ADOPTION TESTIMONIALS FROM BIRTH MOTHERS*

A little bit about my experience with ACF.  I signed the papers for adoption 8 months ago and I still don’t regret it.  The best thing I’ve ever done was dial 305-653-2474 when I found out I was pregnant.  I have nothing but excellent things to say about them.  My caseworker, Stacey, has gone way above and beyond for me. Like a family member they treat me still. I have the BEST adoptive parents; better than I ever could have imagined.  I encourage any mother who is not in the position to give their child all they deserve to call Advocates for Children and Families.

Melissa

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Dear Stacey,

You've been such a good friend to me...just by being your wonderful self.

Just want to send a little note to thank you & the staff for everything you have done for me. Not only have you been a great comfort to me but you have really been a shining light for me throughout this whole process. As you know this is a difficult time with many hard decisions but you have made this all very easy for me & my family. Thank you so very much! I hope this note will bring a smile to your face & know you are amazing! Thanks again,

Ashley

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Dear ACF,

I'm so blessed for being led to you guys and to the adoptive parents. Sometimes I wish I could do it all over again. I wouldn't change anything. I would just take time out to fully take the experience in better. But I'm so happy the baby is truly loved by her adoptive parents. That's the true gift of life and love. I want to thank you for finding them for me. Make sure they know I'm still sending my love. I'm sure they love their new daughter so much. Surprisingly I’m doing well. It’s been rough, but God is there.  Take care and continue to spread the gift of life and love across the world. You all are amazing people. Love always,

Hope

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Dear ACF,

This whole experience has been so hard for me and I was unsure if I could go through with it.  But anytime I had a concern or even just wanted someone to talk to “ACF” was there. They made me feel I could trust them.  They were there for my best interest and with any choice I made.  I would say if it was any other agency I wouldn’t have been as comfortable as they made me feel, as they were my friends.  I know my baby girl will always be taken care of.  Thank you so much. God bless,

Cathie

*Birth mother names are pseudonyms

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They say "with age, comes wisdom." For me it was a little different. With experience came my wisdom and all the little lessons my mother has been trying to pound into my head for the first 20 years of my life. I went through the life altering experience of getting pregnant and choosing to place my daughter for adoption last year.

Being a student in college and away from my parents and family I chose to keep it a secret. I kept myself cooped up and felt so lost. I was extremely depressed and didn't know what to do. I was given a phone number to an agency from my nurse to get the adoption underway seven months into my pregnancy.

My mind was fried and my heart under arrest. I finally got the courage and spoke with a wonderful woman named Yazmin. She made everything sound so simple and calmed my nerves. 24 hours later I received a phone call from one of the sweetest voices and dearest people I could have met at that time. Someone, who I will always consider to be a friend, Stacey Levine. This woman is so wonderful, from that moment on, I had my emotional back up handy. At the touch of my cell phone I could stop tears from coming and doubts from entering my mind. She was my therapy, my support group. She reminded me of how strong I am and the courageous decision I was making.

Being young and getting pregnant is an extremely difficult thing. Making the choice to give your child up for adoption after you carry her is even harder. When the big day finally came and my beautiful daughter was born and the papers had to be signed, I fell into a black hole. I felt lost all over again and like I was back at the beginning, alone and confused, sitting there while I heard my baby's life being read away destroyed me.

With the help of the wonderful crew at ACF I got the courage to lift my pen and give my beautiful angel a second and fair chance at life. She was placed into the arms of the most amazing and deserving family I think I have ever met. I couldn't have been happier with their decision in a family for my daughter. I still speak to them frequently and see pictures of the most gorgeous creature God ever placed into my arms. It been almost a year and I look back on my life and I'm so happy with myself. God puts some pretty heavy tasks into our hands at times. But he will never give us an obstacle we can't over come.

For me growing up and realizing the true value of life was long overdue. I can't say I would ever wish this upon anyone, but if you are faced with the same decisions I was, I would advise that you think twice and talk to someone. As a birth mother, ACF was my saving grace. I found the strength within me to move mountains and change my life and a few very special people's out there as well.

Nancy

*Birth mother names are pseudonyms

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This is the best adoption agency ever. They cry with you, laugh with you, share sorrow with you and they also treat you like family! I give them a ten star.

Julie

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Dear ACF,

I just wanted to say thanks for all of your help with everything. This was the hardest decision I have made in my life. Your kindness and understanding made the process much easier for me. I am still healing and mourning and appreciate you giving me the space I needed to do so. I truly appreciate your efforts. I will never forget any of you ladies.

Take care,

Chandra

*Birth mother names are pseudonyms

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My room is full of my baby girl’s pictures and I look at them and watch patiently how she is growing and how happy she is. I have a five-year-old daughter who understands that her sister lives far away. I know that my baby has the best of worlds, a mother and a father who will cherish her as their own. I was very blessed in the decision I made. Even though some don't understand why I made adoption my decision, most of my family supports it. I love my baby girl and I am very blessed that the parents send me pictures and updates on how my child is growing into a beautiful, intelligent, healthy, adorable young woman, and her parents are young, vibrant, energetic, caring and most of all loving. God loves us very much and he blessed your life and your child. Adoption is a gift received, not taken away.

Remember you are not alone.

Sincerely,

Penelope

 

ADOPTION TESTIMONIALS FROM ADOPTIVE PARENTS AND ADOPTEES

Thank you so much for helping us find our amazing son! He couldn't be more perfect for our family!

Sarah

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I was adopted through Advocates for Children and Families’ founder in the late 1980s.  My parents brought me home from the hospital when I was two days old.  I often wish that I could remember it because it was the happiest day of my life. 

I can confidently say that both of my parents are my best friends. I feel like I have a different kind of love for my parents than the average person.  Obviously, I love them unconditionally like biological children love their parents, but I think it goes deeper than that. 

When I was 18 years old, I got in contact with my biological family.  It was interesting because I finally got to compare and see how I felt about people who share my genetics.  Although I do love my birthmother, and always have and always will, my love for her doesn’t compare to the love that I have for my real mom.  I use the term “real” mother to refer to my adoptive mother because that is what she is.  I grew up with a strong understanding that your parents are the people who take care of you when you are sick, teach you skills to excel in life, be there for you when your first love breaks your heart, and so on.  My parents know me inside and out, and part of the reason for that is because, even though we don’t share the same DNA, part of them resides in me. 

There have been times where I have sat and have contemplated my situation, and it has made me break down and cry. But they were tears of joy.  They were grateful tears. I will never be able to effectively articulate the way that I feel, but when I think about my parents, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and respect. I feel insanely lucky because they chose me. They saved me.  They are my angels.  When I contacted my biological family, I felt so guilty.  I felt like I was betraying my parents and I was torn because I wanted so badly to learn about myself and my history, but I was so scared that my parents would be hurt.  That was the last thing I wanted to do because they had spent my entire life trying to make sure that I never felt unnecessary pain.

I feel that in reaction to meeting my biological family, my love for my parents grew.  I got a glimpse at what my life would have been like and that’s when I started to feel like the luckiest girl in the world.  They went out of their way to be my parents and their effort didn’t stop there.  It was the little things in my childhood.  I remember when I was a competitive swimmer and my Dad would be up at 4 in the morning on the day of my swim meet, cutting up fruit for me to eat between my races.  Or when my Mom used to travel frequently and my dad would put on a French accent and make me feel like I was in an upscale salon while he did my hair.  He didn’t stop there.  My dad used to make my sandwiches for school while my mom was gone and he would always cut them into different shapes.  I was the coolest girl in the cafeteria with a sandwich shaped like a house that had a door that swung open.  And of course, when my mom got home, she would always be accompanied by a new stuffed animal friend for me.  It is things like this that make me refer to them as my real parents.

I cannot deny that being adopted hasn’t been a constant obstacle for me, even now.  However, I would never ever want it any other way.  My parents are everything to me, and I constantly strive to do well in everything that I do to try to repay them for being so amazing.  They would say that just being me is enough, but I would have to disagree.

Dara

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This is a 5 star operation and I highly recommend them.

Nancy

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ACF has been a part of our lives for 16 years now. Our first adoption was through an attorney and the process was impersonal. Once we found ACF we had our adoption agency for life and it is a good thing we found them because we have been through 3 more adoptions and a guardianship since then. Laurie and Ginger and all of the staff have always been very friendly, understanding and responsive to our needs. We have always felt like we were a part of a larger family in our interactions and we realize they have complete respect for all parties in this most intimate process. Our children have a positive regard for adoption, even though each of them has a unique situation and birth parents they all have a common bond and ACF is part of that. When we adopted Violet our other 3 children were teens and were very involved in the process. I think it helped them to understand how we feel about them watching us go through the expecting and finally bringing home our baby girl and watching her grow into her own unique person. Through all of this I know any kind of question or support I need ACF will try to help me meet my families’ needs. We love you guys!

The Haaker Family

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Consuelo welcomes her new son!

Dear ACF ladies:

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us build our family. You have brought great joy and happiness to our lives. You all were wonderful and you all have our eternal gratitude.

Consuelo

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Everyone at ACF is very friendly. They were so sweet and helped us find our youngest daughter, Fahra. We have a three year old daughter and thought adopting again was going to be difficult but they made it happen.

Gino and Myriam

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Working with ACF to adopt our first child has been a pleasure beginning with our initial phone conversation. Yazmin spent twenty minutes explaining ACF's process and answering every question we had. We knew after that call that we had found the right group of women to work with. Ginger Allen, although a busy attorney, has been extremely accessible whenever we have called or stopped by the office unannounced.

Her experience, as well as Laurie Slavin's, has guided us through every step of fulfilling our dreams of being parents. Yakima, too, has been a great asset at the office as well as Nika, who always answers the phone and the door with a smile. I have recommended ACF to other families and will continue to do so. We also look forward to working with the team again next year when we adopt our second child.

Many, many thanks,

Larry and Lenette

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Ginger Allen is “rock solid” and a great person to have on your team.  The paperwork for adoptions can be a harrowing experience and I am very glad that “Advocates for Children and Families” helped me!

G.T.  

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Adrian welcomes his twin sisters!

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It was a pleasure working with Advocates for Children and Families. The adoption process was both professional and personal. The staff truly cared about the baby (our baby Moses :), the birth parents and us! We could not have had a more positive experience. Thank You,

Terry and Judy

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We would like to thank you again for facilitating Olivia's adoption. Words cannot express how much we have appreciated your efforts, and those of your entire staff at ACF. We were always treated kindly with an enormous amount of respect and empathy. It's unfortunate that so many adoptions are depicted in unfavorable conditions - ours is truly one that has had a happy beginning, middle and end! Throughout our struggles with infertility, we had so many questions without answers - the "what ifs" seemed to echo loudly. However, now our path to parenthood appears to be crystal clear with the one-word answer "OLIVIA". Thank you for helping make our journey come full circle! All our best... Victoria & Derek

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It's been quite a while since we've been in contact. You helped us adopt our daughter Aja a couple of years ago. I've attached a current photo. She'll be four years old in February and is just a joy and a blessing. Again, thank you for your help and I hope your holidays are grand!

Sincerely,

Robert

 

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Dear ACF Gang!

Nick and I got our referral phone call two years ago tonight, at about 7:30 pm to be exact......telling us about baby Ethan who was just 5 days old at the time. It is a moment etched in my mind forever, as our lives changed and we became a family of 4 at that moment. You all matched us with him, as his birthmother did not want to choose and we'd been waiting 6 months to the day for a referral. It was a perfect match. We can't believe what a fantastic baby and now toddler he is. He just turned 2 last Sunday.

His big sister Naomi (who we adopted from Colombia 4 years earlier) flew down with us and we went to get him from Vicki and Bob's house. I'll never forget that drive from Ft Lauderdale, down through Miami just after rush hour.....pulling up in their driveway and seeing Ethan sleeping in the gorgeous little bassinet.

We can't thank you enough for making this all possible for us. We are so in love with him and he and Naomi make a great, great pair! Many thanks for all that you do.

Love,

Tina, Nick & Naomi

 

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When we decided to pursue adoption as a means to expand our family, we were not sure how to begin the process or where to go for help. Friends of ours had adopted through Advocates for Children and Families and highly recommended them. Our first impression of Advocates was a good one. We called them and Yazmin was the first person we spoke with. We could not believe how friendly she was or how easily she answered all of our initial questions.

We also requested a list of references and she called us back with the names of three different people. We called all of them and they all spoke so highly of the agency. They had nothing but good things to say about their adoption experiences with Advocates so this really put our minds at ease.

We made an appointment to meet with Ginger Allen on January 17, 2005. We asked her to meet with us on that particular day because we were already going to be in the area for another appointment and we didn’t want to have to make the three-hour drive twice in one month. Although it was supposed to be her day off, Ginger agreed to meet with us. The entire staff was very welcoming. We sat down with Ginger and she spent about two hours explaining the adoption process to us. She very patiently answered all of our questions and addressed all of our concerns. We liked the fact that she was very straight forward and honest with us about the rewards and the risks of adoption. Being an adoptive parent herself, she could relate to how we were feeling at the time. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the average wait time was only one year to eighteen months.

One of the required steps in the process was to write an autobiography about ourselves. We created a color brochure all about ourselves, our home, and our family. Jackie (Yakima) at ACF was such a big help in transferring our story online to the ACF website. She even featured our picture on their home page. Jackie was so skilled at all of the technical “stuff”. She gladly assisted us any time we needed to make a revision to the text, add a photo, or whatever was necessary.

Once we were finished with all of the paperwork, it was time for our home study. This can be a very nerve-wracking experience for prospective adoptive parents! However, our social worker, Stacey Levine, immediately put us at ease. She was so friendly and down to earth that she made us feel very comfortable talking to her about our dream of having a child. We invited her to stay for lunch and we wound up chatting for over two hours! She became a close friend throughout the waiting period. We always felt that she was pulling for us and trying her best to find the perfect child for us… and she did!

On January 24, 2006, Stacey called and said the words that we had been longing to hear. She said that a beautiful baby girl had been born. She told us that she was healthy and that all the nurses had fallen in love with her. She said we could come get her tomorrow! We were ecstatic!

The next morning we drove to Miami and Ginger met us at the hospital. We walked over to the nursery window, the nurse lifted the blinds, and we saw our daughter for the first time. She was absolutely the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. She was so awake and alert! We cried tears of happiness and Ginger shared in our joy. It was such an amazing experience. It was the greatest moment in our lives, second only to the moment they first placed our daughter in our arms. She actually smiled at us as if to let us know that she was happy we were going to be her parents and we were there to take her home. It was like a piece of the puzzle had been missing from our lives and suddenly everything came together and our family was complete. It was truly meant to be.

We are very thankful to everyone at ACF for holding our hands throughout the entire process and for making our adoption experience such a positive one. We keep in close contact with them even today. They are thrilled to hear of our daughter’s progress and they love seeing pictures of her. We would definitely recommend Advocates to anyone contemplating adoption.

Shawn & Maria

 

 

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With hopeful hearts our family waited for the happy day when we would receive news that a baby was available for us to adopt. In February, 2005 our family’s dream came true. We were blessed with our new baby daughter, Lucy. She is a beautiful, sweet, easy-going child who brings boundless joy to our family. We are very thankful to the staff of Advocates for Children and Families (ACF) for their help during this exciting adoption adventure. They kept in close contact with us from the moment we started planning our trip from Oregon to Florida. They never gave us the impression that our questions should be deferred until office hours. They made sure that we could contact them at any time. They even did some research for us to help us find interesting local sights to see while we were in Florida.

When we arrived at the Advocates for Children and Families (ACF) office we felt like we were in a private home. The staff was warm and welcoming and the office was comfortable. Soft lighting and couches gave a “living room” feel. The special moment when we met our new daughter was celebrated by the entire staff. They recognized that it was a life-changing and sacred event for us. Everyone in the office stopped what they were doing to take time to share in our joy.

The next day, the staff did a beautiful job of introducing us to our baby’s lovely birth mother. They kindly helped the conversation get off to a smooth start and then retreated to give us all privacy.

They were very respectful of the depth of the emotional bonding that was occurring. The time we spent with our daughter’s birth mother will always be a rich and delightful memory for us. We look forward to sharing a sense of lifelong partnership with Lucy’s birth mother as we raise this precious child.

Since returning home we have been corresponding with Advocates for Children and Families (ACF) regarding the legal finalization process of our adoption. Their staff has completed all forms and letters meticulously and promptly which gives us a very secure feeling. All of our email and phone calls are answered quickly. We feel that 10 years from now if we call Advocates for Children and Families we will receive the same gracious attention that we did on the day we first met our daughter.

Each time we see an envelope in the mail with Advocates for Children and Families’ address and logo we get a rush of happiness in our hearts. Our memories of the time we spent in Florida with our beautiful new daughter will always include warm thoughts of the staff at Advocates for Children and Families (ACF).

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In November 2003, we visited Advocates for Children and Families (ACF) while attending a wedding in the Miami area. A relative had adopted through ACF ten years earlier and highly recommended them. We had been working with agencies in our residing state for about two years but were not pleased with their assistance and we had no hope of a possible adoption with them. We met with Ginger Allen from ACF and felt very comfortable with her. She listened to our story and was hopeful for us. This was different than the doubts we had experienced from others. She assured us that there were many babies needing good homes. She thought that we should expect to wait about a year. We were skeptical of the one year, but applied because we liked their approach to adoption, their candor and their willingness to work with us.

ACF worked with us back at home to reuse as much of the home study, background checks and references from our other applications with agencies in our residing state. They put our picture and story on their website almost immediately. They responded to our calls and kept us informed of the progress of our application and would even tell us when our dear birthmother letter was being seen by a prospective birthparent.

In July 2004, we received a call from Ginger that there may be a birthmother interested in having us adopt her baby. We almost panicked. Even though this is the call we had always hoped for, we had not expected to hear this news so soon because we had been waiting for over a year with other agencies in our residing state. In the end, this adoption did not proceed. We were disappointed, but not devastated. We felt that we had finally had some hope that an adoption might be in our future. ACF was reassuring too, so we began to wait again.

In the ensuing months we had a wedding and two deaths in our family. Perhaps God was looking out for us by not causing the adoption to proceed.

However, in September 2004, during this turmoil in our lives, we received another call from ACF indicating a possible birthmother that would like us to adopt her baby. We tried not to get too excited as we dealt with our lives at the time. Over time, we learned that the birthmother was having a girl and that she would be born by cesarean section on November 9, 2004. We still did not get our hopes up too high, but as November 9 approached, we began to get ready for the baby. We bought some clothes, a pack and play crib and some bottles. We were not going to paint the baby’s room until the following spring in case the adoption fell through; however, the weekend before she was born, we broke down and painted it anyway.

As the ninth approached, we packed our car for the 24 hour drive to South Florida. The morning of the ninth, we went to work with our car packed planning to leave that evening for our drive to Florida. We received a call at around 9 am that the baby was born and not to hurry because the birthmother wanted to spend some time with her. We decided not to leave for Florida until the following morning.

At about 10 AM, we received another call from ACF that there were complications with the birth, that the baby was transferred to the neo-natal intensive care at another hospital, and that the birth mother wanted someone to be with the baby as soon as possible. Our hearts sank. We scrambled into high gear and arranged for an early morning flight to Florida not knowing what we were getting into.

We learned that the baby was born not breathing; she had a heart murmur and had swallowed meconium. We had a short, nervous sleep and no longer drove to Florida but awoke at 4 am to drive to the airport.

We arrived at the ACF office at about 1 pm on November 10th. Ginger was awaiting our arrival and promptly met us and updated us on the baby’s condition. Not a lot more was known about her condition because of patient confidentiality issues. Ginger was already working on getting releases on the patient confidentiality from the birthmother and made arrangements for us to see the baby at the hospital, but she advised us to be careful how involved we let ourselves get. We acknowledged her advice and drove the hour to the hospital. At the hospital, we were met by the social worker, instructed to scrub up and went in to see the baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit.

She was in a basinet wrapped in a striped blanket; her eyes were wide open as if to say “who is here to visit me.” We were immediately smitten. She was beautiful, alert, and had a full head of dark hair. We spent several hours with her that afternoon feeding her and holding her. We began to ask the medical staff more about her condition and learned that although she was born not breathing; she was resuscitated within 15 seconds. We learned that her white blood cell count was high from the meconium, and that the doctors had ordered a 10-day course of antibiotics as a pre-caution. We also discovered that a heart murmur is common in newborns and often clears up in the first several days.

Over the next several days, our concerns about Arianna’s health evaporated. The antibiotics cleared up her infection. The heart murmur closed up on its own. And the doctors assured us that she was neurologically sound, a trait that she has continued to demonstrate to us in many ways since her birth. ACF had always been available for us when we contacted them. However, once Arianna was born, Ginger was always available for us. We had her cell phone number and she was available day or night. During Arianna’s 10 day stay in the hospital, when Ginger didn’t hear from us, she would call to check and see how everything was.

Getting permission to leave Florida with Arianna proved to be a challenge as well. She was discharged from the hospital late in the afternoon on the Friday prior to Thanksgiving. We had to have her discharge papers before we could apply for permission to leave Florida with her. Again, Ginger met us at the hospital with all the paperwork we needed and sent it overnight to Tallahassee. Tallahassee processed the paperwork on Monday and sent it to our home state where it sat for the rest of the week. It seems that the only person who processes inter-state compact applications from our residing state had taken Thanksgiving week off. So we had to extend our stay in Florida and were able to depart 4 days after Thanksgiving. Ginger and the staff at ACF had worked so hard and diligently to get us approval to leave Florida and be home for Thanksgiving with our family. Only to learn that the “key” person in our residing state was on vacation and no one else could process the paperwork.

We feel that ACF is a very diligent and conscientious agency with very, very hardworking staff. We were always welcomed by them and they were always very eager to assist us in any way possible. We wish we had known about ACF many years ago when we began seeking adoption and embarking on the process. Starting with ACF from the beginning may have removed some of the trials and tribulations we went through with trying to navigate through the process of adopting a child.

There are no words to thank the staff at ACF for their hard work and assisting us with adopting our beautiful little girl.

ACF is a very experienced adoption agency and they were very sensitive to interstate compact laws and making sure that all the appropriate paperwork was properly processed and filed.

We have much to be thankful for with Arianna. She has been a fantastic addition to our family. Her story so far has been exciting and there is no reason to believe that the excitement is over. We would go through the trails and tribulations again in a heart beat to have her as our daughter, and we appreciate the support and encouragement we received from ACF as we brought Arianna into our family.

Sincerely,

Mike & Rina

 

To view some of ACF Birth Mothers' Testimonials, click here.