What Are Adoption Consultants?

Adoption offers a wonderful opportunity to start or grow your family. And, having the right professional by your side to help with the emotional and financial hardships of the adoption process is crucial. You may need a helpful adoption consultant to relieve any stress and answer any questions you have.

There is a lot involved in a successful adoption, as every choice you make is important. So, some families turn to adoption consultants for help. Working with an adoption consultant is becoming more popular in some communities and is still fairly new.

If this is something you are considering, you’ll want to research the advantages and disadvantages of adoption consultants before diving in.

To learn more about how an adoption consultant can help you along your adoption journey, you can call us at 1-800-ADOPTION now or fill out our online contact form today.

What is an Adoption Consultant?

An adoption consultant is an unlicensed person or organization who an adoptive family can hire to provide them guidance throughout the adoption process. They make recommendations on important situations such as:

• Adoption agencies

• Home study providers

• Adoption financing options

• And more

While adoption consultants can provide information and direction during the adoption process, they cannot actually provide any of the necessary services in the adoption process. They act as a third party and exist outside of adoption professionals’ work, as you can see in this consultant’s statement of limited services.

Understanding the Limits of Adoption Consultants

Families can understandably feel overwhelmed when they are considering the adoption process. But, are adoption consultants the most helpful option?

While the intention of adoption consultants is undoubtedly good, there are some causes for caution, such as:

Absence of Regulation and Oversight

First and foremost, adoption consultants are not regulated in any way. Unlike a licensed adoption agency, there is no objective review of their past work or the type of advice they are giving. This doesn’t mean that adoption consultants are doing bad work, but it does mean that verifying the legitimacy of their work is difficult.

Difficulty Verifying Quality

Along the same lines, the quality of adoption consultants can vary drastically. Since there is no regulation or review, figuring out the quality of any given adoption consultant’s work is a hard thing to do. While an adoption consultant may claim things that sound good, such as low wait times, there is no way of verifying this information.

Asking questions is one of the best ways to determine if an adoption consultant is legitimate. Having a handy adoption professional tool with you when you’re speaking with an adoption consultant can help sift out any possible red flags.

Additionally, you can carefully read adoption consultants’ reviews and seek out references from past clients to clarify whether they will be trustworthy and helpful to your circumstance.

Lack of Services

Adoption consultants can only give helpful information.

They cannot perform the necessary tasks to complete an adoption, which means that at some point, you will still need to hire another adoption professional to complete a placement legally. Often, full-service adoption agencies are able to fulfill the role of an adoption consultant and provide the services and support necessary for a successful adoption, so hiring a consultant is just an added (and unnecessary) expense.

Are Adoption Consultants Legal?

While nearly every state has some sort of limitation or restrictions on the use of adoption consultants, they are currently not considered illegal in all 50 states. That could all be changing soon. In late 2024 the FTC sent out adoption warniing letters to 31 consultants and facilitators. The letter stated concerns of unethical and illegal practices. Agencies that recieved the letter could face up to $50,000 fines per violation, will continue to be monitored, and may face further action.

In addition to the FTC adoption warning letters, Congress is currently working to pass The Adopt Act, which is a bill that would make it illegal for adoption services to be provided by unlicensed organizations. This would ultimately eliminate consultants and facilitators, putting anyone using their services at risk of abrupt shutdowns.

How a Good Adoption Agency Can Provide Better Service than an Adoption Consultant

A full-service adoption agency like American Adoptions can provide expert guidance while also being able to complete the adoption for you. This eliminates the need to jump between many different professionals during the adoption process.

When a family works with an adoption agency like American Adoptions, their adoption specialist is their consultant through the process. Adoption specialists are trained and certified. Their work is reviewed and held to high standards through state adoption laws and regulations. They can advise, counsel, encourage and support adoptive families throughout the adoption process while also completing the actual requirements needed in an adoption.

A family’s adoption specialist will understand the ins and outs of their case better than anyone, and the adoption specialist is the best person to turn to for advice.

To learn more about how our adoption specialists guide families through the adoption process, or to begin your adoption process today, you can get more free information online or when you call 1-800-ADOPTION. A helpful adoption specialist will be happy to answer your questions. 

Disclaimer
Information available through these links is the sole property of the companies and organizations listed therein. American Adoptions provides this information as a courtesy and is in no way responsible for its content or accuracy.