Hoping to adopt a baby but turned off by everything you hear?
The cost. The wait time. Birthmothers changing their minds. The red tape. The scammers. The list goes on.
Wouldn’t it be nice to find a way to adopt a baby quickly and cheaply?
The good news is there are ways to speed up your wait time and save money. But adopting quickly and cheaply isn’t always the best way to go.
Jumping into a situation before you’re ready or taking shortcuts could create even more problems, costing you time and money in the short-time. And there could be longterm consequences as well. Your baby won’t always be a baby.
One day they will grow up and ask question about their adoption. Will you be able to answer their questions honestly and with your head held high? Make sure that as you go through the process everything you do is above board and in the best interests of your child.
That said, there are way to shorten your wait and find an adoption match affordably and ethically. But to do that, you’ll going to need to put in a lot of the work yourself.
Are you ready to do that? Great, then read on!
Adopting A Baby Quickly
Adopting a baby today usually takes months or years to complete. That’s because there are so many moving parts to the process. Some of them include:
- Completing your home study
- Finding your adoption specialists
- Creating an adoption profile
- Networking your doaptoin profile to connect with expectat parents considering aodtion
- Finding a match with expectant parents
- Completing counselling and legal work for yourself and the expectant parents
- Placing the child and signing consents
- Finalizing the adoption
It’s enough to make your head spin. To cut through the red tape and delays, many hopeful parents sign up with an agency. An agency will guide you through every step of the process, from the home study to the finalization, and do everything for you.
This route is usually more costly than finding a baby to adopt yourself through independent or self-matching adoption. But it’s safer and less risky. And you have a team and experienced adoption specialists to support you if anything goes wrong.
Ways To Speed Up Your Wait Time
If you want to speed up the process even more, and money isn’t an issue, you could sign up with multiple agencies, as long as your agency allows it. The more exposure you have, the more chances you’ll have of finding a match and becoming a parent.
But there are other ways to speed up your journey that are less expensive.
- Be open to all genders, races and ethnicities
- Be open to special needs
- Have all of your documents and clearance ready to go for your home study
- Hire an adoption consultant
- Sign up with an adoption profile service
- Create an amazing parent profile
- Build a marketing campaign
- Buy ads
- Be proactive
- Speak to other adoptive parents to learn what worked for them
- Tell everyone you know that you’re adopting
Keep in mind that just because you do one or more of these things doesn’t mean that your adoption wait will automatically be shortened. But the more things you do and the more proactive you are, the sooner you’ll find a match. And the sooner you find a match, the sooner you’ll adopt a baby–provided everything goes according to plan.
Other Ways To Shorten Your Wait Time
Finding a baby to adopt is a bit of a crapshoot. You never know when, how or why a match will happen. Some people wait weeks or months, others wait years.
Making a connection with expectant parent with an adoption plan is a bit like throwing things against the wall. Do it enough times and eventually something will stick. Still, if you’re willing to take charge of your adoption journey, there are ways to improve your odds.
Make sure that whatever you do, however, you do it for the right reasons. For instance, don’t take shortcuts with the expectant parents counselling just because you want to save money or you don’t think it’s not important or the pregnant woman you meet says she’s super confident about her decision and don’t need to speak to anyone. Cutting corners or jumping into a situation before you’re ready could come back to haunt you.
Make Sure Your Adoption Is Ethically As Well As Legally Sound
If, let’s say, the expectant parents don’t understand what they’re getting into, they may back out of their plan and decide to parent. Or if you advertise “All birthmother expenses covered” they may only be in it for the money.
Or, down the road you may find out your child has a serious allergy or medical issue that you’ve not aware of, either because your adoption specialist didn’t do their due diligence or they or the expectant parents didn’t tell you. Bottom line: know when you can—and can’t–take a shortcut.
Adopting A Baby Cheaply
Babies aren’t commodities, although sometimes it may feel that way when you’re going through some of the promotional material out there—everyone promising to find you a baby cheaply.
There are many ways to find and adopt a baby, and some are more affordable than others. But saving money isn’t everything not should it be your top priority.
In fact, if you want to become a parent through adoption and finances are an issue or you just want to save money for other things like your child’s education, private domestic adoption may not be right for you. You might want to look at adopting a child through the public system or foster care, where the costs are minimal or free.
Independent Adoption Is One Way To Do It
When adopting a baby through independent adoption, it’s important to work with licensed and ethical professionals. People who promise to help you find a baby quickly or cheaply usually aren’t regulated, meaning there’s no way to hold them to account. They can promise you the world and if they don’t come through there’s usually nothing you can do about it.
If you’re a go-getter, resourceful, creative, patient and have a thick skin you may try independent or self-matching adoption and find an adoption match yourself. That means reaching out to people who may be pregnant or not ready to parent and are looking at adoption as an option.
But if you do decide to take your search for a baby into your own hands and are not working with an agency or other professionals, you’ll need to filter all of the responses yourself and be prepared for scammers–people taking advantage of your vulnerability for attention (usually) or money (sometimes).
Be Careful About Scammers
No matter which way you try to find a match without going through a licensed agency, there will be bumps along the road—more risks and potentially more scams. Working with an agency will reduce the number of scammers you come into contact with since the expectant mother (or parents) you’ll meet will already be screened ahead of time..
However, while good vetting can reduce the chances of an expectant mother changing her mind, it can’t eliminate it. That is one of the downsides of private domestic adoption. So again, if it’s an issue for you, you may want to pursue another route where birthparents are not involved in the process. In public and international adoption, for instance, the birthparents are typically out of the picture while the children are older and have some sort of special need.
Finding An Adoption Match On Your Own
If you are interested in reaching out to expectant parents for an adoption match, some of the ways you can find them by yourself include
- Social media
- Websites
- Online Parent Profile Services
- Blogs
- Web ads
- Word of Mouth
Some methods like word of mouth are free while others like creating a website cost money and may be a bit more complicated and time-consuming.
Once you learn more about them you’ll be able to choose the method or tools that are right for you. The more time you spending researching your options and learning about the pros and cons now, the more equipped and confident you’ll be to find a match later.
At the end of the day, there is no one fast, cheap or easy way to adopt a baby and become a parent. However, if you’re willing to do the work and hire the right professionals, there are ways to cut down your wait time and save money. And you might even enjoy yourself while you’re doing it!
Learn more about our adoption profile plans or contact us for more information.