Agency Fee Question

kellyrn9956 · June 2012

Can someone please explain what the actual "agency fee" pays for? I see that the home study process, post-adoption visits, legal fees, and birthmother expenses are all in addition to the agency fee in most cases. So I'm having a very hard time determining what this $15,000 to $30,000 is actually going toward other than advertising and seeking birthmothers for us and presenting our profile. What else...anything?

KdgTeacher · June 2012

From what I understand that fee is for exactly what you said--advertising for you. I also had a hard time stomaching a fee that high for that, which is a huge reason we didn't go with an agency like that.

bumpuser794640 · June 2012

I think it depends on the agency. Our agency fees pay for birthmother advertising, counseling, other birthmother expenses, etc. Basically everything except our application, homestudy, and seminar fees is lumped into our "agency" fee - the agency is accepting responsibility for birthmother expenses, so we never lose out on money due to a failed match. Not all agencies work this way, however.

kellyrn9956 · June 2012

KdgTeacher:
From what I understand that fee is for exactly what you said--advertising for you. I also had a hard time stomaching a fee that high for that, which is a huge reason we didn't go with an agency like that.

Did you opt for a different route other than an agency? Or did you find an agency like GSG that was more "all-inclusive"?

We found one that was all inclusive; however, their range is $30,000-$45,000 and when I told the man that I spoke with that we were looking at the $30,000 range, he all but told us that we would then never be chosen and to anticipate a very long wait, and recommended at least $38,000+. ::Sigh:: Then make your range $38,000-$45,000.

I'm getting frustrated as this continues to add up more and more out of our range of possibility.

KdgTeacher · June 2012

kellyrn9956:

KdgTeacher:
From what I understand that fee is for exactly what you said--advertising for you. I also had a hard time stomaching a fee that high for that, which is a huge reason we didn't go with an agency like that.

Did you opt for a different route other than an agency? Or did you find an agency like GSG that was more "all-inclusive"?

We are with an agency. However, their primary business is foster but they do do adoptions. They don't "advertise/market" for us. They have a few contacts here and there (doctor's offices, Planned parenthood, etc), but a lot of their adoptions find them if that makes sense. As a trade off, we paid for homestudy/application ($1500) and we'll pay lawyer fees ($7K at max we're told)...that's all. We have the option to pay for PBM bills if we want to.

c&dwaiting4ourmiracle · June 2012

GnomeSweetGnome:
I think it depends on the agency. Our agency fees pay for birthmother advertising, counseling, other birthmother expenses, etc. Basically everything except our application, homestudy, and seminar fees is lumped into our "agency" fee - the agency is accepting responsibility for birthmother expenses, so we never lose out on money due to a failed match. Not all agencies work this way, however.

Our agency sounds like yours GnomeSweetGnome. It is on the expensive side, but we really liked that we didn't lose any money if the Expectant Parent's change their mind and decide to parent. Our agency is nationwide and we were match at 4 months of being active with them. We have had a really good experience with them and they are supportive of our EM needs/counseling.

silliestbunny · June 2012

While I am not defending some of the outrageous fees, keep in mind that salaries, office lease, insurance, etc come from some of the fees.... just the practical side of business.

Dr.Loretta · June 2012

Salaries were the one thing that stuck out for us. Esp seeing our SW meet us at 8pm to go over 90 minutes of paperwork for our match, I felt a heck of a lot better about paying our match fee (that's what they called the "big" fee at our agency). Our SW and our BM's SW did a LOT of legwork throughout the process. And we heard stories about them meeting BMs for coffee to check in with them after placement, etc. as part of the provided counseling.

MarionB79 · June 2012

Our agency is a christian non-profit agency. Their fees range from $9000 to 20,0000. Your fees are 20% of your annual gross household income, but does not go lower than the 9000 or higher than 20,000. It still seemed high to me, but it is all inclusive.

They don't do a lot of advertising for us except with some doc offices, pregnancy crisis centers and their agency, but I'm ok with that. DH and I don't feel good about aggressive advertising and then paying for BM expenses. It would feel to me like I am "buying" her baby if you know what I mean. I don't want BM to relinquish her rights because she feels indebted to us in any way.

I'm happy that our fee includes all costs and our BM will be well taken care of by the agency - their pregnancy counselors are excellent!

Also we paid 1500 for the home study and no other fees are due until BM relinquishes her parental rights.

In the end you have to go with what you feel most comfortable with! Good luck and take your time looking!

Mrs.Slick · June 2012

silliestbunny:
While I am not defending some of the outrageous fees, keep in mind that salaries, office lease, insurance, etc come from some of the fees.... just the practical side of business.

This.

Our agency is a nonprofit so we got a breakdown of exactly how much went where. Only a small portion went to the business side of things but the bigger portion of our agency fees went to their specific charity.

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