Can Single Parents Adopt?

The IAC has always welcomed single people as potential adoptive parents, as the agency does not discriminate based on marital/partner status, or for any other reason. As an open adoption agency, IAC believes that birthparents have the right to choose the family that they prefer, including single parent homes.

You can read a firsthand account of single parent adoption in our Spring 2009 issue of Open Adoption Magazine.

Below are questions that prospective adoptive single parents frequently ask about infant adoption. We encourage you to find out more by requesting an information packet or signing up for an information session.

Single Parent Adoption FAQ

  • Does the IAC work with single adoptive parents?

    Yes. The IAC does not discriminate based on marital/partner status, or for any other reason.

  • Do birthparents choose single adoptive parents?

    Yes. Some birthparents prefer to place their baby with a single parent. Perhaps a single parent raised them, or they feel that your family is a good match based on a variety of other factors. In any case, birthparents do chose to place their babies with single parents on a regular basis.

    Over the last five years, IAC has placed babies with almost two-dozen single adoptive parents. Most of these placements were with heterosexual single women. A handful of placements were with single lesbian women. We made no placements with single men.

    IAC has made only one placement with a single heterosexual man. That placement was more than a decade ago. It has only been recently that more single men have applied to adopt, and we have not yet made any placements with any non-partnered gay man or transgendered person.

  • Do single people have a longer wait to placement than couples?

    Single adoptive parents have the same average wait as couples, which is 14 months. Again, the sample is small, as we have only done about two dozen such placements so it is hard to generalize. We believe the wait time for single gay men and transgendered individuals will likely follow the same pattern with the average wait for placement approximating 14 months.

  • Do any states prohibit single parent adoptions?

    No state prohibits a single heterosexual person from adopting. Unfortunately, at this time, both Mississippi and Utah prohibit adoptions by lesbians and gay men. There is no legal way for a gay man or lesbian to adopt a baby born in those states, nor to adopt from another state if they are residents of Mississippi or Utah. Please note, that the laws regarding gay male and lesbian adoption change frequently. The best source for current information is the Human Rights Campaign web site at: http://www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/state/c/adoption.