Applicants to this program must meet the following criteria:

• Eligibility criteria are flexible. Since expectant parents choose adoptive parents, there are no set criteria with respect to age, race, marital status, sexual orientation or family composition.
• Married or unmarried heterosexual or same-sex couples, single women and men are welcome to apply.
• African-American birth parents often express a preference for African-American adoptive families. If you share this heritage with the birth family, you may have a shorter wait to become a parent.
• Wide Horizons For Children’s US Infant Adoption program is open to families living in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont and certain counties in New York.
• You must have an approved home study from Wide Horizons For Children to be eligible for this program.

Typically, children relinquished by their birth parents for private adoption in the US are newborns.  These children join their adoptive family after discharge from the hospital shortly after being born. Infants placed for adoption are from a variety of social, racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Families registered in Wide Horizons For Children’s US Infant Adoption Program are eligible to be matched with expectant birth parents being counseled through this agency and through other placing entities with whom we partner.

Adoption timelines vary.  Typically, expectant birth parents review adoptive family profiles and choose the family with whom they wish to place their child. This usually occurs before the baby is born. Although wait times have ranged from as short as one day to as long as 36 months, the current wait times average 4-12 months from the time your program application is completed.  Factors that affect waiting time include:

• Flexibility about a child’s race, ethnicity and medical condition.
• Acceptance of a history of high-risk behavior, substance abuse, medical and/or mental health issues on the part of the biological parents.
• Willingness to have an open relationship with the biological family.

You will be required to travel to your adopted child’s place of birth when the child is born, and you may need to remain in-state for two to three weeks until permission to return back home is granted by state authorities.

Financing Your Adoption explains how Wide Horizons For Children structures adoption fees and provides information on funding your adoption.

Download the Adoption Information Guide for specific fee sheets on each Wide Horizons For Children adoption program.