In a private agency adoption, the birth parents usually choose to remain involved in the adoption process and personally select the adoptive parents they feel are perfect for their baby. In today’s infant adoptions, most birth parents choose to have an open adoption so they can remain in contact with their child and the adoptive parents after the adoption. The agency acts as a professional mediator to connect birth and adoptive parents.

If prospective birth parents or adoptive parents need assistance in locating one another, a private adoption agency can get involved to match the parents. Typically, the agency provides adoption services, such as counseling and financial support (if allowed by state law), to the birth parents. The prospective birth parents often choose the adoptive family by reviewing profiles of interested parents, which include non-identifying information and photos of the prospective adoptive family.

Adoption agencies also mediate pre-placement contact between prospective birth and adoptive families, so they can get to know each other better and build a solid relationship foundation prior to the adoption. This relationship can continue throughout the adoption process and beyond in the form of an open or semi-open adoption, should the birth parents choose this level of openness. Adoption agencies are experienced at helping birth and adoptive families communicate with one another to help establish trust and good rapport between the two parties, with the hope that they can continue to communicate on their own comfortably and freely in the future.

After the adoptive parents have been chosen and after the child is born, each birth parent may give consent to guardianship of the child in favor of the agency. This consent gives the agency the right to place the child for adoption. In Maryland, the birth parents have 30 days after signing to revoke their consent. Meanwhile, the adoption agency files a petition in the appropriate circuit court to obtain legal guardianship of the child. Once the revocation period expires, the court will grant legal guardianship to the agency and terminate the parental rights of the birth parents. While the guardianship proceeding is pending, the child will be placed with the prospective adoptive parents, if the parents are willing to assume the risk of placement before the parental rights are terminated. The child will then be placed with the adoptive family. 

In both Virginia and the District of Columbia, the agency obtains the right to consent based on the consents signed by the birth parents, and a court order is not required to terminate the birth parents’ rights.  In this instance, the birth parents’ rights are terminated in accordance with the relevant statute.  

Following a required post-placement supervision period, the agency gives its consent to the adoption to the adoptive parents. The adoptive parents proceed to finalize their adoption by filing a petition for adoption in the circuit court in the county where they reside.