NW adoption agencies?

medrescher

We live in Oregon and are looking to adopt. I would prefer an agency that is near us so that we can keep down on the travel cost and have local access.

Does anyone have any suggestions for good and reliable agencies here in the northwest? Anyone had any experiences with ones near here?

 

Thanks

jacksjerseygirl

I'm not sure what you mean by wanting local office to keep down on travel cost. 

Living in NJ previously our agency based in KS. I never traveled there. Even now with second adoption with them living in Iowa I haven't traveled there.American Adoptions is a national agency matching hopeful adoptive parents and expecting parents all over the country. 

If you are wanting an agency that will only match you with a local situation - you'll have to ask first. Just because they have a local office doesn't mean you will only receive local situations - some don't give this as option if they work nationally. 

Working with a local boutique agency over national agency can add years on to your wait time.  

 Good luck!

jenn985

Yes! Open Adoption and Family Services out of Portland! They also have offices in Eugene and Seattle. We are using them and they just placed our son with us last Tuesday :-)  I have nothing to say but good things about them. Their fees are comparable to other agencies, their staff is professional and compassionate, and they are so good to both their birth parents and adoptive parents. Check them out at www.openadopt.org

 

Let me know if you have any other questions :-)

Jenn 

medrescher

From what I have read so far, a lot of the agencies require a home study in which they charge you mileage and travel time. I figured that if I could find an agency closer to where we are, the less travel the case workers would have to do.

 How do they do this with out of state agencies?

Thanks for the replies ladies.

 

jenn985

That's true about the home study being more expensive. We live about 2 hrs from the agency and they came to our home twice. We went up there twice for interviews. The homestudy ended up costing about $350 more because of travel expenses, but we totally feel like it was worth it.

KdgTeacher

medrescher:

From what I have read so far, a lot of the agencies require a home study in which they charge you mileage and travel time. I figured that if I could find an agency closer to where we are, the less travel the case workers would have to do.

 How do they do this with out of state agencies?

Thanks for the replies ladies.

 

Our agency charges more if they drive more than 50 miles from their office.  You could also have a local agency do the homestudy.  You get several copies and then you could send a copy to the OOT agency....

summergirl79

Out of state agencies have an in state agency or sw do the home study.  We started our process with our local agency (they did home study and post placement visits) but added a national agency to our process since we were on a waiting list to get into their "pool" and then matched very quickly! GL finding the agency that's right for you :-)

arbutusbride

I live in Portland and will probably be starting adoption process at the end of the summer since I don't think our next/ last IVF is going to work.  My friend went to Boys and Girls Aid information session.  We are going to the July information session.  Good luck and keep us posted.

MagickalNarwhal

We looked into the three main local agencies here: boys and girls aid, open adoption and family services, and journeys of the heart. Joh would not work w us because we are queer. We ended up liking bgas better and went with them. We started the process in march 2011 and brought our son home from the hospital a few days after he was born, in feb. 

We wanted an open adoption - very open - so a local agency was very important to us. Both OA&FS and BGAS have a vast majority of their placements within a few hours drive from the office. 

 I would suggest going to the free info sessions that both agencies offer and seeing feel. There is also typically an adoption "fair" annually in nov I think, with lots of info. Out adoption mosaic and nafa, both are adoption-related groups w events, education etc. I'm happy to share more info on my experience as well! 

jenn985

MagickalNarwhal:

We looked into the three main local agencies here: boys and girls aid, open adoption and family services, and journeys of the heart. Joh would not work w us because we are queer. We ended up liking bgas better and went with them. We started the process in march 2011 and brought our son home from the hospital a few days after he was born, in feb. 

We wanted an open adoption - very open - so a local agency was very important to us. Both OA&FS and BGAS have a vast majority of their placements within a few hours drive from the office. 

 I would suggest going to the free info sessions that both agencies offer and seeing feel. There is also typically an adoption "fair" annually in nov I think, with lots of info. Out adoption mosaic and nafa, both are adoption-related groups w events, education etc. I'm happy to share more info on my experience as well! 

I'm glad you mentioned Journeys of the Heart. We met with them first and were VERY unhappy. They were very much about finding "marketable" families that looked good on the page so that they would match quickly. My husband is older than I am and apparently that was a big deal with them. They also became upset with us when my husband asked for an explanation of how our personal information would be protected and what some of it would be used for-not a good sign to us. That's why we went to the educational session with OA&FS. They gave us such a welcome vibe right off the bat, and it stayed that way all the way thru placement.