Which Agencies Have Adoption Disruption Insurance?

Adoption disruption insurance offers families like you crucial financial protection in the event of a disruption.

The first question you likely have is, “Which agencies have adoption disruption insurance?”

First, we encourage you to click here to complete our free online form to connect with an adoption specialist who can provide more in-depth detail about adoption insurance.

As you continue through the following information, we’ll break down the top adoption professionals in the United States, what (if any) financial protections they offer. We’ve included several types of professionals that specialize in different types of adoption to give you a sense of how various organizations do (or don’t) provide financial protection for adoption.

Based on a review of publicly available information, there is one agency that stands above the rest with a true adoption disruption financial program.

What is Adoption Disruption Insurance?

When an adoption disruption occurs—which national research shows happens in 10-25% of all adoptions—adoption disruption insurance returns your money or, in some cases, rolls it over so that you can continue pursuing your dream of parenthood through adoption without repaying fees.

This is a crucial form of protection on your journey to building a family.

So, of the top domestic adoption agencies in the U.S., who provide financial protection for adoptive families, and who doesn’t?

To give you the most accurate information, we researched the top adoption agencies in search of insurance and protections to help families avoid losing money when an adoption disruption occurs.

American Adoptions

With more than 30 years of experience completing adoptions, American Adoptions offers a host of in-house services, support and protections. Verywellfamily.com, a website specializing in providing adoption and foster care information, ranks American Adoptions as the country’s top large domestic adoption agency.

When it comes to adoption disruption insurance, they stand above the rest because they are the only agency to offer a true financial protection.

American Adoptions provides public information that explains the details of how this program works and verified data on how much it has saved families ($4.6 million since 2009). This was unique in our review of agencies and the adoption disruption insurance they do (or don’t) offer.

What does that mean for you?

In the event of an adoption disruption, your money is returned to you to pursue another opportunity at no additional cost or take a break with a full refund before continuing your journey.

That level of protection gives families peace of mind knowing their financial investment is secure and protected against unfortunate and unexpected disruptions.

“We understand how much of a commitment adoption is for adoptive families, which is why we have put the best protections in place, like adoption insurance for adoptive families who invest emotionally and financially into the adoption process.” — American Adoptions

You can contact American Adoptions by clicking here for their online form or by calling 1-800-ADOPTION to speak with a specialist to learn more.

Angel Adoption

Angel Adoption, a domestic adoption professional that operates as an independent contractor, does not mention financial protection or adoption disruption insurance. When it comes to adoption finances, this agency has a finance page for adoptive families.

However, when you click, you’re taken to an advertisement for LightStream, a third-party loan service.

The cost associated with adoption can be too much for many families to handle on their own, and adoption loans may be a viable option. But adoption financing and financial protection are not the same things.

If you are an adoptive family searching for information on protecting your finances, it could be concerning to find no information about adoption insurance.  While it is possible that Angel Adoption has some form of disruption insurance, we could find no public information to support that.

Children’s Home Society

Children’s home, based out of Minnesota, offers high-quality adoption services for foster care, infant and international adoption.

Their caring professionals provide the services you need to complete an adoption.

When it comes to financial protections for adoptive families like you, we were unable to locate any type of adoption insurance or protection program.

Most of their adoption finance information revolves around providing a finance coach and links to loans and grants to help adoptive families fund their journey.

But what happens when an adoption disruption occurs?

A prospective birth mother has the legal right to change her mind before officially completing the legal process, and even with an amazing adoption agency, this means some adoptions won’t work out.

While a financial coach and access to loans and grants are great for families looking to fund their adoption and plan for the investment, we were unable to find information on adoption insurance or financial protection with this program.

Spence-Chapin

Spence-Chapin has a long history of completing adoptions, including special-needs adoption, international adoptions and foster care adoptions.

Our research could not find information about adoption disruption insurance from Spence-Chapin. They do, however, provide this information on a refund policy:

“REFUND POLICY:

 Refunds are granted for services not rendered and will be granted within 60 days. In addition to above-listed fees to Spence-Chapin, clients may be responsible for additional costs, including but not limited to: a)expenses related to interim care; b) expenses related to legal representation of birth parent(s); c) medical expenses related to the birth of the child; d) translation/interpreter related expenses; e) travel expenses, f) expenses related to agency’s in-house legal representation such as court appearances and/or consultation; g) third party expenses such as child abuse clearances, fingerprinting, training etc.”

If you are pursuing international adoption, this is noteworthy with regard to reviewing Spence-Chapin’s overall financial breakdown:

“In addition to the above-listed fees to Spence-Chapin, clients will be responsible for additional costs to third-parties during the adoption process, including but not limited to:  country/program  fees of  primary provider  (contact  your primary provider  for cost estimates), training (typically $85-$250), professional translation of documents (typically $0.25-$0.50 per word), professional translator during home study interviews, calls and training if family’s preferred language is not English (typically $75-$100 per hour), child abuse clearances (typically $0-$20 per person per state), overnight/express delivery if requested by client (typically $0-$40), medical appointments (typically $0-$100 per person), certification of original documents such as birth certificates/marriage licenses/divorce decrees/ death certificates (typically $0-$25 per document), travel fees, visa fees, passport fees, court fees (contact your primary provider for cost estimates). All intercountry adoptions have USCIS fees.”

The fine print of agency contracts can be challenging to decipher, but it’s important for any family considering adoption to understand the investment they are committing to.

Many families feel more comfortable with additional adoption insurance and protections in place beyond a refund policy so that your pursuit of parenthood isn’t derailed when something doesn’t work out.

Adoption Consultants and Other Unregulated Professionals

Adoption consultants are a relatively new type of adoption professional. Consultants are unlicensed and only able to provide limited service, as you can see in this Limited Scope of Services statement from one consultant.

If you are looking into working with an adoption consultant, it is worth considering the risks of working with an unlicensed adoption professional, including the lack of adoption insurance.

In a 2021 Time Magazine article investigating private adoption consultants, facilitators and law centers, numerous accounts of misrepresentation, and fraudulent claims made to birth parents and adoptive families were found to be standard practice.

“Adoptive parents, former employees say, were sometimes provided inaccurate statistics on how often the company’s attempts to matchmake were successful. “They almost made it seem like birth mothers were lining up to give their babies away,” says one. “That’s not reality.” (Yellin says in the 2011 deposition that the data were outdated, not inaccurate.) Clients pay their fees in two nonrefundable installments, one at the beginning of the process and another after matching with a birth mother. As a result, former employees say, if the adoption fell through, there was little financial incentive for ANLC to rematch the parents, and those couples were routinely not presented to other birth mothers. “Counselors were being pressured to do this by the higher-ups,” claims one former employee, recalling instructions to “not match couples that are not bringing in money. Period.””

In the case of consultants, they collect your fee and refer you to a professional in their “network.” Meaning you’re at the mercy of agencies that likely don’t offer disruption insurance and put you at unnecessary risk.

Finding Adoption Disruption Insurance

As we researched the top agencies, we found a common theme: While many provide sources for adoption financing, adoption insurance is extremely rare.

Specifically, here is a list of the top agencies that do not mention adoption disruption insurance on their websites:

• Spence-Chapin
• The Adoption Consultancy
• Adoptions with Love
• Lifetime Adoption
• Adoption Network Law Center
• Lifelong Adoptions
• Children’s Home

Of the agencies researched for this report, American Adoptions is the only one to offer a true adoption insurance protection and risk-sharing program. For an adoptive family like you, that is vital to ensuring you can pursue this dream knowing you’re protected.

If you want to learn more about adoption insurance and why it’s important when considering which agency to work with, click here to connect online.