Our Adoption Agency

I was asked about our agency, so I'm going to talk about it. As you can see by the name, it is a local agency. Meaning they only serve people in Southern Illinois. However, we can work with birthmom's from northern Illinois and outside of the state. Many birthmom's come from St. Louis Mo. since their main office is in Belleville, IL (very near St. Louis).

We chose to work with them for several reasons. The main reason was that we really liked the social worker that we met with on our informational meeting. She was also the one that worked with us for about a year before we got a different one (who we also like). Other reasons were:

• They were fairly close. We could meet with our social worker at a branch office that was only 45 min. away and her office is only 2 hours away. We live in the middle of nowhere so we are used to traveling to do anything.
• Their fees are income based. All together (including legal fees) the total is $10,000 for us. It is not the lowest bracket, nor is it the highest.
• They did not require us to pay them something before meeting with them. Many other agencies won't even talk to you unless you send them an application along with the app. fee. And I should add that their application fee was one of lowest that we had seen.
• We liked that they are very big on open adoption, but also that they work with both parties (adoptive & birth parents) to figure out what specifics feels best on a case by case basis. Like pictures, letters, etc.
• And they were our next to last option. The last agency that was on our list was Bethany Christian Services out of Chicago. We really didn't want to travel to Chicago if we didn't have to. We had 5 agencies on our list. The Bethany office in Southern Illinois, which we met with but didn't feel that they were right for us. Angel's Cove in Mt. Vernon Illinois. They are a crisis maternity center. They were unwilling to meet with us at all. Lutheran Social Services of Illinois seemed nice on the phone, but wouldn't meet with us without the application (and fee). And then ours.

I like that our social worker pretty well knows us. We aren't just a file to her. She is good about returning my phone calls and emails. I also like that she is a mother herself. She is the same age as me and she seems to be very responsible and professional. I know many adoption specialists are very young. I think some agencies like them that way because they are more free to travel and be on call all the time.

All and all, I think we have been pretty happy with our agency. Picking an agency is a major decision in the adoption journey. I would say, do your homework and go with your instincts.