Types of Adoption

There are several different types of adoptions:

Public: Children in the public child welfare system are placed in permanent homes by public, government-operated agencies or by contracted private agencies.

Private agency: Children are placed in nonrelatives' homes through the services of a licensed (nonprofit or for-profit) agency.

Independent: Children are placed in relatives' or nonrelatives' homes directly by the birth parents or through the services of either a medical doctor, a member of the clergy, an attorney, or a licensed or unlicensed facilitator. (Independent adoption is illegal in some states.)

Kinship: Children are placed in relatives' homes, with or without the services of a public agency.

Stepparent: Children are adopted by the spouse of one birth parent.

Source: National Adoption Information Clearinghouse

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