American Adoptions, based in Overland Park, KS, facilitates about 300 domestic infant adoptions each year throughout the United States. They are fully licensed in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida. They can provide services to couples in other states but may need to work in tandem with another agency or organization if their licensure is not recognized in a particular state, especially with home study preparation and completion and other legal matters. 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.  

• Family Profile
• Adoption Disruption Insurance
• Agency-Assisted Program
• Breakdown

Family Profile

American Adoptions Clients are given a Show Pro Media video kit to film footage for a video profile to showcase to birthparents in addition to still photos. They have 15 days to film necessary footage, which can include neighborhood, pets, home, family members' personalities, talents, and anything else that prospective parents want birth parents to see. Video specialists are available to help with this process and turn it into a cohesive video for birth parents to view online and watch repeatedly throughout the adoption process and beyond.

Adoption Disruption Insurance

In the event of most adoption disruptions - such as if the matched birth mother decides to parent after all - American Adoptions will refund any lost fees to clients, including living and medical expenses on behalf of the birth mother, legal expenses, and fixed agencies. The agency makes it clear that this is a direct refund back to the client rather than a policy that rolls fees over to a new adoption situation within the agency. They have refunded 100% of lost fees in 98% of families' adoption disruptions.

Agency-Assisted Program

American Adoptions aims to bring light the shortage of families adopting babies of African-American descent through the agency-assisted program. Parents must be 22-50 years old. This program has three main advantages over the traditional program:

1. Adoptive parents in this program get more exposure to birthmothers
2. There is generally a shorter waiting time to adopt (2-15 months from approval to placement)

Range of total cost: $38,000 - $41,000

Breakdown

Application: $295
Fees depend on state of residence, birthmother living expenses, medical and legal fees, and travel costs.

Adoptive parents can set a cap on the total amount of money they are willing to pay to complete an adoption, and will only be presented to birthmothers whose situations cost less than that amount. Identified adoptions, where the adoptive family and birthparents match on their own then seek adoption services, will have an individualized fee schedule depending on services needed.

• Traditional Program
• Gender-Specific Fee

Traditional Program

While similar to the agency-assisted program in its process, it is generally more costly. Additionally, parents with more than two children already must participate in the agency-assisted program, where other families can choose between the two. Parents must be 25-50 years old. The wait time for this program is 1-12 months from approval to placement.

Traditional Program (infants of non-African-American descent):
Range of total cost: $44,000 - $48,000

Gender-Specific Fee

The agency charges an extra fee for adoptive parents who want to request a specific gender.

The gender-specific fee seems extraneous when many agencies allow parents to set preferences regarding sex, race, and other criteria at no extra cost. Additionally, larger families (with 2+ children) can only adopt African-American babies. Aside from these preference limitations, American Adoptions stands out from the rest with its risk-sharing program. It is the most secure refund policy the Review Team has encountered to date. Where the stakes for financial devastation can be high with multiple failed adoptions, clients can choose American Adoptions without that specific worry.