Adoption & Foster Family Building Partners
Our Trusted Network of Partners—Organized for Your Journey
Below is a small but growing list of GWK Academy’s most highly recommended and fully-vetted adoption and foster agencies, as well as the geographic regions in which their waiting families must reside. To the extent one or more of these agencies serves your home area, we strongly encourage you to contact them. (Of course, you do not have to live in the home state of any agency that lists “nationwide” as its region served.) Keep in mind that whenever you reach out to an agency, be sure to ask if they are currently accepting new waiting families.
GWK has a history with most of the agencies included in this list, and we cannot emphasize strongly enough the necessity that LGBTQ+ people work with inclusive agencies that value LGBTQ+ family-building. (Factoids: Across the nation, only 1 in 4 agencies is inclusive and welcoming; 11 states have passed bills that allow adoption and foster care agencies to legally discriminate against prospective LGBTQ parents.)
One final note…agencies with an asterisk following their names are not currently–or do not usually–provide matching services for you with pregnant people; however, they will help prospective adoptive parents with their home study and adoption training classes, and even pre and post-adoption services.
Adoption Agencies
Advocates for Children and Families
Adoption agency based in Florida and serving waiting families nationwide except New York state (AO)
Adoptions From the Heart
Adoption agency serving Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York Pennsylvania, and Virginia
Paths for Families
Adoption and foster adopt agency serving DC, Maryland, and Virginia (AO)
Alliance for Children
Adoption agency with offices in Arkansas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Southern Florida, and Texas; Intercountry adoption agency
Friends in Adoption
Adoption agency serving Northeastern US; also sometimes works with waiting families nationwide (AO)
JustChoice
Adoption agency serving Ohio; also works with waiting families nationwide (AO)
Pact: An Adoption Alliance
Adoption agency based in California and serving waiting families nationwide except New York state (AO)
Spence-Chapin
Domestic adoption agency serving New York, parts of New Jersey, and Arizona; Intercountry adoption agency works with waiting families nationwide
Vista del Mar
Adoption, foster, and foster-adopt agency serving California; Intercountry adoption agency
You Gotta Believe
Adoption agency serving New York state that has a focus on providing homes for children and older youth in the foster system
Pro-choice proponents will feel especially supported working with one of the agencies listed above with an “AO” designation, which means that they subscribe to the belief that counseling of pregnant people should include all their options, even the option of termination.
Foster Care Agencies
Paths for Families
Adoption and foster adopt agency serving DC, Maryland, and Virginia (AO)
Additional Resources To Find Partners
National Council For Adoption
Scroll to the section titled “Find an Agency or Attorney.”
Select “Adoption Agency,” then choose the relevant service (e.g., domestic adoption or adoption from foster care).
Important: Check the box labeled “Services for LGBTQ persons” before clicking Submit.
Wendy's Wonderful Kids
Here you can find at least one LGBTQ-affirming adoption or foster care agency in every U.S. state and Canadian province through this philanthropic program run by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which requires its partners to sign a non-discrimination commitment to receive funding. (Note that most of these agency listings are foster agencies.)
The LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s Family Law Institute
The LGBTQ+ Bar cannot give legal counsel or recommend attorneys, but one of our affiliates may be able to help.
Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys
The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) provides a credentialed presence in the law of family formation and is the largest professional organization of its type.
Family-Building Attorneys / Independent Adoption
Fertility Law Group at Warshaw Burstein
The Fertility Law Group is led by co-chairs Alexis Cirel and Eric Wrubel, pioneers in LGBTQ family-building with a national network of connections to support all dads-to-be regardless of where they live.
Rebecca Levin-Nayak
Rebecca Levin Nayak is an attorney at Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller, where she practices assisted reproduction and adoption law. She is passionate about helping families of all kinds build and secure their legal relationships, with a particular focus on ensuring equality for LGBTQ+ parents. As a queer parent herself, Rebecca brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work, guiding clients with compassion, clarity, and efficiency.
Mental Health Providers
Contact Counseling With Joey
Counseling With Joey
Contact Dr. Maureeen Satyshur
Dr. Maureen Satyshur PhD PMH-C
Conatct Gail Zarbin
Gail Zarbin L.C.S.W.
Grants
Gift of Adoption
Gift of Adoption provides grants to complete the adoptions of children in vulnerable circumstances—giving them permanent families and a chance to thrive.
Help Us Adopt
Help Us Adopt reduces the financial burden of adoption by awarding life-changing adoption grants up to $30,000 for domestic and international adoption.