Intro and Possible Suggested Agencies

onedaychristinak

Hello ladies,

I wanted to introduce myself.  Although I've been lurking here for a while.  I am in the beginning stages of adoption.  I have been under going IF treatments for the last 3 years.  (However, I have known since I was 17 that I would need "help" with having a baby)

I've always known that I would adopt one way or another.  Whether it was to start a family or add to one.  I am not at the point where we are no longer actively going through with IVF or FET's.  I know that the ladies on the IF board has always been very helpful, so I thought I'd try this board for this new adventure.

I recently thought I would be using "Adoption Network Law Center".  However, my DH and I just found some poor reviews and also that they are not licensed but more of a "middle man."

I'm asking for a recomendation.  I've gone back to good old "google"  but that just seems so difficult to find a good, trusting, and efficient agency.  Like all of you...I really just want to start my family.  I know that agencies with a quick placement time, are more expensive and I'm ok with that.  I know I'm asking a lot, but if you could please help me out with agencies that deal with people through out the U.S., I'd be very greatful.

I've had a rough day and feel like I'm starting back at square one.

(We've also considered International.  However, I've "heard" that the process can take a long time.  Any recomendations on an agency with this as well?)

Thanks in advance ladies!

hway24

Welcome to the board!!

YGPM!

sbhWImom

In my experience, most of the large national firms are more like middle men... they will do outreach and matching, but typically don't provide any homestudy services or post-placement and finalization services. 

We worked with American Adoptions, which is also a large national firm for DD2's adoption, although we were never in their outreach program - they list available situations occasionally on their webpage, and any homestudy approved family can ask to be shown for these situations. 

If you want a full service agency, in our experience, you're best off going with a smaller local agency.

silliestbunny

We chose to go w/an adoption center that had a national program.  One of the reasons we chose them is that they averaged matches within 6-9 months.

Alas, we didn't meet their average!  It took much longer and we ended up going w/other facilitators and lawyers and finally were matched but not with the original adoption center. 

However, another adoption bumpie was matched very quickly through the same adoption center....

My point-  don't let the short wait time be the main driver in your decision.  Numbers are only numbers and there's no guarantees (I know you know that... but it doesn't hurt to look at it from a different perspective).

My suggestion would be to join a few of the yahoogroups that discuss agencies and facilitators.  Two that come to mind are AARD and 2Adopt.  You'll get lots of ideas and suggestions from those groups. 

We tend not to discuss adoption agencies here but you can always ask what people know about a certain one and I am sure people will PM you with their opinions. 

Lastly, I think your husband's findings are consistent with many reports about ANLC. 

Floridamom224

I am a foster parent looking to adopt, so I dont really have any recs for you, but wanted to say hello and welcome!

Alicia_22

Welcome! I agree with silliest that time frames really are just numbers! They have NO way of knowing how long you will wait! The average for our agency is 9-16 months from the start of the paperwork. We are going on 18 months now and we were told during our homestudy that they didn't think we would wait long. There are others who were matched as soon as they were approved (less than 9 months) so you really can't predict it!!!!

Dr.Loretta

Welcome.

I agree with the pps. And you have to take every review with a grain of salt and a critical eye. We started with our agency when they were dropping their Hague accreditation and focusing exclusively on domestic adoption, so there was a transition period where some people weren't happy. And there were several offices, some of which were run much better than others.

I just encourage you to take your time, and most importantly, talk to agencies or law firms. We were able to cut down our list immediately just after initial phone calls (one place never returned my call, and we got a bad vibe from another agency).

Bosanquet

Dr.Loretta:

I just encourage you to take your time, and most importantly, talk to agencies or law firms. We were able to cut down our list immediately just after initial phone calls (one place never returned my call, and we got a bad vibe from another agency).

This!!! We had one agency that we thought for sure we would use, they posted their application on their website and it was about 60 pages so we printed it out and started it. I had questions and wanted to talk to someone there, but they wouldn't so much as speak to us until we filled out the application and wrote them a $500 check..... crossed that one off the list.

Do your research, and hopefully you'll know what's right for you. 

LadyRed7

Welcome to the board!

I agree with PP's, but can also suggest doing some research on local support or discussion groups. When we were first researching, we went to a 2 night seminar on adoption in general. In the packet of information, there were agencies listed. There is also a big adoption "fair" sort of speak in our area. There might be something like that near you that you can start with.

Good luck with your journey!