Adoptions are expensive, with average costs in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 and higher. As an adopted child of parents with very modest means, I can tell you how important it is for the expenses of adopting to be transparent so families can make informed choices.
According to the most recent national adoption data available, 1,281 children were adopted in Utah in 2019. Almost half of those adoptions were facilitated by private adoption agencies. And after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, it’s likely that the number of adoptions, in Utah and beyond, will increase in the coming years.
This week, Utah legislators are considering an innovative law that increases the opportunities for adoption in the state, offering hope that more children might have forever families. The legislation (SB154) does three things: expands support for adoption by providing transparency about costs and consistent reporting of fees, facilitates the difficult choice facing birth mothers about whether to relinquish a child, and tries to grow the adoption marketplace.
The bill prohibits fees for services not provided, and Medicaid continues to be there for birth mothers. Because we cannot write good policy without data, the bill standardizes the reporting of fees and relays this information back to legislative committees and the Judicial Council. This consistency and transparency will allow families to compare apples to apples when considering adoption.
I know costs mattered to my parents. When my parents adopted my sister and me, my dad was a Navy welder and my mom was a stay-at-home mother. They literally cleaned people’s garages to have enough money for their daughters. As the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan, has said, it’s really important that welders, nurses, firefighters, teachers, janitors — every person who wants to adopt — can afford to do so. Helping families compare fees is an important step in bringing down costs.
Next, the bill provides a novel way for helping mothers make the difficult choice to relinquish a child. It allows birth mothers to direct, insofar as it is possible, the placement of a child in a family that makes sense to her. Adoption agencies are allowed and encouraged to follow “the good faith wishes of the birth mother as to optimal placement.”
We know this happens in private placement adoption. And this makes sense in agency adoptions, too. A birth mother who feels unable to raise a child should be able to have confidence that if she chooses adoption, the child will be raised in a family that provides the best opportunities.
I have no idea what considerations my birth mother had to take into account when deciding to give me up for adoption. But I can say this: as a mother myself, I know it must take incredible courage to break the bond with one’s child. When a birth mother comes to this difficult juncture, we need to do all that we can to respect and honor her wishes.
Utah is not the only state to do this — Arizona and South Carolina allow birth mothers to express preferences and guide the placement of a child being relinquished for private adoption.
Finally, Utah’s bill consciously seeks to grow the adoption marketplace, both by increasing the diversity of adoption service providers but also by according respect to all qualified couples seeking to adopt.
Both gay couples and religious families represent a sizable fraction of all those who adopt. The bill allows faith-based adoption agencies to remain true to their religious teachings and practices and thus gives room for groups associated with specific faith traditions to continue to help Utah’s families — and it will allow faith groups to again take up the mantle of assisting Utah children who might otherwise languish in foster care.
We do not want to drive faith-based agencies from this space. They are extremely valuable in the placement of children into loving families. Protecting the vulnerable is not only a Christian commitment but is shared, to my knowledge, by every faith tradition.
At the same time, this bill is truly innovative. It places all the adoption agencies that serve Utah residents — whether birth mothers or prospective adoptive parents — into a consortium. Every qualified prospective family will know that there is an agency available to serve them. This consortium guarantees every perspective adoptive family the respect they deserve.
There is no greater gift for a child than having two loving parents and a permanent home with the knowledge that this family will be there for you across time. Utah’s bill would go a long way toward giving children that security. It should be signed into law and serve as a template for adoption policy across the nation.
Robin Fretwell Wilson holds the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois College of Law.