How did you get started?

Flamingo86

I have the day off and have spent the last couple of hours googling adoption agencies and attorneys and whatnot. It is all very, very overwhelming. How on earth did you decide how to proceed? How did you go about researching your options?

Again, we are very, very early in the process. We are not even sure yet if adoption is the choice we want to make yet. Regardless, I feel like the more educated I try to become the more overwhelmed I get.

How did you start the research process?

silliestbunny

Look at our FAQ section (above/right).  It has some good books to read. 

 

It's an overwhelming process.  If you live in an area that has agencies, consider going to info sessions.  That'll start you on a path that good questions will form  Also, stick around here and ask questions! 

davidandheather

We had a Discovering Adoption class at church which got us started. The advice they gave was same as silliestbunny, visit the orientation/open houses of local agencies. You will always learn a lot. You will also be able to better decide which agency you feel most comfortable with.

Ginger71

We started by going to an adoption fair as and joining a local adoption association. They put us in touch with people via email and I got loads of good and bad feedback on agencies and lawyers. We de I ided we wanted to go with an agency so we wouldnt have to do advertising or anything and the place we are using does a good job of breaking down the price. S

adly cost is a factor for us and we felt anagency was most cost effective even though the wait may be longer.

Good luck! 

orangecupcake

I googled local agencies and requested information to be mailed. Once those came, I narrowed them to two. From those two, I call both and asked each a list of questions. Then I picked one.

12bailey18

orangecupcake:

I googled local agencies and requested information to be mailed. Once those came, I narrowed them to two. From those two, I call both and asked each a list of questions. Then I picked one.

This for us too. Also, some of the agencies we were researching offered free webinars and informational meetings on the weekends, which was very helpful!  

LIQueen

We picked an agency right in our town that we drive by everyday.  We decided to attend a meeting and find out all the information we could.  Then we looked at a few other local agencies to see the pricing and if it was higher or lower.  We saw that they were about all the same, so we decided to go with the agency that was right down the street from us.  I felt more connected with them and if I ever had any questions then I could always just walk in there and have more of a face to face conversation then just a phone call.  They provided the company for our home study and do all the marketing work for us(make our paper profile and post an online one).

kfourcat

I had it easy. My college roommate had adopted through our agency (American) and had a good experience; so I basically used all her leg work and chose them as well. First I would decide if you want to do Domestic or International, and go from there to if you would like to do individual, agency or foster. We are doing domestic agency now, but will probably do through the state foster next time