Oregon Adoption Agencies: How to Choose the Right One

The agency you choose will shape almost every aspect of your adoption experience — how long you wait for a match, how the birth family relationship is structured, how much the process costs, and how well you are supported when things get complicated. Oregon has a relatively small number of licensed private agencies, which makes comparison manageable, but the differences between them are real and significant.

Here is what you need to know before contacting any agency.

Why "Licensed" Matters in Oregon

Under Oregon law, only licensed child-placing agencies are permitted to facilitate agency adoptions. Unlicensed entities — sometimes called "adoption facilitators" or "adoption consultants" — may not legally charge fees for matching prospective parents with expectant mothers or children. Any service offering to "find you a baby" for an upfront fee, without holding an Oregon state agency license, is operating illegally under ORS 109.281.

The Oregon Department of Human Services licenses private child-placing agencies under OAR Chapter 419, Division 420. Licensed agencies are subject to state oversight, must employ licensed social workers, are required to provide counseling to both birth and adoptive families, and must handle all financial transactions through regulated trust accounts. When you work with a licensed agency, your money and your placement are protected by statutory guardrails that simply don't exist with unlicensed operators.

Before engaging any agency, verify their Oregon license through the ODHS Licensing Unit. You can also check the Heart Gallery of America's Oregon directory for a current list of state-licensed agencies.

The Oregon-Licensed Private Agencies

Oregon has fewer private agencies than most states of comparable size, which reflects the state's progressive regulatory environment. Here are the key licensed agencies currently operating:

Open Adoption and Family Services (Portland) Located at 5200 SW Macadam Ave, Portland, OR 97239. This is the agency that literally invented modern open adoption — it was founded in 1985 as the first agency in the country to build open, birth-parent-directed placements into its model as a standard practice rather than an exception. If you are pursuing domestic infant adoption and want a fully open relationship with the birth family, OAFS should be on your short list. Home study fee is approximately $2,880 plus a forms packet fee. Total program fees run $25,000 to $38,000 with sliding-scale options.

Boys and Girls Aid (Portland) Located at 018 SW Boundary Ct, Portland, OR 97239. Boys and Girls Aid is one of Oregon's oldest social service organizations and has an adoption program focused on infant placements, foster-to-adopt transitions, and post-adoption support. They are particularly strong on post-placement services and long-term family counseling. Total costs run $20,000 to $35,000.

Choice Adoptions (Clackamas) Located at 12901 SE 97th Ave, Clackamas, OR 97015. Choice offers domestic infant placement, relative adoption home studies, and independent home study services for families pursuing attorney-led placements. Their home study process has a minimum budget of $4,000. Total program costs run $18,000 to $32,000.

Catholic Charities of Oregon (Portland) Located at 2740 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR 97202. Catholic Charities provides pregnancy support, domestic infant placement, relative counseling, and birth relative search services. Fees are income-based on a sliding scale, which can make them significantly more affordable than other agencies for lower-income families. Note that while this agency is faith-affiliated, Oregon law prohibits licensed agencies from discriminating based on sexual orientation or marital status in adoptive placements.

Holt International (Eugene) Based at 250 Country Club Rd, Eugene, OR 97401. Holt is a globally recognized agency that handles domestic infant placements as well as extensive intercountry adoption programs. If you are pursuing international adoption originating from Oregon, Holt is one of the few agencies with genuine expertise in that specific pathway. Fees vary significantly by country and program.

Tree of Life Adoption Center (Portland) Located at 5816 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR 97206. Tree of Life handles domestic infant placement, independent home studies, and international adoption support. Costs run $15,000 to $30,000.

Adoptions of Southern Oregon (Medford) Medford-based agency specializing in localized private domestic adoptions for families in Southern Oregon who don't want to work with Portland-centric agencies. This can be a practical option if your life and support network are in the Medford or Ashland area.

What an Agency Actually Does for You

It's worth being clear about what you are paying for when you hire an agency, because the fee structure can look intimidating without context.

A licensed Oregon agency provides: the home study and all background check coordination, counseling for the birth family (Oregon law requires birth parents be informed of their right to up to three pre-placement and three post-placement counseling sessions funded by the adoptive family), management of the matching process and introduction of profiles to expectant mothers, all financial disbursements to birth parents through a regulated trust account, post-placement supervision visits and reports, and coordination with ODHS's Non-Departmental Adoptions Unit to satisfy the mandatory 30-day petition service requirement.

They also carry institutional knowledge about local Circuit Court requirements, ODHS processing timelines, and ORICWA compliance — experience that saves you from making costly procedural mistakes.

The Alternative: Using an Agency Only for the Home Study

Oregon permits what is sometimes called "identified adoption" or "independent adoption" — a hybrid where prospective adoptive parents and an expectant mother find each other independently (without using the agency's matching services), and then the adoptive family retains a licensed agency solely to complete the home study and provide the required counseling services. An adoption attorney then handles the legal side.

This is a legal and commonly used structure in Oregon. It gives families direct control over the relationship-building stage while still meeting the state's home study and counseling requirements. The home study-only cost at Choice Adoptions runs around $4,000; at Open Adoption and Family Services it starts at $2,880.

If you pursue this route, make sure the agency you hire for the home study is fully licensed and that your attorney is Oregon-licensed and experienced specifically in adoption law.

Key Questions to Ask Any Agency

Before signing a contract or paying a fee, ask these directly:

• What is your current average wait time from application to first profile presentation to a birth mother? From match to placement?
• What happens financially if a birth mother decides to parent after matching? Which expenses are refundable?
• Do you have experience with [LGBTQ+/single-parent/interracial] adoptive families, and what does your outreach to birth mothers look like for these profiles?
• How do you handle open adoption agreements — do you draft the Post-Adoption Contact Agreement, or is that handled by our attorney?
• What is your relationship with ODHS's Non-Departmental Adoptions Unit, and how do you manage the 30-day petition service timeline?
• Are all my funds held in a licensed trust account, and will I receive itemized accounting of all birth parent expense disbursements?

A reputable agency will answer all of these directly. Vague answers about fees or birth-parent expense policies are a warning sign.

The ODHS Public Route

Oregon Department of Human Services does not operate as a private agency — it manages the public foster-to-adopt program for children already in state custody. If you are interested in adopting a child from Oregon foster care rather than pursuing a private or independent adoption, the pathway starts with ODHS Child Welfare or one of the SNAC (Special Needs Adoption Coalition) partner agencies, not with a private adoption agency.

The ODHS route costs nothing, but the timeline is longer and the process is distinct. See our companion post on the ODHS adoption process for the specifics.

Getting Help with Your Decision

The agency selection decision is consequential and shouldn't be rushed. Visiting orientations at two or three agencies, comparing their matching practices, and talking to families who have gone through each agency's program is time well spent before signing a contract.

For a structured guide to evaluating agencies, understanding the home study process in detail, navigating the ODHS petition service requirements, and preparing for finalization in Oregon Circuit Court, the Oregon Adoption Process Guide covers all of this in one place.

See more United States guides →