FAQ About Adopting

Most birthparents who place at Abrazo prefer couples who do not already have children, to ensure that the baby they place will be the family’s firstborn. For this reason, families who are already parenting typically do wait twice as long. However, these days, with fewer infants available for adoption nationwide, the average adoptive couple usually finds the wait to be 1-3 years (or more, depending on parental preferences and adopting couple stipulations.) .

Abrazo requires that adopting parents be at least 25 years of age. While Abrazo has never had an upper age limit, it is the prospective birthparents’ prerogative to choose their child’s adoptive family, and most are typically seeking to place with couples younger than their own parents.

Abrazo is a full-service nonprofit adoption agency and only provides promotes and provides matching services for fully-vetted and approved adoptive families who are Parents-in-Waiting in our Milagros full-service placement program. 

The initial agency fee (pre-adoption education/training fee) and a $3k escrow deposit is due within 10 (ten) days of the close of orientation. Each family receives a cost estimate at the time a match is presented, and must make any necessary deposits to maintain the escrow account at a $3k balance each month of the match. The post-adoption agency fee and any remaining case expenses due are paid at time of placement. (Note: all fees paid are nonrefundable, and escrow monies used for case expenses may be lost should a placement plan fail.)

Abrazo works with adoptive families of all faiths, as long as they are able to comply with agency policies and can ensure any child placed in their care will receive full access to quality healthcare. The majority of placing parents in Texas with whom the agency works do commonly seek to match with Christian or Catholic couples, which can extend the waiting time for those of other faith backgrounds.

Abrazo’s homestudy standards are available on our website. Please note that Abrazo does not accept “drive-by homestudies” in which a homestudy worker has only ever met with an adopting couple in person once, and/or purports to have completed all required interviews in one day. While this may meet the nominal “minimium standards” set by state officials, it is not considered best practice for ethical adoption agencies. (For this reason, Abrazo cannot accept studies completed by Texas Adoption Center.)  Abrazo’s family services staff completes out-of-state homestudy audits and/or ICPC filings for couples who have been accepted into our program; the fee for such services is $550, payable upon submission of the out-of-state homestudy.

Abrazo generally advises adopting parents to wait until after acceptance to begin the homestudy process, so adopters avoid incurring costs until they have been accepted into the program. Any time adoptive applicants from outside San Antonio or Texas join Abrazo’s program, they typically hire a licensed agency in their home locale to complete their homestudy and accept responsibility for all post-placement supervisory visits. The costs of such services are negotiated and paid directly by the adopting parents to their chosen homestudy agency; this expense is not included in the agency fees collected by Abrazo (regardless of whether the adopting family lives in Texas.)

Sorry, no; Abrazo does need fresh references written specifically for and to our agency for the application. Also, your homestudy worker needs to personally contact references for your homestudy, and those who write references on your behalf would need to send you copies directly if you wish to review them.

Abrazo strongly discourages inflexible gender preferences, as the majority of placing parents with whom we work may not have gender confirmation prior to matching, and even when they do, sonograms are not always necessarily accurate.

Abrazo’s physical forms are provided to adopting parents upon completion of agency contracts.

Parents placing multiples through Abrazo choose their babies’ new family out of all eligible couples in our Parents-in-Waiting program that have indicated an interest in being considered for siblings. The placement of multiples sometimes entails increased case expenses as necessary for twin or triplet care and 12 months post-placement case supervision, however, only one agency fee is incurred whenever siblings are placed simultaneously.

Abrazo was founded by the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, and is staffed by women of faith. However, the agency is not affiliated with any specific church denomination and welcomes people of all faiths.

The average case costs in Abrazo’s full-service program run approximately $36-42k (including the agency fee, assuming all medical costs are covered by insurance or Medicaid.) The average costs of Abrazo’s designated cases typically fall between $31-37k (including agency fee, assuming there is full Medicaid/insurance coverage.) Abrazo’s special needs cases usually cost $24-29k, on average, if full Medicaid/insurance coverage applies.) Warning: if Medicaid/insurance is unavailable or denied for any reason, the average hospital bills for a healthy (vaginal) delivery and 2 day stay for mom and baby may run $18k or more, costs borne by the adopting couple as of placement. Additional expenses may be incurred for maternity support (ie., housing, groceries, clothing, utilities, transportation, and therapy); postage; profile printing; legal fees and court costs; travel; and/or foster care, if needed.

The families pictured online on Abrazo’s website are all approved graduates of our Parents of Tomorrow orientation weekends, who have approved homestudies on file with our agency, have signed releases to have their profiles posted, and are ready for immediate placement.

At Abrazo, we place primarily newborns and infants, although we do occasionally handle placements of toddlers and school-age children upon birthparent request. All of the placements done at Abrazo are voluntary, and do not involve children under state foster care. Placements of children over 6 months of age do require extended post-placement case supervision (minimum 12 months.)

Please be advised that Hispanics are of the Caucasian race and therefore, children of Anglo-Hispanic descent are not actually considered biracial. (Children of biracial ancestry would be Anglo/African-American or African-American/Hispanic, for example.)

Just ask us and we’ll gladly put you in touch.  You can also find willing references anytime by posting a request on Abrazo’s Forum (see also the United States of Adoption thread to find alumni living in your locale.)