Also known as: adoption agencies
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A licensed child-placement organization that serves as an intermediary between birth parents and prospective adoptive parents. The agency assumes legal custody of the child and selects the adoptive family after the birth parent voluntarily relinquishes parental rights.
Audrey Ashton, a birth mother in State A, contacted an unlicensed network that matched her with Anthony Arnold. After they signed a private agreement, the licensed adoption agency Field Securities took custody of the newborn and selected Arnold as the adoptive parent. The court upheld the adoption because the agency performed the required custody transfer and selection functions.
Adrian Aguilar and Alexis Archer, a same-sex couple, applied to an adoption agency after their marriage was recognized. The agency accepted their application, took custody of the child from the birth mother, and placed the child with them. The placement proceeded without challenge under the expanded definition of marriage.
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Alice Atkins placed her child through an adoption agency. The agency notified the unwed father Andrew Avery of the proceeding after he had registered with the putative father registry. Because the agency ensured formal service, the adoption decree withstood later challenge by the father.
Alliance Holdings, a religiously affiliated adoption agency, declined to certify same-sex couples for placement. The city terminated its contract, forcing the agency to refer couples elsewhere while continuing limited operations with other families.
Apollo Energy's employee health plan required proof of parentage for coverage. The adoption agency handling the placement obtained the birth mother's consent and arranged formal relinquishment before finalizing the adoption with the plan participant's family.
A licensed adoption agency must ultimately take legal custody and select the adoptive family. When it performs those core statutory functions, even after private matching and negotiation have occurred, the placement satisfies the agency-intermediary requirement in most jurisdictions.
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Yes. Under the Uniform Parentage Act, an adoption agency authorized by state law or a licensed child-placement agency is expressly listed as a party that may maintain a proceeding to adjudicate parentage.
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The agency must serve the registered putative father with formal civil-process notice of any proceeding to terminate parental rights or finalize an adoption. Informal contact such as a phone call or regular mail does not satisfy the statutory requirement.
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…for example, a religious college provides married student housing only to opposite-sex married couples, or a religious adoption agency declines to place children with same-sex married couples. Indeed, the Solicitor General candidly acknowledged that the tax exemptions of some religious institutions would be in question if…