If you're considering adopting a baby and feeling overwhelmed at deciding which type of adoption is right for you, I get it. My friend, I've been there. I spent so many hours Googling, trying to figure out which type of adoption was right for me. I felt so frustrated in the process. 

It wasn't until I discovered that there were five questions that I needed to answer so I could quickly decide which type of adoption was right for me. 

Before I get to the five questions, I need to talk to you about the different types of adoption.

Different Types of Adoption

Foster Care Adoption

This is where you’re adopting a child from the foster care system in your state. This means a child is eligible for adoption, in that the parental rights of their biological family have already been terminated.

International Adoption

This is where you’re adopting internationally from another country. There are some countries that allow you to adopt from their country and some that don’t. Each of the countries have a different set of requirements and restrictions as it relates to adopting from their country. 

Private Adoption

This is really where I’m focused. Private adoption means that you are adopting a child from an individual and it is an agreement between you and the expectant parent that gave birth to the child or is going to give birth to the child. This is a private agreement that you work out together, working with an adoption attorney or agency to facilitate the communication and the legal paperwork associated with adopting the child. 

There are different types of private adoption. 

Embryo adoption: This is where you adopt an embryo from genetic parents that no longer wish to parent this child or don’t wish to birth this child. You would be adopting the embryos from them either for you to carry or for a surrogate to carry.

Adoption agency: An adoption agency is going to match hopeful adoptive families together based upon a set of criteria they are both looking for in their corresponding partner. 

Adoption consultant: Consultants are most likely networking you with multiple agencies.
Different consultants work in different ways. It’s always important to clarify with them. But most of the time, they are actually going out and either helping you choose an agency or are actually sharing your adoption profile with multiple agencies within their network in order to get you additional adoption opportunities.

Self Matching: When you are self-matching your adoption, that means that you are working to find an expectant parent yourself to match with. Now you’re likely going to need to use an adoption agency or attorney to help finalize that adoption, but you’re doing the legwork up front to find potential match families on your own.

Now that you understand the different types of adoption, let’s move into those questions that are going to help you decide which type of adoption is right for you.

5 Questions You Need To Answer Before Adopting A Baby

Do you want to birth the child?

Do you want to be the gestational carrier of the child? If so, then embryo adoption is going to be the right path for you, my friend. If not, we need to move on to decide between the other three types of private domestic adoption, which would be working with an adoption agency or consultant, or self matching your adoption.

How should you share your adoption profile?

Am I willing to get out there and network my profile within my network on social media, through paid advertising, leaving business cards or brochures with trusted networks that I see in real life every day, etc. If you are willing to do that, then self-matching might be a viable option for you. But there are also a few other caveats that you need to work through. 

How much can I afford to spend on my adoption?

You need to determine what your budget is for adoption. This is going to play a large part in your adoption journey and deciding which type of adoption is right for you. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the funds already raised and ready for your adoption. You can always fundraise. 

Am I willing to apply fundraise, borrow, or apply for grants?

You have to decide if you are willing to fundraise or apply for grants to increase your budget to be open to multiple types of adoption.

What types of support do I need?

Next you really need to start thinking about the types of support that you need through your adoption journey. Do you want someone that’s going to go do all of the legwork for you? Someone who will share your profile and ultimately just bring you adoption opportunities? Or do you want someone that’s going to give you recommendations on multiple different agencies that you could be working with, or potentially even share your profile for you with multiple different agencies to find opportunities? All of those questions really come together to bring to life which type of adoption is right for you.

If you need help deciding what type of adoption is right for you then head on over to myadoptioncoach.com/quiz to take my free quiz, or check out this video to learn more about how to adopt a baby in 2023.