Placing My Baby for Adoption in Tennessee: A Complete Guide

You can place your baby for adoption in Tennessee during pregnancy, at the hospital or after bringing your baby home. While state law sets requirements for steps like consent and financial assistance, you still make many of the decisions that shape your adoption plan.

This includes choosing the adoptive family, deciding what you want your hospital experience to look like and determining the type of relationship you hope to have after placement.

Fill out our contact form today for answers specific to your situation, an adoption professional can help you understand your options.

How Do I Place My Baby for Adoption in Tennessee?

Placing your baby for adoption in Tennessee means you can make decisions about the experience while your adoption professional helps you follow Tennessee’s legal requirements.

Step 1: Contact an Adoption Agency

An adoption agency can help you understand your options, create an adoption plan and prepare for each stage of the process. Tennessee regulates adoption-related services provided within the state through the Department of Children’s Services. When comparing adoption agencies, consider whether they provide:

Counseling and emotional support before and after placement
Guidance throughout the legal process
A wide selection of screened waiting families
24/7 support when you need it
Access to separate legal representation
Post-placement counseling and ongoing support

Step 2: Create an Adoption Plan

Your adoption plan reflects what you want your experience to look like. With help from an adoption professional, you can make decisions about:

The qualities you want in an adoptive family, such as family structure, values, religion, lifestyle and location.
How much communication you want with the adoptive family during your pregnancy.
Who you want involved during labor and delivery.
How much time you want with your baby at the hospital.
The type of relationship you hope to have with your child and the adoptive family after placement.

Your preferences can change as you learn more about adoption or as your circumstances change. Your adoption professional can update your plan to reflect what you want throughout the process.

Step 3: Choose a Family

You can choose the adoptive parents for your baby by reviewing profiles of families who have completed the required adoption screening process. Profiles may include photos, videos, letters and information about each family’s home, lifestyle, values and plans for raising a child.

Looking for Someone to Adopt Your Baby?

After finding a family you are interested in, your adoption professional can help you connect through a phone call, video chat or meeting. This gives you a chance to ask questions and decide whether the family aligns with what you envision for your child.

Step 4: Birth and Placement

Before delivery, you can create a hospital plan covering preferences such as who you want in the room, how much time you want with your baby and how involved you want the adoptive family to be. Your adoption professional can communicate these preferences with the hospital and adoptive family.

Under Tennessee law, a birth parent cannot legally sign a surrender or consent to adoption until 72 hours after the child’s birth. A court may waive this waiting period for good cause.

Your attorney or adoption professional can explain the surrender process, answer your questions and make sure you understand what happens before you sign.

Step 5: Post-Placement Life

Support can continue after placement through counseling and other services offered by your adoption professional. These resources can help you process your emotions and adjust after pregnancy, delivery and placement.

Tennessee law allows certain written post-adoption contact agreements to be legally enforceable when statutory requirements are met, while other arrangements may be voluntary.

Can I Give My Baby Up for Adoption at Birth in Tennessee?

Yes. You can start an adoption plan at the hospital in Tennessee, even if you did not consider adoption during your pregnancy. You can also explore adoption after leaving the hospital or bringing your baby home.

Plans sometimes change after delivery. You may have expected to parent and now want to learn more about adoption, or you may simply need more information before deciding what you want to do next. An adoption professional can help you:

Review screened adoptive families and choose the family you want
Coordinate hospital or placement arrangements based on your circumstances
Understand the legal steps required to move forward with adoption

Starting the process after birth does not mean you have to rush through these decisions. You can still take time to understand your options and make choices about what you want your adoption plan to look like.

What Choices Do I Have When Creating an Adoption Plan in Tennessee?

Your adoption plan gives you a say in many of the decisions that shape your adoption experience. Tennessee law establishes certain legal requirements, including how and when consent is completed, while your personal preferences guide other parts of the process. Your adoption plan can include decisions about:

The Adoptive Family: Choose the family you believe is right for your baby based on qualities that matter to you, such as family structure, location, lifestyle, values, cultural background and interests.
Communication Before Placement: Decide how you would like to get to know the adoptive family, whether through phone calls, texts, video chats, in-person meetings or communication facilitated by your adoption professional.
Your Hospital Experience: Create preferences for labor and delivery, including who you want with you, how involved you want the adoptive family to be and how much time you want to spend with your baby.
Contact After Placement: Discuss the relationship you hope to have after adoption, which could include photos and updates, texts, phone or video calls and in-person visits.

Choosing adoption does not mean giving up your voice in how the experience unfolds. Your adoption professional can help you create a plan that reflects your preferences while explaining which parts of the process are governed by Tennessee law.

How Do I Find an Adoptive Family for My Baby in Tennessee?

Prospective adoptive families are typically screened through an adoption home study, which includes background checks and an evaluation of their home, finances, health and readiness to adopt.

Once approved, families may create profiles with photos, videos, letters and information about their lifestyle, values, interests and plans for raising a child.

Rather than looking for a “perfect” family, you can focus on what matters most to you. This might include their location, family structure, religion, cultural background, other children, lifestyle or the type of relationship they hope to have with you after adoption.

What Adoption Expenses and Financial Assistance Are Allowed in Tennessee?

Tennessee law allows certain reasonable expenses related to your pregnancy, your baby’s birth and the adoption process to be covered, including:

Living Expenses: Housing, food, utilities, maternity clothing, clothing for your baby and transportation
Medical Expenses: Medical, hospital and other reasonable birth-related expenses for you or your baby
Legal Expenses: Legal services and court costs related to the adoption
Counseling: Adoption-related counseling and support

Living expenses may generally be covered during pregnancy and up to 90 days after birth, surrender or consent, with counseling available for up to two years. Expenses must be documented and disclosed to the court, with court approval required in certain circumstances.

Financial assistance covers legally permitted needs related to your pregnancy and adoption. It is not payment in exchange for placing your baby for adoption.

What Does Open Adoption Look Like in Tennessee?

Open adoption allows you and the adoptive family to stay in contact after placement. The amount and type of communication depends on what you and the adoptive family agree to.

Open Adoption: Direct communication through texts, phone or video calls, photos and in-person visits.
Semi-Open Adoption: Updates, letters or photos shared through an adoption agency or another agreed method.
Closed Adoption: No ongoing communication between you and the adoptive family after placement.

Tennessee also recognizes written post-adoption contact agreements covering contact, visits or the sharing of information. To be enforceable under Tennessee law, the agreement must be in writing and signed by all parties. If the child is 14 or older, they must also be a party to the agreement.

An enforceable agreement can be brought before the court if its terms are not followed, although Tennessee requires certain steps before seeking court relief. A disagreement or violation of the agreement cannot invalidate the adoption.

When Can I Consent to Adoption in Tennessee?

In Tennessee, a post-birth surrender is generally not valid until 72 hours after your baby is born or your discharge from the hospital or birthing facility. A court may waive this waiting period for good cause.

A surrender is generally completed before a judge of a chancery, circuit or juvenile court. During the process, the court verifies your identity, witnesses your signature and makes sure you understand the legal effect of signing.

If you request legal or social counseling before signing, the surrender cannot be completed until that request has been fulfilled or withdrawn.

Can I Change My Mind About Adoption in Tennessee?

Yes. Before you legally surrender your parental rights or your parental consent is confirmed, there may still be an opportunity to change your decision. What happens after signing depends on whether you executed a surrender or parental consent.

Before You Sign

You can decide not to move forward with your adoption plan before signing the legal documents that surrender your parental rights or completing the consent process.

During the Revocation Period

Under Tennessee adoption law, a surrender can generally be revoked within three calendar days of the date it is executed. A court may reduce this period to 24 hours when the birth parent is represented by a Tennessee-licensed attorney.

Parental consent follows a different rule and may be revoked before the court enters an order confirming that consent.

After the Revocation Period

After the applicable revocation period expires or a parental consent is confirmed, withdrawing your surrender or consent becomes much more limited. A court may set it aside for reasons such as duress, fraud, intentional misrepresentation or statutory invalidity, generally only when the legal challenge is initiated within 30 days.

Does the Birth Father Have to Consent to Adoption in Tennessee?

Whether a birth father must consent to an adoption in Tennessee depends on his legal relationship to the child and the steps he has taken to establish or assert parental rights. His rights may be affected by factors such as whether he:

Is recognized as the child’s legal father
Has established or taken legal steps to establish paternity
Has registered with Tennessee’s Putative Father Registry
Has provided support during the pregnancy or for the child
Has lived with the child and openly acknowledged himself as the father

If the birth father is unknown, uninvolved or does not agree with the adoption, that does not necessarily prevent the adoption from moving forward. A Tennessee adoption attorney can determine whether his consent is required or whether notice, a waiver or termination of parental rights is necessary based on the circumstances.

What if the Adoptive Family Lives Outside Tennessee?

You can choose an adoptive family who lives outside Tennessee. When your baby will be placed with a family in another state, the adoption generally must follow the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC).

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services ICPC State Office works with the adoptive family’s home state to review the placement. Approval generally must be received before your baby can leave Tennessee with the adoptive family. For you, this typically means:

You can still choose an out-of-state family based on the qualities that matter to you.
Your adoption agency or attorney coordinates the required ICPC paperwork with the state offices.
The adoptive family may need to remain in Tennessee with your baby while the placement receives approval.

ICPC primarily affects the adoptive family’s travel and placement timeline rather than the choices you make in your adoption plan.

How to Choose an Adoption Professional in Tennessee

The adoption professional you choose can affect the support, resources and guidance available throughout the process. As you compare adoption professionals in Tennessee, look for:

A Wide Range of Screened Families: Access to families from different backgrounds, locations and lifestyles gives you more options when looking for the family you want.
24/7 Availability: Support outside regular business hours can be especially helpful if you have questions, need assistance or go into labor unexpectedly.
Financial Assistance Guidance: Your professional should clearly explain which pregnancy-related expenses may be covered under Tennessee law and how that assistance is handled.
Respect for Your Choices: Look for someone who answers your questions, respects your decisions and gives you space to consider what you want without pressure.

Post-Placement Support: Ask about counseling, help maintaining agreed-upon contact and other resources available after placement. Tennessee Adoption Resources for Pregnant Women and Birth Parents

Navigating an adoption plan requires reliable, localized support. Below are established agencies and legal professionals who serve expectant mothers and families across Tennessee.

Adoption Agencies for Birth Mothers in Tennessee

American Adoptions (National): A full-service national agency licensed to coordinate infant adoptions across Tennessee. Provides 24/7 counseling, broad national and local family profile access, comprehensive living expense support and post-placement communication coordination.
Miriam’s Promise (Nashville): A licensed non-profit child-placing agency based in Middle Tennessee offering expectant parent counseling, adoption planning and open adoption support across Davidson and surrounding counties.
Harmony Family Center (Knoxville, Maryville): An East Tennessee licensed child-placing organization providing pregnancy counseling, resource connection and supportive adoption services.

You should feel comfortable asking potential adoption professionals about these services before deciding who you want to work with.

Adoption Attorneys in Tennessee

Ted Kern, Attorney at Law (Knoxville): Specializes in adoption law, termination of parental rights and interstate placements throughout East Tennessee, with over three decades of family law experience.
Amanda R. Thornton / Thornton & Pence, PLLC (Nashville): Represents parties in private and agency adoptions, domestic placements and contested family formation matters across Middle Tennessee.
Mary C. LaGrone, Attorney at Law (Nashville): Dedicated family law and adoption attorney focusing on domestic infant adoptions, parental consents and stepparent family additions.
Freeman & Bracey, PLC (Goodlettsville): Provides legal representation for birth parents and adoptive families across Middle Tennessee, handling surrenders, court petitions and ICPC filings.

Take the Next Step Toward Placing Your Baby for Adoption in Tennessee

You do not have to have every detail figured out to start exploring adoption. A Tennessee adoption professional can answer questions about state requirements and help you understand family selection, financial assistance, hospital planning and birth father considerations.

Whether you are considering adoption during pregnancy or after giving birth, you can get guidance based on your circumstances and decide what you want your next step to be.