If you’re considering beginning the process of adopting a baby in Louisiana, it’s understandable that you may have quite a few questions.

With this in mind, then, we’ve created a general guide to completing a baby adoption in Louisiana. Please call American Adoptions any time at 1-800-ADOPTION to get more information about the process with our agency.

There’s a lot that goes into adoption in Louisiana, and wanting to find out as much as possible is not only normal but advisable. Knowing how to adopt a baby in the U.S. may help you to make your decision about adopting a baby in LA, and it will certainly help you to understand the process as you begin to go through it.

Step 1: Choose to pursue an infant adoption in Louisiana.  

Of course, the first step in the baby adoption process is to determine that you and the rest of your family members are dedicated and wish to adopt a baby in Louisiana. If you haven’t yet completely committed to growing your family through adoption, that’s okay.

Adding to your family is a very big decision, and it’s one that’s not to be taken lightly. In fact, many families who pursue adoption first struggle with infertility before going the adoption route.

If this is the case, it’s critical that everyone has fully grieved that infertility before deciding to adopt a child in Louisiana. Before you begin the adoption process, you must be as excited about adopting a baby as you would have been to have a biological child.

Step 2: Choose an adoption agency to help you adopt a baby.

After you’ve made the decision to adopt a baby in Louisiana, you’ll be tasked with choosing an adoption professional to help you along the journey. While we are a national, full-service adoption agency and, as such, are partial to our own services, there are certain factors you should consider while researching other adoption professionals:

• How does the professional advertise to pregnant women who are unsure about their readiness to parent and might consider adoption?

• Does the professional offer counseling to pregnant women? Pregnancy isn’t just a 9-to-5 business; is this help available to them 24/7?

• Does the professional offer fast and accurate wait times for families who consider adopting through the agency?

• Do the agency’s cost estimates include all the different facets of the adoption process, including a financial protection plan should an adoption situation be disrupted?

• Does anyone at the agency help to coordinate contact between prospective birth parents and adoptive parents, both before and after an adoption takes place?

Step 3: Begin the Louisiana baby adoption process.

If you choose to work with American Adoptions to complete your child’s adoption, we will work with you through three steps before you become active, or available for adoption opportunities.

Step 1: Complete a home study. A home study is more or less a study to ensure everyone in your household is ready to adopt. It will include three parts, which are the documentation phase, an inspection of your home and interviews with each family member.

Step 2: Complete an APQ. An Adoption Planning Questionnaire, or an APQ, is a form that is designed to help you determine your adoption preferences. It will ask you about your comfort levels with factors like contact with a child’s birth parents, possible medical conditions, possible substance exposure, and more. Your adoption specialist will use your APQ to help you find an adoption opportunity, so the more flexible you are in your answers to these questions, the more likely that you’ll adopt within the estimated adoption wait time.

Step 3: Complete two different kinds of adoption profiles. When you work with American Adoptions, our media team will help you to complete two types of adoption profiles — a print profile and a video profile.  A print profile is essentially a brochure that will give a pregnant woman general insight into your family. In a video profile, she’ll get to see how you all interact with each other and get a sense of who you really are. If she’s interested in both of your profiles, she can arrange with her adoption specialist to meet you!

Step 4: Find babies available for adoption in Louisiana.

Once you have completed your home study, your APQ and your adoption profiles, you will be considered “active” with American Adoptions. This means that your profiles will start being shown to prospective birth mothers, and the “waiting game” to find an adoption opportunity begins.

This can be a difficult period for prospective adoptive families, as it may feel like you’ve been actively pursuing adoption only to sit and wait to be chosen. However, it’s important that you stick to a normal routine as much as possible. Your time will come, we promise!

When you have been chosen by a pregnant woman who is considering adoption for her child, it will be time to develop a relationship. At American Adoptions, we always recommend some form of openness, or communication, in an adoption.

Step 5: Finalize your child’s adoption in Louisiana.

Many people assume the adoption process is over when you take your child home with you, but this is actually not the case. You will then have to attend a finalization hearing, which will take place in the courthouse in your parish. This will give a judge a chance to review the adoption to ensure everything was completed legally and ethically before giving you your final decree of adoption. After that, your child is a legal and permanent part of your family!

For more information about the Louisiana adoption process with our agency, fill out our contact form today.

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