What is a designated adoption?
A designated adoption is one in which the adopting parents locate a pregnant woman considering adoption for her
child. After identifying the birth mother, the adopting parents request an
adoption agency or attorney to oversee the adoption.
In some cases, the pregnant woman herself finds a
family who she would like as the adoptive parents for her child and
then requests the assistance of an agency or attorney.
In the states that do not ban independent adoption, designated adoptions may be an option; however, in the states that do ban non-agency adoption, the
only form of designated adoption allowed is through an adoption agency.
Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota and North Dakota allow
identified or designated adoptions within certain constraints.
A designated adoption may be open or may be confidential or anonymous adoption, depending on state laws and the wishes of the parties involved.
When an adoption agency oversees the designated
adoption, a key advantage to the pregnant woman as well as to the
adopting couple is that they will all receive professional counseling
and the full range of agency services. If, for some reason, the
adopting couple is deemed unsuitable or they drop out of the adoption,
the agency can recommend other approved couples to the birth mother.
Also, increasing numbers of attorneys are requiring counseling or
pre-placement home studies of prospective adoptive parents and are also
giving birth mothers the opportunity to receive professional counseling
as well.
The disadvantage of a designated adoption for most
couples is the difficulty in locating a pregnant woman considering
adoption. When an agency becomes involved it is also possible that an
agency social worker could veto an adoption for any number of reasons,
even though a couple may have invested heavily of their emotions, time
and money. Another disadvantage of an identified adoption is that the
birth mother may have difficulty in choosing appropriate parents,
particularly if she is close to delivering and feels desperately eager
to resolve her situation.
Some also point out that adoptive parents might be
tempted to agree to virtually any request or demand by the birth mother
because they are so intent on adopting a child. This is one of the same
disadvantages of open adoption.
Later on, they may not wish to carry out the birth mother's requests,
such as providing photographs or continuing contact, and may be
reluctant or refuse to do so. Even if they have formally contracted
with the birthmother to perform such acts, it's not at all certain such
a contract would hold up in court once the adoption is finalized. There
are reported cases on both sides of the issue.
Furthermore, although most couples are very eager
to adopt an infant once they've decided on this course, they may not be
psychologically or emotionally ready to succeed right away; for
example, they may not have fully resolved anxiety over infertility and
may not have faced adoption issues that need to be considered.
It is not clear how many designated adoptions are
occurring nationwide; however, there does seem to be a slight upward
trend in the number of adoptive parents who aggressively seek
birth parents for the purpose of adopting infants. Most adoptive parents
who do locate a pregnant woman proceed with a designated adoption
through an attorney in an independent adoption instead of an agency adoption, rather than risk losing control of the situation.
Adoption agencies that work with identified
adoptions generally believe that people who wish to have identified
adoptions can usually find an attorney to perform an independent adoption.
But they believe that the counseling provided by an agency will at
least ensure that the birth mother understands her options and the
adopting parents learn some basics about adoption.
Agencies that do designated adoptions reserve the
right to disapprove the adoption if the match is clearly inappropriate
or there is some valid reason to disapprove the adoptive parents' home
study. It is tacitly understood, however, that if the adoptive parents
complete a home study and are approved, then they will adopt the child
of the pregnant woman they have identified to the agency.