Adoption Counseling

Infants are among the most desired adoptees. However, most infant adoptions require placement before the child is born. This means adopters will need to connect with a future birth mother, supporting her in various financial and emotional ways. The extent of support she can request and adopters can legally pay depends on state laws. However, most states more or less agree that birth mother's medical, legal and counseling expenses can be covered or reimbursed by a future adopter. Whether or not these must be facilitated by an agency is up to the state, but many states do require the counseling fees to be deemed "reasonable."

Adoption counseling for birth mothers is helpful in the sense that it gives her a safe and professional environment in which she can express her concerns and renew her decision with conviction to a counselor.

Depending on the state, again, a birth mother may also request post-placement counseling for up to a number of weeks - often six weeks is the cut-off. The grieving process and hormonal changes following a placement and the adoption process is a lot to handle and adoption counseling may in the her best interest after the fact, especially if the adoption is taking place in a state with a rather large window for revoking placement consent.

Adoptive parents may be advised to attend adoption counseling if they are entering into a foster adoption or taking on a special needs or international adoptee. Adoption counseling can also help with adopters who have gone through unsuccessful fertility treatments and may not be 100 percent prepared to adopt and love a child who is not related to them.