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Who Are All These People?

Your Guide to Who's Who During Adoption

By Teri Brown

Maxine Chalker is the executive director of Adoptions From The Heart, a licensed, nonprofit, nonsectarian adoption agency offering services for pregnant women and families interested in domestic and international adoption. She says families should look for nonprofit, licensed agencies that will assign someone to help the family through the process. "Those agencies should employ bachelor's or master's level social workers to handle the adoption process," she says. "No individuals without degrees should be working with families unless it is for paperwork issues."

Here are some other people you might run into during the process:

Social Worker: "The primary goal of the adoption social worker is to assist all parties in an adoption to achieve their goals," Chalker says. "There are many roles a social worker will play in the adoption process. They counsel birthparents, prospective adoptive parents, children who will be adopted and other interested friends and family members. They help families decide which program to pursue based on their interests and their eligibility through those programs. They're also educators for families, and take care of legal responsibilities – notifying the court and immigration of their suitability. After an adoption takes place, they'll continue to support the family through their adjustment."

Attorney: According to Chalker, attorneys handle adoptions privately or with agencies. Attorneys are needed in domestic adoptions, terminating parental rights of birth parents and ensuring that all state laws are followed, and are responsible for finalizing adoptions in court. With international adoptions, they can re-finalize adoptions.

Program Coordinators: They are responsible for overseeing a program within an adoption agency, domestically or internationally. For international adoptions, program coordinators are liaisons with contacts overseas, both before a couple arrives in a country and during their stay. They are also responsible for making adoptive families aware of any changes through a program.

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• Talk about it!