Adoption Agencies
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Adoption Agencies
See also: Advice about Adoption for info about specific nationalities/ethnicities
Agencies reviewed by BPN subscribers:
Adopt International
April 2004
Re: Adoption agency for international adoption
Two months ago my husband and I adopted a beautiful child from
Guatemala! We used Adoptions International in Philadelphia for
the main adoption (www.adoptionsintl.org) and Adopt
International in SF for the home study portion
(www.adoptinter.org). Both agencies work with Guatemala, Russia
and former Soviet Union countries, China and perhaps a few
others. While they differed, I was pleased with both agencies.
Please feel free to contact me if you'd like more info on my
experience with them.
Christine
Oct 2002
Re: Adopting an Asian Child
Having just brought our wonderful new daughter home from China,
I am very happy to recommend the agency we used, Adopt
International. They are located in Redwood City. The China
program manager is Cindy Klein and can be reached at 650-369-
7300.
From: Patricia (6/98)
Try Adopt International, in Redwood City. They also have a small branch
office in Oakland, near the Rockridge Library.
Adoption Connection
Re: agency for domestic adoption (April 2004)
I stongly recommend Adoption Connection
(http://www.jfcs.org/Services/Children,_Youth,_and_Families/Adoption_Connection/). Lynne Fingerman, the co-founder of the
agency, is a Berkeley mom and has years of experience with
every type of domestic adoption. She is well known and
respected throughout the state. They were able to help us
connect with birth parents. They help you with your letter,
offer advice and counseling on inter-racial adoption, have
great pre- and post-adoption workshops, etc. I can't say
enough positive things about them. We had a great expeience and
have several friends who have as well.
thrilled to be a mom
Oct 2002
I HIGHLY recommend Adoption Connection in San Francisco
(http://www.adoptionconnection.org). We did a lot of searching
and interviewing before we decided to go with these folks and we
had a wonderful experience (and now have a wonderful baby boy).
They do mostly domestic adoptions, but also do international home
studies if you need one. I would be happy to talk with you about
our experiences. Good luck!!
Whendee
June 1999
Thanks for all the advice about adoption agencies. So far, my partner and
I are pretty sure that we want to do a domestic adoption and are seriously
considering working with Adoption Connection, about which we've received
some good feedback. They are very positive about working with same-sex
couples and have impressed us in other areas as well.
Alameda County
I am adopting my daughter through Alameda County and have had a very
positive experience. Would be happy to talk about it via e-mail or phone if
you'd like. Also there are past exchanges on the parents' network website.
Finding my daughter has been a highlight of my life -- good luck in this
adventure!
nicole
June 1999
I have two children who were adopted as infants.These children are now 13
and 16 years old. We were successful using Alameda County for one and the
services of the Gradsteins in San Francisco for the other. Also keep in
mind that you can use a paralegal to prepare your paperwork for the court
and file it yourself. This will save lot of money. Be patient and good luck.
Homestudies and Adoption Placement Services (HAPS)
Oct 2002
We are currently in the process of adopting a baby boy from
Guatemala.
Our international agency, that has an excellent reputation for
Guatemalan adoptions, is called HAPS (Homestudies and Adoption
Placement Services). They are located in New Jersey. EVERYONE
that has used them seems to love them...and I certainly do. I
have heard from LOADS of people adopting from Guatemala, and so
many of them complain that their agencies are not responsive to
their needs, requests or concerns. HAPS, however, is VERY
responsive and compassionate.
http://www.haps.org/
Let me know if you need any additional information.
Michelle
Holt International Children's Services
Oct 2002
Re: Adopting an Asian Child
I highly recommend Holt International Children's Services for
adopting an Asian child. Holt has been doing international
adoptions for forty years. The adoption of our Korean infant
daughter through Holt was relatively quick, inexpensive and
hassle-free. I like the fact that Holt is a non-profit and its
first priority is the welfare of the children in its care. See
their website at www.holtinternational.org.
betsy
June 1999
I really must respond to much of the information I've seen posted. There are
many fine agencies in the Bay Area and around the country that are doing
marvelous work facilitating permanancy placement for children in need.
But on behalf of the world's children I take grave insult at all the talk
and intimation about how great it is to have children join your family
when they are so young, and how some agencies are able to get "better"
or younger children. Stop and think about this. As the mother of two
children from Southeast Asia who joined our family at the ages of 4 and 3,
I think how my incredible life would have been different had I stuck to
some preconceived notion of what a "baby" is. My children were adopted
through Holt International Children's Services, the people who pioneered
international adoption back in the 1950's when Bertha and Harry Holt
had to get a congressional bill passed in order to bring home eight
Amerasian children after the Korean War. Holt is a children's services
organization with the first priority of assisting birth families to
stay together. Their next goal is in-country adoption, and lastly,
inter-country adoption. In 1998 they served 15,000 children with
nutritional, medical, and family counseling assistance. Of the
3,849 children involved in permanancy placement in 1998, 1,002 were
able to remain with their birth families, 717 were able to return to
their birth families, 912 were domestically adopted, 953 were placed
with US families and 293 were placed in other foreign countries. I know
that the necessary fees I had to pay (which in 1993 was half of most
other international agencies) went to serve the needs of ALL these
children and that every effort was made on behalf of my own children
to do what was best for them. I'm not saying people shouldn't adopt
babies and it is certainly in the best interest of the child not to
prolongate the actions that will result in finding them a secure place
in the world. All I'm saying is that 1) there is nothing "better" about
babies than older children; and 2) think about where your money is going
and what types of organizations and services you want to support.
Information about Holt can be found on the web at
www.holtintl.org -- Anonymous
Oct 2002
My husband and I adopted our now 13-month old baby boy last year
through the Independent Adoption Center. They specialize in open
adoption, mostly domestic, but are beginning to do some
international adoptions. As with most adoptions they facilitate,
we were able to bring our baby home with us right from the
hospital. Their support and help through the process were
invaluable in making our adoption work.
Their website www.adoptionhelp.org provides information about
open adoption and their services. You can also call them at
(800) 877-6736.
Sally
PACT
A respondent to the person requesting info about adoption organizations
characterized Pact of San Francisco as doing biracial adoptions. Pact is a
non-profit adoption facilitator with offices in Oakland and San Francisco.
Their work is placing children of color with adoptive parents/families of
all ethnic backgrounds. Some but not all of the infants they place are
African American or of mixed race who are adopted by white parents
(transracial adoption). An enormous aspect of Pact's mission is to provide
support and education about race and adoption to its many members and
clients throughout the over the U.S. They are also a great source of books
about race and adoption for kids and adults, as well as offering for sale a
huge selection of kids' books featuring children of color.
Pact's number is (415) 221-6957.
On the Web, contact: www.pactadopt.org
or E mail them at info AT pactadopt.org
Patricia (6/99)
Silver Spoon Adoption
After trying advertising, and having an adoption in Arizona not work out at the
last minute, and other personal things happen that stretched the time out to 5
years, our adoption attorney (who charged us by the hour instead of an overall
fee) suggested an agency called Silver Spoon Adoptions as a place where we could
be matched with a family interested in adoption of their child fairly quickly.
In essence they advertise in phone books, and are there to accept calls from
birthfamilies, and with information from people like us, they can tell the
birthfamily that a number of people will be calling them. They then called us
(and usually others) and we called the birthfamily. The positives are that the
birthfamilies already knew things like our age that might not be acceptable to
all birthfamilies, and so you don't have to hold your breath when talking to
them. Also, they do (or did three years ago) have a lot of calls and we were
matched in a month and one-half. People have the perception that there is not
much screening through them, but our experience is that they talk to many
birthmothers, and are pretty good at screening and up front about potential
problems. The negatives are that you are to some extent on your own about
making a decision about the right situation, and also after finding a match. In
our experience, some of the birthfamilies are very needy, and in need of a lot
of financial support. Two of the families were homeless, including the family
we eventually adopted from. In retrospect, I realize the name Silver Spoon
Adoptions is likely to lead to people perceiving that adopting families have a
lot of money. I didn't even think of that aspect at the time. We did take out
insurance because of the financial burden, and we realized it would be hard to
start again if it didn't work out. We did use the insurance once. We also
found a local facilitator in the area where the birthfamily lived to help us
through all the ups and downs. I could go on and on about the experience - and
if you decide to try Silver Spoon I have some tips for you, so contact me
through my e-mail directly. Just to tell you we have the most wonderful 3 year
old daughter in the world, and are still in touch with the birthfamily.
addendum:
just did a search for Silver
Spoon Adoptions on the web, and there was a note from someone about negative
things being posted on a site called adoption.com, and a suit being brought by
Silver Spoon. I don't know what to think. Our experience was only positive. Oh
well.
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