10. Try to find other women who have placed children with the agency that you are considering and talk to them. Find not only recent birth mothers, but, some who have placed further back in time. Although the agency may provide you with birth mothers to talk to who have placed, they will most likely be hand picked and strong advocates for adoption. Keep that in mind.

11. In picking an adoption agency, trust your instincts. If anything about an agency doesn’t seem on the up and up, be suspicious and investigate further. Check with the local regulating authority that oversees adoption agencies, and find out if complaints have been filed against the agency.

12. If you need help and support during your crisis pregnancy, find impartial support from a place or person that have no ties to any adoption agency. Find a local adoption support group and talk to adoptees and birth parents, and listen to their feedback. They can be invaluable in helping you choose an agency that is ethical, fair and honest.

13. Be suspicious if an agency uses stock phrases that are known to be coercive standard terms geared to guilt a woman into placing her baby for adoption.

14. If you mention that you are considering other options, do not allow the agency to try to sway you in any way. Any opinions that they have on other choices may not be entirely impartial. Their business is adoption, not abortion or not helping young women find ways to parent their babies. There are a few exceptions; some homes or centers now support young women who place or parent their babies.

15. Did I mention that adoption agencies profit from facilitating adoptions? I did mention that social workers who work for agencies are paid by them to facilitate adoptions, right? They are not encouraged to convince young women to parent or get abortions. To make money, they must arrange for adoptions, and insure that most of them go through. I know I mentioned this previously, but, it is a fact that needs to really sink in with a woman considering placement for her baby.

16. Find out what the agency that you are considering promises adoptive parents. Some agency websites can be very revealing as far as the guarantees that they may offer adoptive parents. Try to determine if what they promise adoptive parents seems reasonable and/or ethical.