Second Agency

[oneslybookworm]

We've made the decision to work with a second agency, not because we don't like the agency we're working with now, but to increase our odds of a match sooner.  

Have any of you worked with (or heard anything about) these agencies:

ABL (A Bond of Life) Adoptions:  Indiana and Louisiana

Adoption Support Center:  Indiana

[oneslybookworm]

Oct 2, 2016 23:27:13 GMT -5 @juliagulia said:

I a not familiar with either agency, but checked out their websites. The first one seems fine from a quick review. They use positive adoption language and seem to follow best practices. I did see online that they were sued in 2013 by an adoptive couple for withholding information they had about an infant's in utero drug exposure. The lawsuit was dismissed though. I also saw some negative feedback on adoptive families forums.

The second one would be a no go for me. They use birth mom all over their website when what they really mean is expectant mom. They have two programs for full service agency work and they are separated by the race of the baby and the fees are substantially lower for an African American child. This is a controversial practice and one that I am personally against. Also, they only allow single parents to be in the African American program. That's really sketchy to me. They say you have to work exclusively with them so I don't know if that's going to work for you.

Do you know if facilitators are legal in your state? Most people I know that are with an agency but want to speed things up by being available to more opportunities use either a lawyer or a facilitator. That way you don't have to pay a huge up front fee to yet another agency and also duplicate work you already have the agency doing (home study, profile, counseling, etc)

Thanks for your response!  We have actually decided not to work with Adoption Support Center because they only allow you to work with them, and while our first agency is smaller, we don't want to sever ties.  I also didn't like how they had different costs for different races, that just seems ridiculous!  I hadn't noticed the single parents to African American children, thank you for pointing that out! 

I am pretty sure facilitators are a no-go here in Indiana...I remember reading a couple of laws on it, and a few articles, so we never looked into it.  Luckily, this second agency doesn't have huge up-front fees either, and they'll accept our home study and profile from our first agency. 

[CurlySu717]

oneslybookworm, out of curiosity, how long have you been waiting?? Also, your first agency is local only as well, correct?? Asking for my own research

[oneslybookworm]

Oct 5, 2016 16:00:20 GMT -5 CurlySu717 said:

oneslybookworm, out of curiosity, how long have you been waiting?? Also, your first agency is local only as well, correct?? Asking for my own research

We've been waiting about 5.5 months now, so not that long. Our agency is "local" in the sense they only work with Indiana birth mothers. They're affiliated with Catholic Charities, and most states have at least one (if not multiple), so they all tend to work in their geographic area.

Where are you located again?

[CurlySu717]

oneslybookworm, central Texas. I'm not Catholic, though...does that matter to them?

[oneslybookworm]

Oct 6, 2016 11:36:07 GMT -5 CurlySu717 said:

oneslybookworm, central Texas. I'm not Catholic, though...does that matter to them?

Not that I'm aware of, at least not with our agency, or one that my friend adopted through in Kentucky. Both her and her spouse are Protestant and my husband isn't religious at all.