Every Florida adoption agency is different. We all have our set of best practices, and although the adoption process may feel the same agency-to-agency, there are little differences that help some agencies stand out.

Today, we’d like to walk you through how the “Matching Process,” works at Heart of Adoptions, Inc. For those of you who are new to the adoption process, the matching “Matching Process,” refers to the steps that lead to showing expectant birth parents the adoption profiles of waiting families, who have been both vetted and approved.

1. Evaluate what the expectant birth mother is requesting in an adoptive family.
   1. Does she want a family with or without children?
   2. Does she want a mom and a dad, a single parent, or a same-sex couple?
   3. What level of post-placement communication is she desiring?
2. Narrow down the waiting families to meet as many of those requests as possible.
3. Evaluate the waiting adoptive families to see if they are comfortable with the expectant birth mother’s criteria.
   1. Her desired communication level
   2. The race and gender of the baby
   3. The expectant birth mother’s medical history
   4. The health status of the baby (drug exposure, known medical issues, genetic issues)
4. Now that the list of waiting adoptive families has been narrowed down to several matches that appear to be within each other’s comfort levels, we present 3-5 profiles of the longest waiting families to the expectant birth mother.
5. If the expectant birth mother isn’t intrigued by any of the initial profiles, we will show her the next longest waiting that fits the criteria, and so on.

Of course, there are always some exceptions to this process. Sometimes, we don’t have waiting adoptive families that fufill all the criteria that the birth mother is requesting. Sometimes, we don’t have any waiting adoptive families that are open to the birth mother’s situation. In times like these, we will first speak with waiting families and see if they want to be considered anyway. We may also network with other agencies or consultants to get profiles for the expectant birth mother to view.

Women facing an unplanned pregnancy in Florida have gone through so much by the time they’ve decided to make an adoption plan. So, ultimately, our goal here at Heart of Adoptions, Inc. is to find and present a profile to a birth mother that she truly connects with. We want her to feel comfortable and confident in her decision about selecting, and ultimately having a sense of peace and confidence in her selection.