Adoptive Parent FAQs
At Adoption Choices of Missouri we will not just help you in your adoption planning process, but we will also provide all the possible assistance and resources to make your chosen path smooth and a positive experience.
Adoption Choices of Missouri provides personalized, comprehensive support for families hoping to adopt a baby. We will guide you and give you everything you need along every step of your adoption journey. Designed to ensure you have the best possible chances for a successful adoption, our services include the following:
- Two full years of marketing & advertising. We will assist you in creating your adoptive parent profile and aggressively advertising it to potential birth mothers.
- Adoption referrals & networking. We will refer you to experienced adoption attorneys and social workers from our network of trusted professionals.
- 24-Hour support for birth mothers. Our staff is available day or night to talk, text, or chat with birth mothers who are considering adoption.
- Coordination & guidance for meeting a birth mother. We will help coordinate communication and meetings between you and the birthmother. We provide you with questions to ask and “red flags” to watch out for.
- Online & offline marketing. We utilize aggressive marketing and advertising efforts to ensure your profile is seen by as many birthmothers as possible.
- Guidance & support. Call us any time! We’re always here to talk, listen, and offer assistance, advice, and encouragement at any stage of the process.
Because we work with a limited number of families at a time, we’re able to offer quicker placement times and more adoptions than other adoption agencies and service providers. Our connection times range from 2–24 months. If you are open about the baby’s race and gender, expenses, and birth location, your adoption process could move quicker.
Although you will need a home study to complete your adoption, you do not need one before starting your contract with us. We will refer you to a place where you can complete your home study, and you can start the home study process while we begin searching for your birth mother.
Open adoption means the birth mother has the opportunity to communicate with the adoptive family and meet them in person if desired. Many birth mothers will request letters, pictures, and some level of communication with the adoptive family after the adoption is finalized. The majority of our adoptions are open, but we also fully support families and birth parents who wish to have semi-open or closed adoptions.
We match birth mothers and adoptive families based on whether or not they are the right fit for each other, not by the order in which they come to us. Because of this, we do not have a waiting list.
Adoption Choices of Missouri has far fewer restrictions than a traditional adoption agency. We serve families all over the United States and only require you to be 25 years of age or older. We have no religious belief requirements and you do not need to be a US citizen. We fully support both single parent adoption and gay and lesbian adoption, and families with other biological and/or adopted children are welcome to apply. We also accept couples who are already working with an adoption agency or professional and have not yet had any luck.
Yes, our adoption application is $595. We believe in keeping application fees low and affordable for families. The informational meeting required after completing the application — either in person or over the phone — is free of charge.
We are extremely proud of our 98% adoption success rate. We work very hard to make sure every family that comes to Adoption Choices of Missouri has a successful adoption!
We certainly allow you to set your gender and/or race preferences when working with us. However, we usually advise hopeful parents to be as open with their preferences as they are comfortable with in order to give them the best possible chances of connecting with a birth mother.
We charge a flat fee for our marketing and support services (see “What services does Adoption Choices of Missouri provide adoptive families?” above). Payment is due with the signed contract when you begin working with us. In addition to our service fee, you’ll be responsible for other miscellaneous adoption expenses, including legal fees, home study fees, birthmother expenses, and travel expenses. Even after taking into account all adoption costs, working with us is still one of the most economical ways in the country to adopt a baby.
Birth mother expenses can involve any reasonable pregnancy-related expense, including but not limited to housing, utilities, transportation, food, and maternity clothing. When you begin working with us, you will be able to set your budget for birthmother expenses and we will only match you with a birth mother whose needs do not exceed that.
In most cases, the birth mother’s prenatal care, labor, and delivery are covered by their personal medical insurance or government-issued medical insurance. We work with each birthmother to ensure they have the appropriate medical coverage during this important time.
The baby is usually covered under the birth mother’s insurance until the birthmother signs over her parental rights. At that point, you will need to add the baby to your insurance policy.
The adoptive parents must remain in the state of the baby’s birth until the official state paperwork has cleared. This generally takes between 4 and 10 days.
Depending on state laws, birth parents typically sign the final adoption papers between 12 and 72 hours after the baby is born. After the legal papers have been signed, the birth parents no longer have any legal parental rights over the baby. Based on our experience, most birth parents who go through the adoption process are proud of their decision and rarely change their minds after signing the final adoption papers, despite how difficult it was.
