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Are You Pregnant and Thinking About Adoption?
Factsheet for Families

Author(s):  Child Welfare Information Gateway

Year Published:  2007

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You are in section: Table of Contents Exploring your options Making the adoption decision Placing your baby through an… Selecting adoptive parents Staying in touch with your… Taking care of yourself after… Additional resources

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Selecting adoptive parents

If you're thinking about adoption, you're probably thinking a lot about the kind of parents or family you would want for your child. Whether you place your child through an agency or through an independent adoption, you will probably have a great deal of choice in selecting the parents or family for your child. Many of the considerations for selecting parents—either directly or through parent profiles—are the same, regardless of whether you use an agency or a lawyer.

Here are some questions to consider in selecting parents for your child:

• Do I want my child to be raised by two parents?
• Do I want my child to be an only or first child, or would I like my baby to have older brothers or sisters?
• Should the family practice a certain religion?
• Do I want the parents to be a certain age or have a certain income?
• Does it matter if both parents work full-time outside the home?
• Do I want my child raised in a certain part of the country or in a city or in a small town?
• Does the family share my interests, for example, sports or music or pets?
• What is the family's style of parenting and disciplining children?
• Does the family share my values and beliefs?
• Does the family feel the same way that I do about staying in touch after the adoption?
• How much does the family know about the special issues associated with raising an adopted child?
• Will I be able to see a copy of the family's home study?¹⁰

Talking to your counselor or lawyer and getting their answers to these questions may help you in choosing a family. If you talk to a prospective family—or to several families—you will want to ask them similar questions.

¹⁰ For more information, read Child Welfare Information Gateway's The Adoption Home Study Process at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_homstu.cfm. back

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You are in section: Table of Contents Exploring your options Making the adoption decision Placing your baby through an… Selecting adoptive parents Staying in touch with your… Taking care of yourself after… Additional resources

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This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Updated on May 14, 2008