Customer Service in the Adoption Process

A recent article in the Roundtable newsletter published by the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption notes that there are three strategies that public and private adoption agencies can implement to increase adoptions from the foster care system:

• Friendly and responsive customer service


• Predictability about the adoption process


• Support during the waiting period from home study to placement

Customer service begins with the initial call from a perspective adoptive family. The call must be answered in a timely fashion. It is critical that the agency be welcoming and helpful. If the agency says they are going to do something, even something as simple as sending information, they must do it.

We hear far too many stories of perspective parents giving up due to poor customer service, an excuse that can no longer be tolerated. To that end, the National Adoption Center will be launching its Online Family to Agency Matching Service during National Adoption Month in November to insure that agencies are responsive to the needs of families. Like “Angie’s List”, families will have the opportunity to publicly rate the responsiveness of a particular agency(s). We believe this will instill much-needed accountability into the process.