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American Adoptions

Is This Your Business?
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Author: Kalicia Bateman

LAST UPDATED: March 10th, 2022

American Adoptions is one of the largest domestic adoption agencies in the United States. The agency is a fully licensed, non-profit domestic adoption agency that works with pregnant women and adoptive families across the nation. 

American Adoptions completes over 300 domestic adoptions per year. The company proudly boasts that it employs a large, qualified staff, with many of its employees being birth mothers, adoptive parents, or adoptees themselves. As a full-service adoption agency, American Adoptions works with clients (both mothers and adoptive parents) throughout the entire process. 

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The Good

  • Free Information and Resources
  • Video Profile Services
  • Services and Resources for Birth Mothers
  • Clear Expectations for Adoptive Parents
  • Reasonable Adoption Costs
  • Adoption Disruption Insurance
  • Birth Parent Scholarships

Free Information and Resources

The sheer amount of free information that’s available on the American Adoptions website is astounding. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of articles written for just about every topic you can think of relating to adoption.

The articles are about things to consider if you are thinking about giving your baby up for adoption, what to do in the instance of an unplanned pregnancy, what financial help is out there for expectant mothers. 

There are also articles for adoptive families and what to do if you’re thinking of adopting, what financial things to consider, how to bond with a child, and more. 

American Adoptions also includes information on what you need to know about adopting in each state. 

We appreciate American Adoptions' dedication to helping people understand the process of adopting (no matter which side you’re coming from).

Video Profile Services

American Adoptions boasts that through its extensive advertising efforts, networking avenues, and national exposure, it hosts shorter adoption wait times. The company even goes as far as to say most families have a child within 1 to 2 months after joining the agency — of course, there are a significant number of factors to consider and it is somewhat dependent on the family's openness to certain situations.

The agency believes that its video profiles are responsible for the shorter wait times. 

While most agencies simply have adoptive families fill out a paper form, American Adoptions has each family create a video profile. The video profile is supposed to help birth parents get a more intimate picture of the adoptive family.

Services and Resources for Birth Mothers

American Adoptions offers a lot of services to help adoptive families, however, there are also a lot of services available to expectant mothers. 

One service American Adoptions offers is 24/7 support for prospective birth mothers. In this program, there are adoption specialists available to talk to 24/7. These specialists can help answer questions and provide support. 

If you’re an expectant mother and want to consider putting your child up for adoption, American Adoptions provides no-obligation adoption counseling, financial assistance for pregnancy and living expenses, a variety of pre-screened adoptive families, references to additional professionals (counselors and lawyers), contact mediation with adoptive parents, post-placement support, and counseling. 

Not knowing or understanding what resources are available is something that too many expectant mothers have to deal with. The fact that American Adoptions goes into detail and provides so much information (for free) is truly underappreciated. We applaud the agency’s focus on helping new mothers understand what resources are available to them and helping them feel comfortable and supported no matter what their decision is.

Clear Expectations for Adoptive Parents

If you’re considering adopting a child, you should know that American Adoptions has several eligibility requirements families must meet:

  • Legally married for a minimum of 2 years
  • Between 25-50 years of age
  • At least one or both spouses must be a U.S. citizen
  • Couple has no more than two children and no child under the age of one year old

If you are not married, you can still work with American Adoptions, simply contact the agency directly and ask about its exception process. 

We also highly recommend reading through American Adoptions' free adoption guide. The guide helps explain the differences between adoption professionals and their services, what to consider when choosing an adoption professional, and what types of questions you should be asking. The guide also provides more information about American Adoptions and its services.

Reasonable Adoption Costs

Adoptive families can expect to pay around $50,000-$60,000. This may seem like a lot but this includes everything, such as national networking and marketing, video and print profiles, support, education and counseling, legal fees, medical and living expenses (if applicable), and fee protection.  

Adoption Disruption Insurance

American Adoptions takes every possible precaution to prevent adoption disruptions. The agency boasts it has one of the lowest disruption rates among all adoption professionals because it carefully measures each expectant mothers’ commitment level before creating an adoption plan and provides 24/7 support throughout the entire adoption process. 

However, in the case that a birth mother changes her mind and decides to keep the child, American Adoptions developed the Risk-Sharing Program. The program ensures that any money spent on adoption is refunded back to the family, so they can adopt again or take a break from pursuing adoption.

Birth Parent Scholarships

Not only does American Adoption help expecting parents throughout the entirety of the adoption process, but the company also offers a potential scholarship for every birth parent. Of course, birth parents will need to fill out the application, but if they do, they are considered for a financial scholarship to assist with the costs of furthering their education. 

This demonstrates American Adoption truly cares about each and every person that comes through its doors and the company strives to help the people it works with even after families complete the adoption process.

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The Bad

  • Not Available In All States
  • Adoption Age Limit

Not Available in All States

On American Adoptions' website, the agency states it is not available to serve residents of Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, or Oregon.

Additionally, American Adoptions cannot serve families residing outside the United States.

Adoption Age Limit

Very few states have laws against older people adopting. However, American Adoptions restricts anyone older than 50 from adopting. 

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The Bottom Line

American Adoptions' focus on people is what truly sets it apart. The agency is not only a great resource for adoptive families but an excellent resource for birth mothers. The company website is straightforward and displays information clearly but does not convey a sense of judgment or persuasion. There are a few things to be aware of, such as the fact that American Adoptions is not able to serve residents of Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, or Oregon. Also be aware that the agency’s upper age limit is 50, so if you’re older and want to adopt, you’ll need to look at another adoption agency. 

Overall, we expect consumers to have a positive experience when working with American Adoptions. 

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4.1

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24 Reviews

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75%

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4%

1 grade

21%

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Lacey K Pavel Colorado Springs, CO

This agency care more about the adoptive family then they do about the birth mothers. DO NOT GO THROUGH THEM, esp if you are looking to have a closed adoption or semi closed. Absolutely awful people to deal with, every altercation i had with them was a headache. They made an experience that was already stressful and hard, even more so. I specifically asked them not to send pictures, and they did. I send over copies of hospital Bill's that were from birthing baby and they agreed to pay, now my bills are almost in collections, regardless of my constant communication with them. THAT DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE BIRTH MOMS. I'm telling you, look else where and avoid the headache, listen to the warning on here form the other birth mothers.

7 years ago

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Amelia Champaign, IL

I’m working with them right now I’m pregnant and I’m trying to Put my baby with a different family. Truthfully me and my boyfriend are blown away at their lack or urgency. They have really made this expeirnce so much more stressful I really regret working with them. For starters, I started working with a different adoption specialist (like the person you work with that finds families ect) and she had to take a leave which would have been fine if I had been informed. I had been calling over and over and leaving messages and no one had told me. Finally after like a month later they told me she was out and got me a new adoption specialist. So I let that go because I was still early in the pregnancy. So I started working with a new adoption specialist and that was fine I filled out all of the paper work and they gave me profiles, none of them ended up working out so they sent me more and I picked a new top 3. So I start getting closer and closer to my due date and they couldn’t find the families and don’t tell me until I called and asked what was going on. I told them how important it is for me to get to know the families many times and they’ve repeatedly told me that would happen I’m supposed to have visits before the baby comes. I’m 30 weeks now and have yet to have any contact and they have not contacted the family they put on hold for me. What if this family isn’t right? I don’t have a lot of time and I really don’t have enough time to get to know a family at all. I’ve been calling and still have gotten no call back I’ve left messages and honestly can’t believe how they’re treating this, in the beginning they say they understand how hard this is but honestly how can you put this off like this? I have no idea if I’m gonna get along with them or anything and from how long this is taking I don’t have time to get another profile and to top it all off I can’t work with any other agency. To make matters worse I was supposed to receive financial aid and help with rent, food, maternity clothes, and medical bills. At 30 weeks they’ve just gotten me approved for help with rent and I still haven’t gotten anything for maternity clothes or food. I honestly extremely regret working with this company. The support they’re saying they will provide has not been given. This is just awful. I wish I would have worked with someone else and they have made this experience extremely stressful

8 years ago

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Sue Matawan, NJ

Company rep told us one thing and then asked for payment, set up a home study which went well and then told us something different. When we tried to speak to a supervisor, we could not reach one but a colleague which I'm pretty sure was the same guy, told us they couldn't help and hung up on us. This experience ruined our trust with adoption companies as we were unsure who trust. Very disappointed.

4 years ago Edited March 11, 2022

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Tracy Coady Phoenixville, PA

My daughter placed her daughter just over 2 years ago, and the adoptive family changed the contact agreement at least 4 times in 1 year. She has had no contact in over a year except for emails and a few photos. No annual visit, not discussion of a call instead due to Covid. If you are a birth mom, get a BINDING contract so your post-adoption agreement is followed. If you are an adoptive family, DO NOT promise more than you are willing to follow through on-not all birth families want to pretend the baby doesn't exist, and taking advantage of vulnerable people is disgraceful.

5 years ago

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N Rivera CA

This lady I just talked to on the phone on February 26, 2022 @ 9:55am is absolutely impatient and unempathetic. The worst person on American Adoptions that I have spoken to ever

4 years ago