Will the adoptive parents pay my expenses? How do I know that the adoptive parents will take good care of my child?

Most states have laws that detail the types of expenses an adoptive family can pay. The most common are maternity-related medical and hospital costs such as:

• Temporary living expenses of the mother during pregnancy
• Counseling fees
• Legal fees
• Travel costs, meals and lodging when necessary

In order to prevent people from “buying” babies, states usually limit these payments to “reasonable” amounts. About 20 states outlaw payment for certain expenses such as cars, vacations or permanent housing.

When working with a licensed child adoption agency, prospective adoptive parents must be carefully screened and give a lot of personal information before they can be approved to adopt a child.

Social workers visit their homes several times. Adoptive parents provide personal references and they usually undergo a background check. They also learn about becoming an adoptive parent before the adoption. By the time an agency has approved adoptive parents, they have gotten to know them well and feel confident they’ll make good parents.

The adoption process varies from state to state and the private adoption process is different than the agency process. To find out about the laws concerning private adoptions in your state, you can do a search on the Child Welfare site.