Best Adoption Agencies

American Adoptions, based in Overland Park, Kansas, facilitates about 300 domestic adoptions each year throughout the United States. It is a fully licensed, not-for-profit agency that works across the nation. The agency has three different placement programs: traditional, agency-assisted, and identified adoption. All programs include adoption education, birth parent support and counseling, and documenting finalization.  

Independent Adoption Center is fully licensed in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. The agency can work with birthparents and adoptive families in almost every other state in the U.S. when working in tangent with a cooperative agency in that state. The agency has been operating for over 34 years, has placed over 4,300 newborns since that time.

Bethany Christian Services specializes in both domestic and international adoption among other services, including foster care, refugee assistance, post-adoption services, and youth and family counseling. The national headquarters is in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with other offices in 35 states and additional global offices. Bethany operates international adoption programs in 11 different countries and also provides home study and post-adoption services for both full-service clients and adoptive families working through other agencies.  

Holt International, based in Eugene, Oregon, provides adoption, orphan care, and other family services in 13 countries: Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Mongolia, North Korea, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, and the United States. The agency works with families in all 50 states to adopt internationally. Adoption services in the United States include domestic adoption in Illinois (through partner agency Holt-Sunny Ridge), adoptee camps, birth search assistance, clinical counseling and resources, and post-adoption services.

A Family for Every Child is an Oregon-based agency with the goal of placing foster children in permanent families. They facilitate home studies and adoption placements solely in Oregon and Washington, but their online Matching Assistance Program is available to families across the United States. Founded in 2006, the agency has expanded in size and scope over the years to incorporate several different initiatives that contribute to their goal of placing all waiting children in the state, especially those with special needs or who are challenging to place for various reasons.  

Pact exclusively serves African American, Asian, Latino, Native American, and multiracial children born in the United States. Based in Emeryville, CA, the organization facilitates adoptions in all 50 states. In addition to placement services, Pact provides education, support, and community for adoptees and their families in the years following placement.

Children’s House International (CHI) is non-profit international adoption agency serving adoptive families across the United States. It is fully licensed in Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Texas, Utah, and Washington. The agency’s focus is supporting families in the adoption process while serving disadvantaged children through various humanitarian efforts.

CHI currently has programs operating in 11 countries: Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Hungary, India, Mexico, Poland, Republic of Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine. In 2015, about half of the 147 placements were made through the China program and approximately 25 percent from Ethiopia, with the remaining countries making up approximately 25 percent.

Alliance for Children has been in operation since 1974 and has placed over 3,000 children since that time. Based in Needham, Massachusetts, Alliance facilitates both domestic and international adoptions for families throughout the United States with international programs in Vietnam, Colombia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Taiwan. The agency is licensed to conduct home studies in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas. Alliance staff members consider themselves advocates for older children and children with special needs and the agency offers financial assistance to orphanages to improve the lives of children awaiting placement.  

WACAP stands for the World Association for Children and Parents. Based in Seattle, Washington, the agency also has offices in New York and Wisconsin and is licensed to do home studies in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Conneticut, Iowa, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington. The agency has international adoption programs in Bulgaria, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, India, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. They also do domestic adoptions, placing children through the US Kids and Waiting Children programs. 

Heart to Heart is headquartered in Sandy, Utah and does most of their placing in Utah, but will work in any state that recognizes their Utah license. They are also specifically licensed in Illinois and Florida (and have offices in those states as well as New York) due to the states’ specialized requirements. Founded in 2008, the agency has placed about 50 children per year. In 2015, the majority of children were placed in Utah, with children also placed in Kansas, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Texas. They have an A+ rating, with zero complaints filed in the last three years.