Can a woman get paid for putting a baby up for adoption?
A pregnant woman cannot get paid for putting a baby up for adoption. This is against the law, and it is against public policy to sell a baby. However, most states allow a pregnant woman to accept certain types of financial assistance from adoptive parents.
In California, as with many states, a woman can accept financial assistance for pregnancy related expenses. These expenses must also be reasonable under a particular woman’s circumstances. This is a pretty flexible standard.
You’ll notice that none of these expenses are valuable items that can be sold. Accepting valuable items in return for putting your baby up for adoption may be against the law.
In California, and many states, there isn’t an actual dollar limit to the assistance a woman can receive. However, the assistance must fall within the guidelines above. If you are thinking about putting a baby up for adoption and need financial assistance, call me first. I am an adoption attorney and a birth mother, and I’ve been there.
Accepting financial assistance can be hard to resist if you are in a financial crisis. The need is very real and the adoptive parents are more than happy to help. After all, if the adoptive parents were able to get pregnant, they would have some of these expenses themselves. This doesn’t mean that accepting assistance comes without consequences. I have spoken with many birth mothers over the years who regret accepting money from the adoptive parents.
It is illegal to accept financial assistance if you are not actually pregnant (this is fraud) or you aren’t sincere about putting a baby up for adoption (this is also fraud). It is also illegal to accept financial assistance from more than one prospective adoptive parent at a time.
If you have questions about financial assistance, I can help! I’ve worked with nearly every state’s laws to help a woman with expenses during her pregnancy. We will come up with a plan that is most comfortable for you.