What must an adoption service fee policy include?

• A. An adoption fee or fee schedule that applies to all clients, including the type of expenditures for birth parents and whether through an overall fee, pass-through expenses, or a combination.
• B. A flat fee for all adoptions.
• C. No formal policy is required.
• D. Expenditures paid solely by adoptive parents.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is transparency about how an adoption agency charges for its services. The policy must lay out a fee or fee schedule that applies to all clients and clearly describe the types of expenditures related to birth parents, including how those costs are billed—whether as an overall fee, pass-through expenses, or a combination of both. This ensures every family knows exactly what they’re paying, how costs are allocated, and that charges are consistently applied.

This kind of clear structure helps prevent hidden or variable fees, supports comparisons between agencies, and aligns with regulatory expectations for open disclosure. It also recognizes that some costs may be charged as part of a general fee, some may be passed directly to the client as specific expenses, and others might involve a mix, rather than imposing a single, uniform price for every case.

Other options don’t fit because they either oversimplify the billing structure (a flat fee for all adoptions), imply no formal policy is required, or describe only one party paying the costs (expenditures paid solely by adoptive parents) without accounting for birth parent expenditures and the ways those costs may be handled.