Illinois Agency Recommendations

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Everlasting Adoptions on October 16, 2009 at 1:31pm

Have you tried Angel Adoptions in Cary, IL? I am not sure about the upfront fee, but I have heard many positive things about them?

Permalink Reply by Julia Lehman on October 21, 2009 at 2:31pm

Christen, we use Angel Adoption in Cary. We did have to pay the entire amount up front, I don't know what the other agencies do because when we had our first meeting with Angel, we knew right away this was the place for us. I have a friend who uses The Cradle and I'm not sure about the $$, but she is not happy with them at all (we met through another adoption site after we had already signed our prospective contracts). As far as a failed placement, we have had 3. The good thing about putting the money up front is that when the connection happens, you don't have to rush to go get the $$ out of the bank and pay while your emotions are high and hopeful, but I understand not wanting or having it all at once. We signed a 24 month contract for the contracted amount. If we dont' have a successful adoption in 24 months, we can then pay month to month. There are no refunds if we discontinue or choose not to pay month to month. Again, I don't know the norm for the other agencies. I will say that we are very happy with Angel. It's a small facitlitator, they only work with a small amount of couples at a time which is why we chose them. We are one of maybe 50 instead of 1 of 500. They let you decide the amount of openess that you are comfortable with and match you with BM's who are looking for the same. You always talk to one of 3 girls there, they encourage you to call and check on how many profiles are going out, advertising for yourself and you always have full control of who your profile is sent to regarding race, sex, amount of monetary support to the BM, etc. I would suggest you and your husband, make an appointment and go in to talk with them. You don't have to sign, just check them out! I hope this helps! Here is the phone # 847-462-8874 their website is: www.angeladoptioninc.com In the prospective adoptive parents section we are Sam & Julia. Good luck in your search!!

Permalink Reply by Christen on October 21, 2009 at 2:59pm

Julia. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I will take some time to look through their website. :) Do you know how open their average adoption is? My DH and I are still trying to figure out what exactly we're comfortable with...

Thanks again,
Christen

Julia Lehman said:

Christen, we use Angel Adoption in Cary. We did have to pay the entire amount up front, I don't know what the other agencies do because when we had our first meeting with Angel, we knew right away this was the place for us. I have a friend who uses The Cradle and I'm not sure about the $$, but she is not happy with them at all (we met through another adoption site after we had already signed our prospective contracts). As far as a failed placement, we have had 3. The good thing about putting the money up front is that when the connection happens, you don't have to rush to go get the $$ out of the bank and pay while your emotions are high and hopeful, but I understand not wanting or having it all at once. We signed a 24 month contract for the contracted amount. If we dont' have a successful adoption in 24 months, we can then pay month to month. There are no refunds if we discontinue or choose not to pay month to month. Again, I don't know the norm for the other agencies. I will say that we are very happy with Angel. It's a small facitlitator, they only work with a small amount of couples at a time which is why we chose them. We are one of maybe 50 instead of 1 of 500. They let you decide the amount of openess that you are comfortable with and match you with BM's who are looking for the same. You always talk to one of 3 girls there, they encourage you to call and check on how many profiles are going out, advertising for yourself and you always have full control of who your profile is sent to regarding race, sex, amount of monetary support to the BM, etc. I would suggest you and your husband, make an appointment and go in to talk with them. You don't have to sign, just check them out! I hope this helps! Here is the phone # 847-462-8874 their website is: www.angeladoptioninc.com In the prospective adoptive parents section we are Sam & Julia. Good luck in your search!!

Permalink Reply by Julia Lehman on October 21, 2009 at 3:49pm

Christen, I think the average openess is letter's & photos to the BM on a regular basis. If you go for a meeting, they will tell you that the more open your perameters are, the more your profile goes out. By that I mean how open you are to maybe not all caucasion, the amount of BM support $ you are willing to give(some states have caps on that, but not all), or being totally open with visits regularly rather than letters & photos would get your profile out more. BUT, don't tell them you are willing to things that you really don't think you are able to do. They need to know exactly what you want, they want a match, just be honest. There is a out there for all of us, it may take some time. For us, we have agreed to partial Caucasion due to the fact that I am bi racial . Our BM support is low due to being tapped out for everything else, and we really just want letters & photos, but that will depend on how we all get along. If our relationship with our BM is good, we are willing to have a more open adoption. These are all things to think about, and only you and DH know the answers.

Permalink Reply by Christen on October 22, 2009 at 7:25am

Thanks again! :)

Permalink Reply by Denise B Stoeckel on May 12, 2010 at 11:22am

we used Hobby Horse House out of Jacksonville, IL about 10 years ago. We lived in Havana at the time and no other agency would work with us because we weren't in their "service area". We have a few minor bumps during the process, but nothing that would stop me from using them again if we still lived in Illinois. The adoption of our daughter is semi-private and Hobby Horse was 100 % supportive of our decision (and the birth mom).
the rates were very reasonable and they only required a 1 day training to acquire the foster license.

good luck!