Finding Your Adoption Match [What You Need to Know]

Whether you are a prospective birth mother or a hopeful adoptive parent, you simply want to find the best match for your adoption process. During this crucial step, patience is the key to a smooth experience. You’ll want to make sure that you take all the time you need and don’t rush yourself.

But, how do you go about finding the perfect match? That’s where we come in.

To get free adoption information now, prospective birth parents can contact us today. Likewise, hopeful adoptive families can also fill out our online contact form here.

In this thorough guide, we’re here to help you understand what an adoption match is, how it works and why people do it. Let's start with how women considering adoption for their babies (known as "prospective birth mothers") can find an adoption match.

Waiting for an Adoption Match [For Prospective Birth Parents]

An adoption match happens when a hopeful adoptive family, who is looking for a child to add to their family, is chosen by a prospective birth mother who is searching for a family to adopt her child.

But, we should mention that the overall process depends on several factors. These include your state of residence, local adoption laws and whether you work with an adoption agency, such as American Adoptions, or not. No two adoptions are the same, so keep in mind that your timeline will be unique to your own journey.

The adoption matching process for prospective birth parents can be overwhelming, stressful and confusing when you go it alone — but it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Self-matching” in adoption is becoming more popular. It might be something you’ve considered. Why not do things your own way?

Here’s why: The adoption matching process can be incredibly complicated. With self-matching, there’s no support along the way. There’s no way to know if a family has completed their home study, is legally allowed to adopt, is safe and prepared, or if they have the ability to meet your needs through adoption financial assistance.

But with an adoption agency, you can be confident and hopeful about your adoption matching process.

As a prospective birth parent, you may be looking for an inexpensive option, and that’s why you were drawn to self-matching.

But, did you know that, for birth parents, adoption is 100% free? This is because of the adoption financial assistance that you’ll receive when you work with a reputable adoption agency, such as American Adoptions.

The adoptive parents will cover any pregnancy- and adoption-related costs for you. You will also be eligible for living expenses, which the adoptive parents will also help with. This includes coverage for:

• Rent

• Utilities

• Transportation to doctor’s appointments

• Groceries

• Maternity clothes

• Phone service

• And much more

When you work with American Adoptions, you can rest easy knowing that you will receive as much financial assistance for adoption as legally possible. But, this isn’t the only reason that you can choose to find an adoption match through American Adoptions.

We’ll go over some more of these reasons below for hopeful adoptive parents and prospective birth mothers alike.

Better Adoption Opportunities

When you decide to self-match, you can spend quite a bit of time waiting for an adoption match, only to discover that your match isn’t actually right for you.

But, you can have the best chance of finding the right match when you work with American Adoptions. Here’s why:

• We work with hundreds of prospective birth parents and hopeful adoptive families at once.

• You will receive hands-on support and guidance from experienced professionals.

• Our families are thoroughly screened, so prospective birth parents know they are ready to adopt.

Working with hundreds of families at once is especially important for prospective birth parents. American Adoptions is a national adoption agency, which means we have a wide outreach that connects us with thousands of hopeful adoptive families. In other words, you have a greater chance of finding the perfect adoptive family for your situation, rather than settling because time is short and there are only a few options.

Emotional Support Before and After Placement

There’s no doubt that adoption can be an emotional journey. Because of the many highs and lows of adoption, American Adoptions offers free, 24/7 support whenever you may need it at 1-800-ADOPTION. Although we mostly receive calls from prospective birth mothers, our hotline is equally as welcome to hopeful adoptive families. Your safety and well-being are important to us, and that’s why we offer free counseling at any hour.

Video Profiles

When you’re trying to find the perfect adoption match, it can be helpful to see just what the other party is like. That’s why American Adoptions creates video profiles to help you find the right match for your preferences. Your adoption professional will sit down with you and go over these profiles. In other words, you get to call all the shots while we do all the heavy lifting.

How an Adoptive Family Finds an Adoption Match

Adoptive parents have their own steps to finding an adoption match. As you are waiting for an adoption match, here is what the adoption matching process looks like in a general sense. Below, you can learn more about how hopeful adoptive parents can find their future child:

Step 1: Complete the Home Study

As a hopeful adoptive parent, you will need to undergo the home study before you can look for an adoption match. This is when a social worker visits your home, conducts background checks, interviews all adults living in the home and ensures that the house is safe for a child. If you have any questions about how this works, then please don’t hesitate to call American Adoptions at 1-800-ADOPTION at any time.

Step 2: Complete Your Adoptive Family Profile

Your next step as a hopeful adoptive parent is to create an adoptive family profile. Prospective birth mothers will review this profile when looking for a family to adopt their baby.

How do you get your profile in front of prospective birth mothers? That’s where an adoption agency comes in. If you are interested in self-matching, then this means that you won’t have any help from an adoption agency like American Adoptions. You’ll need to find a child through other avenues, such as social media, a self-matching web service or your local community. This can drastically increase your wait time and decrease your chances of finding a good match.

Instead, by working with American Adoptions, you’ll have the support of professional media services and a team of adoption specialists. Your profile will be seen be many more prospective birth parents, and your chances of finding the perfect match will be much higher.

Step 3: Accept an Adoption Opportunity

An adoption opportunity will be presented to you when your profile is chosen by a prospective birth parent. At this point, it is up to you to accept the opportunity.

Once you do, you’ll have the opportunity to get to know each other before placements, since the majority of modern adoptions are at least semi-open. You’ll both meet up and talk about the logistics, such as your home study and why you want to adopt.

From this point forward, if your adoption match is successful, then you’ll follow the details of the birth mother’s adoption plan and how you can be there for them.

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If you have any questions about the adoption matching process, then contact us at 1-800-ADOPTION to get more adoption information now. We would love to help you in any way we can, and we look forward to helping you start this beautiful journey!

Disclaimer
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