Federal Bill Criminalizes Unlicensed Adoption Facilitators, Caps Payments to Birth Parents at $2,500

The new ADOPT Act of 2025 aims to clean up the often messy and unregulated world of private interstate adoptions by creating a new federal crime for unlicensed practices. Essentially, this bill targets what it calls the “commodification of children” and the exploitation of birth and adoptive families by non-licensed intermediaries.

Clearing the Middlemen: Who Can Get Paid Now?

This Act makes it a federal crime to provide “adoption intermediary services for compensation” if you are not a licensed agency, a licensed attorney, or a specific type of non-profit organization. Think of it like this: if you’re an independent facilitator—someone who connects birth parents and adoptive parents for a fee—this bill puts you out of business and potentially behind bars. The stated goal is to ensure that people seeking adoption services only work with licensed, regulated professionals in their communities (SEC. 2).

The penalties are serious: individuals face fines up to $50,000 and up to five years in prison per violation. Organizations could be fined up to $100,000. These prohibitions kick in if the activity involves interstate commerce, which is defined broadly enough to include making a phone call, sending an email, or traveling across state lines (SEC. 3).

The $2,500 Line in the Sand

One of the most significant changes affects financial support for birth parents. The bill criminalizes providing “unauthorized payments over $2,500” to or for a birth parent in connection with the adoption before that birth parent consults with a licensed agency or attorney. This is a crucial detail.

On one hand, this protects vulnerable birth parents from being pressured or financially manipulated by unlicensed actors offering large sums early on. On the other hand, it raises a practical question: what happens if a birth parent needs immediate, necessary financial assistance—like rent or medical care—that exceeds $2,500 before they can get an appointment with a licensed professional? This provision could create a financial gap for those needing timely support, even though the bill’s intent is to prevent exploitation.

Crucially, this restriction does not apply to payments made by or through a licensed agency or attorney. This means the bill effectively concentrates the ability to provide financial support and intermediary services within the established, licensed adoption ecosystem.

The Real-World Impact: Access and Concentration

For adoptive parents, this means the pool of people they can legally work with to find a placement shrinks considerably. While this offers protection against scams, it also funnels all adoption efforts toward licensed agencies and attorneys, who are explicitly exempt from the new prohibitions on compensation and intermediary services (SEC. 3).

This concentration of power could mean less competition and potentially higher costs for families seeking to adopt, especially if they relied on independent, non-agency facilitators who may have offered more personalized or cost-effective services. If you live in a rural area where licensed agencies are scarce, this shift could limit your practical access to adoption services entirely. The ADOPT Act becomes effective 120 days after enactment, so these changes will hit the adoption market quickly (SEC. 4).