The Adoption Center, founded in 1972, is committed to being a resource to families and to agencies who seek the permanency of caring homes for children. By listening to prospective adopters, we have found that many of them face obstacles from the beginning of their adoption journey. Often the most difficult part is finding the best agency with which to work. As one of our families told us,

"It would have been a big help if we could have begun with the right agency--as opposed to starting, going through part of the process, finding a problem and having to make a change and then starting all over."

Feeling welcome at an agency and trusting it is working on your behalf is key. Agencies that prospective adoptive parents view as friendly and well-equipped to handle their particular needs share several attributes. These include being:

• Responsive (e.g., answering phone calls, returning messages within specified timeframes, following up on unresolved issues without being prompted, etc.)
• Available (e.g., willingness to answer additional questions as they arise)
• Realistic when setting prospective parents’ expectations
• Knowledgeable about the workings of the adoption system and sharing that knowledge with prospective adoptive parents
• Honest in their communications to prospective adoptive parents and educating them.

Connecting… Bringing Families and Agencies Together is here to help you find the agency which is a best fit for your needs. View what an agency has to say about itself and read reviews of the agency from people who have already used it. (And remember to come back and leave your comments when you have progressed through the adoption process.)

We also have other resources to assist you.

Our website, www.adopt.org, is also rich with information about adoption. Under the "How to Adopt" section, discover the 10 Steps of the adoption process. If you are considering adopting from the foster care system, please take our online course, Foster Family to Forever Family, for an overview of the process. Click on "AdoptLearn" then "Overview" to find the link.

We are delighted you have found us! We are ready to partner with you during your adoption agency search.

Please accept our best wishes for success!

Adoption Center