Foster care agencies in Maryland help hopeful adoptive families grow their families in a few different ways:

• By helping foster parents adopt the children who are already in their care.
• By facilitating adoption for hopeful adoptive families who want to adopt a child in foster care whose parents have already had their parental rights terminated.

Although foster care adoption is a wonderful way to grow your family, adoption isn’t the end goal of any foster situation. The state always aims to reunify a child with their birth parents.

If you would rather pursue private domestic infant adoption instead of working with a foster care agency in Maryland, you can call 1-800-ADOPTION or fill out American Adoptions’ free online form for more information.

On the other hand, you can keep reading to find out more information about foster care and foster care adoption agencies in Maryland.

What are Foster Care Agencies in Maryland?

Foster care agencies, also known as state adoption agencies or public adoption agencies, work with the state to place kids in the foster care system in hopeful adoptive families.

The foster care system is public, not private, like other types of adoption agencies. This means the state runs the foster care system, and foster care adoption agencies help Maryland process foster care adoptions.

Who Uses Foster Agencies in Maryland?

People who choose to adopt from local foster care agencies in Maryland are:

• Comfortable adopting children who are older and who are part of sibling groups
• Prepared to adopt children who have some degree of trauma
• Interested in growing their family but don’t have the financial means to work with a private adoption agency
• Prepared the child they are caring for may end up being reunified with their biological parents

Potential adoptive families must meet certain criteria to pursue foster adoption through foster care facilities in Maryland:

• A parent must be 21 years old
• They must have the financial means to support a child
• A parent has to finish at least 27 hours of training
• Finish an approved adoption home study

If you want to pursue foster care adoption, the Child Welfare Information Gateway has information to help you make an agency decision.

Other Types of Adoption Types in Maryland

If you aren’t sure that foster care adoption through foster care agencies in Maryland is the right choice for your situation, you can always consider private domestic adoption or international adoption.

Private Adoption

Similar to how foster care adoption is facilitated through a public adoption agency, private adoption is facilitated through a private adoption agency.

Private adoption is ideal for families who:

• Want to adopt an infant from the U.S.
• Would prefer to bond with their child from their birth date onward
• Are interested in getting to know the birth parents and building a relationship with them
• And more

Private adoption in Maryland is most often facilitated by local (regional) adoption agencies or national adoption agencies.

Local Adoption Agency

A local adoption agency works with prospective birth moms and hopeful adoptive families who live in Maryland. These agencies are typically on the smaller side and often provide in-person services.

Although local adoption agencies can provide legal, safe adoptions, they may not be able to provide all the services a national adoption agency can offer.

National Adoption Agency

A national adoption agency works with prospective birth moms and hopeful adoptive families who live throughout the United States.

These agencies are often larger and can provide many additional adoption services.

American Adoptions is a national adoption agency with over 30 years of experience. Our adoption agency specializes in facilitating infant adoption in the U.S. Some of our agency’s services include:

• Hopeful adoptive family choices: Our agency works with hundreds of adoptive families, giving prospective birth moms a lot of adoptive family choices. This ensures every birth mom can pick the family they feel will best meet their child’s needs.
• Financial protection for adoptive families: Our agency has a Risk-Sharing Program that ensures that hopeful adoptive families receive their money back if they experience an adoption disruption. This allows you to pursue a new adoption opportunity or to take a break from your adoption journey.
• 24/7 support: All adoptive families and birth mothers have access to 24/7 support throughout the adoption process. This ensures that you can find answers to all your adoption questions no matter what time it is.
• And more

International Adoption

Although international adoption isn’t as common as it once was, adoptive families can still choose to grow through international adoption. If you decide to pursue this type of adoption, be prepared to experience an unpredictable adoption timeline and potentially high and unexpected adoption fees.

Next Steps to Adoption in Maryland

If you want to talk to one of our adoption specialists about the differences between working with foster care agencies in Maryland and choosing private domestic adoption, you can fill out our free online form for unbiased advice. And if you do decide to pursue private adoption with our agency, we’re happy to help you through the process.

Disclaimer
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