The legal placement of children with adoptive families can be acheived in several ways.  Direct placement adoptions and agency placement adoptions are the two major ways of placement of children for adoption.  Direct placement adoption allows birth parents the right to select and consent to the adoption of their child to a particular approved adoptive home without the assistance of a child placing agency.  Whereas, in agency placement adoptions birth parents give their child to an adoption agency and the agency in turn places the child with prospective adoptive parents.

Child placement agencies must be licensed bythe state government and must comply with the licensing rules of the state child placement agency.  In an agency adoption, a licensed adoption agency is also a party to the adoption petition.

Prospective adoptive parents applying to a child placement agencies must be assessed and evaluated.  Both single and married persons may adopt children.  If a married person intends to adopt a child, the consent of both spouses is generally required.

For the most part, the child placement agency takes responsibility for the recruitment of prospective adoptive families.  Adoptive families are provided with factual information about the child.  The child’s medical records are also passed on to an adoptive family except that information reveal ing the identity of the child’s birth family is redacted.