Private Agency Adoptions on Option for Illinois Parents Seeking Children

Angel's Cove assists Illinois families with domestic adoptions and can be a liaison for international adoptions, Director Regina Thompson said. The agency is based in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

The agency does not participate directly in international adoptions, but can screen potential adoptive parents who are intending to work with All God's Children, an international adoption agency based in Portland, Oregon. Angel's Cove sometimes does home visits and preliminary legwork for the Oregon-based agency, but it only places American children for adoption.

"Some families are waiting 5 or 6 years to adopt in the United States, so many turn to international adoption," Thompson said. In fact, her agency has placed just one child for adoption in the last 12 months.

That means couples interested in adopting should contact Angel's Cove or another agency that helps place children for adoption as soon as they make the decision to adopt. Couples wishing to adopt through Baptist Children's Home and Family Services, the parent of Angel's Cove, must meet several guidelines to be eligible.

1) Couple must be financially stable and married at least 3 years

2) Couple must be active members of a Bible-teaching faith

3) Oldest member of household must be less than 50 years old

4) Couple must have no more than two children already in the home. "The demand for healthy, same race infants is so great that we feel if a family already has two children, we need to give the babies to someone else," Thompson said.
But, those restrictions are eased somewhat for couples willing to adopt a child outside of their own race or with special needs, a child with emotional or physical development issues, who tests positives for genetic abnormalities or drug use by the mother, or who is already over a year old

"Those couples still must have been married for three years, be active in their church and be financially able to support another child, but we are less concerned about their age or the number of other children in the home," she said.

All potential adoptive parents are required to complete an eight-hour training course as well. Couples are then licensed as adopt-only foster care parents and placed on a list of potential adoptive parents. Though the wait can be as long as five or six years, Thompson said many couples meet their new child in less than three years.

Couples considering adoption can contact Thompson at 1-800-458-2229 or via email at bchbabies@mvn.net. Those wanting to find out more about the international adoption process are invited to attend a two-hour informational session at Parish Park Baptist Church, 1505 East Boyton in Marion, Illinois, on September 30. The information session is free and requires no commitment.