The following categories of adoption are available to Illinois residents:
Private/Direct/Independent – In this type of adoption, the birth parents work with an attorney to place their child in the care of an adopting family. The identities of all involved parties are kept confidential.
Agency – Birth parents "surrender" their parental rights over a child to an agency, which then selects a qualifying family to adopt the child.
Agency-Assisted/Identified/Designated – This type of adoption is like a combination of private and agency adoption. Here, an agency is selected by the birth parents to check the qualifications of prospective adopting families and to carry out arrangements when a family is approved. Parental rights are then surrendered to the agency, and the child is placed with his/her new family.
Interstate and Intercountry – In both types of adoption, the adopting family must complete a home study and get approval from the appropriate state/country agencies. Some Intercountry adoptions require the adoption to be completed in the child's country of origin.