Hoping To Adopt

Interested in adopting? Call during business hours: 210-342-5683

At Abrazo, we know that adopting a baby is one of the most exciting and most overwhelming of life experiences (short of surviving fertility treatments, that is.)

For couples who have endured documented infertility and grieved those losses, pursuing adoption means graduating from “needing to have a biological child” to “wanting to be a parent” and we congratulate you if you’ve already gained that perspective. That’s the first step toward adopting successfully, but adoption has become more challenging than ever before, because there are far more hopeful adoptive parents than there are infants being placed these days. That’s not what folks want to hear, we know, but it is a fact— along with falling birth rates across the globe.

We’ve helped more than 1500 families adopt babies, toddlers, children and sibling groups since 1994. Abrazo’s full-service program primarily serves couples who:

are over the age of 25
have been legally-married for more than a year
cannot conceive by any known means*
are financially-sound and emotionally-stable
are willing to commit to fully-open adoption, for their child’s best interests

Abrazo believes in full-disclosure open adoptions, in which the parents exchange identifying information and stay in touch over each child’s lifetime, because we believe this is best for children, promoting healthy adoption adjustment and identity formation.

Granted, not every prospective adopter likes this idea, nor our stringent standards and high expectations for the clients that we serve, but Abrazo’s commitment to the best interests of the children we place requires no less. (You’ll thank us, someday.)

Ready To Get Started?

Abrazo has a three-step admissions process, beginning with the preapplication, called the “AP Inquiry” form. If you’re interested in joining the Abrazo family and hopefully bringing a new son or daughter home through open adoption, please

download and complete the inquiry form below, and mail it to Abrazo with a photo and the processing fee (or pay online, and email your form and photo to info@abrazo.org.)
if appropriate, we’ll forward the full application package to you for completion and submission.
upon application approval, you’ll be ready to receive expedited admission, execute service contracts and complete online training.

DOWNLOAD AP INQUIRY FORM

Abrazo Placement Programs

The Milagros (full-service*) program, for applicants with documented infertility only, requires a fee payment of $13,500 within ten (10) days after acceptance, and a post-adoption fee payment of $13,500, due at time of placement.

The Designated (identified) program, for applicants with or without infertility who seek complete casework services for matches located through their own efforts, requires a fee payment of $11,500 upon admission, and a post-adoption fee payment of $11,500, due at time of placement.

The Promesa (special needs) program, for applicants with or without infertility who are seeking a special needs placement only, requires a fee payment of $9,500 upon admission, and a post-adoption fee payment of $9,500, due at time of placement.

Abrazo’s Promesa program facilitates hard-to-place cases (ie., children with documented and non-correctible medical disabilities known to the agency at time of placement, children over the age of five, and sibling groups of more than three.) Some special needs placements may also qualify adoptive families to seek state adoption subsidies; ask your homestudy worker for additional information regarding your state’s programs.

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Answers To Your Common Questions

How “open” are open adoptions at Abrazo?

At Abrazo, we advocate for full-disclosure open adoptions, meaning our adopting parents and prospective birthfamilies voluntarily exchange identifying information (ie., last names and addresses), engage in direct communication (phone calls, correspondence) and continue contact (including visits) throughout the child’s life span. Abrazo only places children with adoptive parents who are committed to openness and prepared to enter into lifelong relationships with birthfamilies, to ensure that the children placed within this agency always have honest, age-appropriate information about their adoption and their families of origin, from Placement Day onwards.

What does it cost to adopt through Abrazo?

Adopting parents pay a pre-adoption fee upon admission, to cover the agency’s costs of providing preplacement casework services to prospective birthparents and adopting parents, and a post-adoption fee on Placement Day, to help offset the agency’s costs of agency services and post-adoption support after placement has occurred. Adopting parents also, by law, reimburse the agency’s expenses on behalf of any case with which they are matched, pay for the processing costs of the admissions process and the in-agency expenses of out-of-state homestudy audits and Interstate Compact services and finalization paperwork preparation. (See this link for additional detail.)

How long does it take to adopt a baby through Abrazo?

Childless couples at Abrazo generally wait 6-12 months or less for match or placement, while the average adoptive couples already parenting usually find the wait to be 12 months or more. However, hopeful adopters should be forewarned that the declining American birthrate and the Covid pandemic have slowed domestic adoption rates considerably. The majority of birthparents with whom Abrazo works hope to place with couples who do not already have children, to ensure that the baby they place will be the family’s firstborn.

Does Abrazo work with people from outside of Texas?

Abrazo places with adopting families from all states except New York (existing NY laws don’t permit out-of-state agencies to place in their state without maintaining an in-state office). Couples from out-of-state need to budget for 3-4 trips to Texas, in the course of Abrazo’s adoptions (for orientation, meeting prospective birthparents upon matching, placement, and finalization). Additional costs include having a Texas-approved out-of-state homestudy and post-placement reports done by a licensed agency within your state, FBI clearances, and travel, of course.

What does the agency fee cover? If a match falls through, can a couple continue in your program without additional fees to the agency? How long will you work with a couple for the initial fee?

The agency fee covers the agency’s casework and in-office staff counseling for each expectant parent and adopting couple from the point of admission through file closure, however, case expenses are additional and vary depending on case needs and available resources. In the event of a failed adoption plan, the adopting couple may lose any expense money already spent but they do not pay another pre-adoption education/training fee; this is applicable until placement occurs or the couple withdraws or otherwise becomes ineligible for services.