adoption because they’re ready to hold a newborn in their arms. Long wait times are not ideal, and this type of adoption fraud often provides false low wait times.

Another common example has to do with adoption fees and expiring contracts:

In the event of a disruption, many organizations require families to repay fees to pursue a new adoption opportunity. Or, a family will be signed to an expiring contract, which means that your investment is all for nothing if the contract expires before you have successfully adopted.

We bring up these scenarios for one primary reason: Nothing is more important than your family's future.

It breaks our hearts when we hear from families who have spent years waiting and lost thousands of dollars because they put their trust in the wrong hands. To protect your family, working with a licensed adoption professional is vital.

At American Adoptions, you’ll never have to worry about misleading information. We are regulated, licensed and completely transparent about fees and the number of current waiting families working with our agency.

This gives you a clear and honest view of your anticipated wait time and financial breakdown. You can learn more about how we protect your finances and give families an industry-leading average of 12 months wait time by calling 1-800-ADOPTION.

Questions to Ask

Asking questions is one of the best ways to avoid a bad adoption situation. You can ask things like:

• How many families do you have waiting?

• What’s the breakdown of your fee structure and schedule?

• Does your contract expire?

• What happens to the funds I have already spent in the case of an adoption disruption?

• Are you licensed?

• How many women considering adoption are you working with, and how many adoptions do you complete each year?

These questions will allow you the chance to learn more about an adoption professional. If the professional you’re talking with is vague and can’t answer your questions honestly and transparently, it’s a red flag.

Get Started

We want you to put yourself in the best possible adoption situation. When you call 1-800-ADOPTION or complete our online contact form, you’ll be able to speak with an Adoption Coordinator who can explain more about how our agency provides every service, support, and resource you need to safely and successfully complete your adoption.

For over 30 years, we have helped adoptive families like you become a mom or dad while also giving a child an opportunity to dream big and a birth parent a chance at a better life.

Disclaimer
Information available through these links is the sole property of the companies and organizations listed therein. American Adoptions provides this information as a courtesy and is in no way responsible for its content or accuracy.