Agency adoptions occur when a Utah licensed adoption agency works with the birth parents to identify and select prospective adoptive parents. The agency provides counseling and support to the birth parents, arranges for the necessary legal and medical services, and assists with the placement of the child with the adoptive parents. The agency also conducts the home study and background checks on the adoptive parents.

After a match is made, the agency is responsible for addressing the rights of the biological or legal parents, and taking the necessary consents relinquishments of parental rights from the birth parents. With agency adoptions, an attorney is still needed to file the court paperwork and attend the finalization hearing, but the attorney’s role is more limited than with private adoptions because the licensed agency performs many of the functions the attorney and social workers perform in private adoptions.