QUESTION: Friends of ours adopted twins through a local attorney. He charged them twice the legal fees because they adopted two babies at once. We also saw on adoption forum sites that some programs charge extra fees if the prospective adoptive parents want to be selective on gender, race, etc. Does your program have a similar fee structure?
ANSWER: No, our clients are free to pursue any type of adoption they wish with whatever filters that are right for them. There are not any additional fees for adopting twins or pursuing a specifically targeted adoption. Our program places a strong emphasis on fostering an environment that lets clients personalize their adoption plan without being restrained by an aggressive fee structure.
QUESTION: Friends of ours adopted twins through a local attorney. He charged them twice the legal fees because they adopted two babies at once. We also saw on adoption forum sites that some programs charge extra fees if the prospective adoptive parents want to be selective on gender, race, etc. Does your program have a similar fee structure?
ANSWER: No, our clients are free to pursue any type of adoption they wish with whatever filters that are right for them. There are not any additional fees for adopting twins or pursuing a specifically targeted adoption. Our program places a strong emphasis on fostering an environment that lets clients personalize their adoption plan without being restrained by an aggressive fee structure.
We have heard incredible things about your program. Can you answer the following questions: 1) Do most adoptive parents go forward with the 1st birth mother who selects them or do they pass & wait for the “perfect” match; 2) What is the average of this happening; & 3) when a birth mother selects an adoptive parent in your program, how likely is it that it results in a successful adoption.
Thank you for your wonderful questions. With respect to your first question, we only present prospective adoptive parent profiles to fully screened, last trimester birth mothers who fit the requirements of each prospective adoptive parent in advance. This greatly increases the likelihood that the client will want to pursue the first birth mother who selects him/her. That being said, the decision of whether to match with a specific birth mother is a visceral, as opposed to an analytical, process. Simply put, it has to feel right. If a client doesn’t feel that the situation is right for him/her, he/she can always pass on the opportunity and continue to be presented to birth mothers until the “right” birth mother selects them. With respect to your second question regarding the average number of clients who pass on being selected by a birth mother, we would estimate that approximately 80% of clients go forward with the first birth mother who selects them and about 20% pass on their first opportunity. With respect to your third question, we are very proud to be able to report that when a birth mother selects one of our clients through our program, and the client decides to go forward with the match, that match is three times more likely to result in a successful placement than the national average of all adoption programs. We hope this answers all of your questions. As always, please feel free to send us more or give us a call at 818-789-3477 so we can further discuss.
The adoption agency we were with just closed its doors. We are seeing this more and more. Is AdoptHelp experiencing any slow down?
Thank you for your question. We believe that some of what you are observing stems from the closing down of international adoption programs. As a private adoption law firm exclusively focused on voluntary domestic adoption, we have not been affected by this. In fact, we are very proud to report that we are having another great year. Indeed, for the past seven years, AdoptHelp has consecutively increased the number of successful adoptions through our program and we are on pace to exceed our goal this year. We have developed a highly proprietary and effective advertising and outreach program that is at the core of our success. We maintain very thorough program statistics which we are happy to share with our potential clients and would be happy to send you references from clients who have used our program in the past. Should you like to learn more about our program, we can send you a packet of information about our program and set up and office or phone consultation so we can explain how our program works and answer any questions you may have.
Birth Mother Question: I am currently matched with a family. Do you have any suggestions on how to make delivery day easier?
As a birth mother who placed a baby through AdoptHelp. Choosing adoption is a difficult decision and everyone deals with it differently. There are quite a few things I did before I gave birth that helped me make the transition from giving birth to life after birth a little easier. Here are a few things I did that really helped me heal:
- I thought of the baby I was carrying as the adoptive parent’s baby. I chose adoption at 13 weeks of pregnancy and thought it best if I didn’t get attached.
- Getting to know the adoptive parents also helped me in this journey. I wanted them to feel comfortable with me. I knew they were just as scared as I was so I let them ask me any questions and I was always open to their thoughts and opinions. It helped me to think that we were going through this journey together. They became more than my sons parents, they became my friends and people I will love deeply and forever.
- It helped allowing the adoptive parents to go to doctor’s appointments and for them to be at my side during delivery. I wanted to see the excitement in their eyes and the love in their hearts for their son. Seeing their love for him confirmed my decision to choose adoption.
- I learned to live in the moment. If you look at the journey as a whole it can be overwhelming, I took one day at a time.
- I wrote letters to the adoptive parents. When I felt scared it made me feel letter to write how I felt and to share the goals of my future.
I really connected with the adoptive parents, we still communicate and they keep me up to date with pictures. The thing that helped me the most was thinking of myself as a vessel for the adoptive parent's child and to start preparing for life after the birth.
Looking back, I know I made the right decision. My son is with parents that love him and are giving him a life I wish I could have provided. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to give him a better life and he will know I did that for him.