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How We Work
Our Basic Policies are:
Our only requirement for adoptive families is that you have a completed Home
Study.
When you contract with us, we ask that you provide us with 10-15 family
profiles. A family
profile is a Dear Birthmother letter and pictures of yourselves, your children,
your home, your animals . . . whatever you want to show. This
profile is what we
present to our birthmothers and this is what they select a
family from. Yes, it is
sad that there is a marketing side to adoption, but this
profile is it. You want
a nicely done profile that clearly shows yourselves and
your lifestyle.
It is our policy that we give the birthparents all of the choices. They choose
the family, the type of
relationship (if any) they want to have, and also how
things will happen
throughout the pregnancy and at the hospital during and
after delivery. We
encourage open relationships because we feel this is
extremely healthy for
all involved, but the choice lies with the birthparents.
We limit the number of adoptive families we will work with at a time. We do
this in an effort to
place all families within a two year time frame.
Occasionally we get birthmothers that do not want to choose a family them-
selves. They ask us to take care of everything. When this
happens, we offer
the situation to the
family that has been contracted with us the longest.
We will automatically present contracted family profiles that fit the birth-
parents criteria without notifying the adoptive family that
their profile has
gone out, providing that
there are no identified issues with the situation.
If there are issues with a situation, then we will contact the adoptive family
first, to seek approval
before sending their profile out. Issues are: a medical condition, admitted drug
or alcohol use, or, if a birthmother is asking for living
or medical expenses.
Our Programs:
Safety Net Program
We feel we have an obligation to raise the bar for services in
the world of
adoption, so let us present our Safety Net Program. It is
called Safety Net
because it is meant to help protect your adoption fund, and
allow you to
network with multiple organizations in the search for your
child. Under this
program, we will present you to our birthmothers for $200 a
month without
a contractual commitment to us. As long as your $200
Presentation Fee is
submitted to us by the first of each month, we will present
you to our
birthmothers (normal profile presentation as well as
presentation on our
Website) for that month. If we do not receive your $200 before
the first of
any month you will not be presented that month. This will
allow you the option
to simply stop paying us at any time with no further
obligation if you find your birthmother through another source, or if you halt
your adoption search for
any reason, or if you are simply financially unable to pay the
$200 Presentation
Fee that month (you may resume paying monthly $200
Presentation Fees at any time). The total cost of our Safety Net program is
$8,800. Under this program,
you will not need to sign a full contract obligating you to
pay the $8,800 fee
until you are successfully matched with a birthmother, and
even then the
remainder of the
$8,800 fee is not due until your birthmother successfully terminates her
parental rights. Any
monthly Presentation Fees you have
already paid in will be deducted from the $8,800 amount. This
way the bulk of
your adoption fund is protected until you have a successful
placement. How
about that for a Safety Net! To start presenting you to our
birthmothers we
will need: (1) a copy of your Home Study (2) 12-15 family profiles
suitable for
mailing (3) a suitable picture and short paragraph for Website
presentation
(if you wish to be presented on our Website) (4) our completed
Adoptive
Parent Background Questionnaire (5)
$200 monthly
Presentation Fee
Full Contract Program:
Our Full Contract allows you to be presented to any birthmother we have.
This contract allows you
to be presented for two full years ~ we are careful
to say 'presented' here,
because we know that in the adoption world, you
could match with a
birthmother and work with her for three months, only to
have her change her mind
at delivery. If this happens, you have been 'out of
the hunt' for three
months. We would then extend your contract for another
three months to make
sure that you are presented for two full years.
The price of our Full Contract is $6,800. This fee is to be paid in full up front.
African American Program
Our second contract is for our African American program. In this program
you will be presented to
our African American or African American mixed
situations only. Under
this contract we ask for a $250 registration fee
that is due up front.
Our marketing fee is then determined on a sliding scale.
The fee will be 10% of
your annual household income, whatever that works
out to be, within our range of
a minimum fee of $2,500 and a maximum fee
of $8,000. We will
ask for a copy of your latest Income Tax Return to verify
your annual household
income and determine your fee. This fee does not
come due until
your birthmother successfully terminates her parental rights.
Our fee can be paid in full at
termination of parental rights, or on a payment
plan designed to fit
your budget.
Contact our office at 800-321-2070 to receive our full information packet
complete with contracts,
references, and other helpful adoption information.
Important Note: We are prohibited by law from working
with Illinois families.
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