Pros: From start to finish, the staff at A Baby Step were helpful and caring. They were compassionate and eager to help us start our family. Every question we had was answered quickly. Someone was available via cell phone, office phone or email almost 24/7 which was amazing. We never felt lost through the experience. They know the law and make sure all of the paperwork is filed and in place. We wouldn't be the happy family we are today without A Baby Step.
Cons: We knew going that the process was going to be more expensive than if we had gone through other agencies. It is important that potential adoptive parents know that they should have the funds available when they are ready to join the network.
Reviews: One suggestion would be to have A Baby Step Adoption come up on internet searches. When we were looking for agencies and information on adoption, we did blanket searches for "adoption agencies in Pennsylvania" and A Baby Step Adoption wasn't listed. We called some local agenceis that were in the phonebook and one of them said they had heard of an attorney in Reading, PA. That led us to Barbara Casey and A Baby Step Adoption.
Review by guest submitted on August, 10, 2010 at 10:24 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Jul 2009
Status: Homestudy and documentation
Completion Date: Jul 2009
Time Until Placement: 0 months
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Central Jersey, New Jersey, United States
Pros: Baby Steps Adoption has truly been a blessing to my family. Since the beginnig they have been very supportive with questions, concerns and emotinal support. They will always greet you with a smile. Our experience has truly been an emotional roller coster. Before we became clients of Baby Steps we were represented by a private attorney. We were scammed by another attorney within 2 months into the adoption process. When Baby Steps heard of the news they immediately went into defense mode for us and began a more vigorous and thorough search to find the perfect birthmother. A month later we were matched with another birthmother through another agency which was unsuccessful. Yet again, Baby Steps was not only supportive they stepped in and tried to co-councel the birthmother's social worker...yes co-councel! After our second attempt we were willing to give up. Our journey was to emotionaly painful,but the staff including Barbara (the director) was very encouraging and was reassuring that they would find the right birthmother for us. Three months later they had matched us with our birthmother. Everything about her was right! They mathced her personality and style of adoption perfectly. Baby Steps had given us hope and light back into our lifes. Our son was born on July 9,2010
Cons: This may come as a surprise but there is nothing I can say came as a surprise to us. Baby Steps is a very thorough agency. Once you have an initial meeting with them you will walk away educated about adoption, adoption styles and variation in price.
Reviews: Baby Steps Adoption is one of the best agency to work with. I appreciate there honesty,patience and hard work
Review by blueschiz submitted on June, 15, 2010 at 05:30 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Aug 2008
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Jun 2009
Time Until Placement: 10 months
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Kansas, United States
Pros: Both social workers that worked with us were great. Kelly did our home study and she was kind and supportive. She also was very helpful as the only sane ear I could reach when I got frustrated with the agency. She tried very hard to help, but was powerless given the state of the agency and its lawyer. She had plans to improve the agency and it looks as though they are on that path.
Cons: We worked with them when they were Adoption Associates and after paying a large fee, that I thought went towards an adoption we were merely sent random emails with connections to other adoption agencies and attorneys that had situations available. They only presented us with 3 possibile birth mothers in 9 months, all of whom turned us down. They connected us with Deborah Stephenson of Reachsource Adoption Services and the birthmother "disappeared" as soon as we paid our fee to her. Neither Adoption Associates or Reachsource was willing to refund our money. In fact, Adoption Associates (Baby Step) kept the $500 initial birth mother expense payment for that situation even though it was never paid to the birth mother.
As we progressed it was clear that Barbara Casey was getting stressed that we were not matched and she became extremely difficult to deal with. We found a match on our own through Connections (Maine) and Barbara got upset that we went outside her agency, even though that is exactly what she sent us all those emails to do. She even yelled at me on the phone more than once for asking her for a financial accounting of our expenses with her. In the end we paid 14,500 for home study, post placement and references. Way too much and never got an invoice or receipt.
Reviews: I know they've given themselves a face lift, but if you use this agency, ask for specific financial accounting from day one. Have in writing exactly what you will receive for that money. Ask how many birth mothers they have right now - I know the social workers were working to get more as we fininshed with them. I believe they really want to be good, but organizationally and financially they were a mess.
Review by HappyParent submitted on June, 14, 2010 at 05:02 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2009
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Dec 2009
Time Until Placement: 0 months
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Pros: The agency director and all of the other staff are tremendous. We had little understanding of the process, and they took us through the steps. They did a great job of trying to keep the adoption from being a very stressful experience.
Once we placed, the A Baby Step Adoption moved quickly and efficiently to finalize that proceedings. We finalized within two months of bringing our newborn daughter home from the hospital. (The forms on this site did not let us indicate that finalization took place in 2010).
We had a difficult time in the adoption when the birth mother with whom we'd been matched had a change of heart; the agency did a good job working with that placement, and when that one fell through, worked particularly hard to ensure that our next placement involved a short time frame. Within three months of the difficulty with the first placement, we had custody of our daughter.
We are very happy with our little girl. We really enjoy that every morning we get to go into her room, look into her crib, and get a huge smile and giggle from her. We hope that if you are reading this site in connection with an interest in adopting, that this comes to you, too.
Cons: No cons tied to the agency. While the process can be costly, the agency gave us accurate estimates of those costs. Our costs were slightly higher, though not by much because A Better Step Adoption worked with us, as a result of the change in matches.
Reviews: Overall we were very pleased with the whole process.
Review by guest submitted on June, 11, 2010 at 04:23 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2009
Status: Finalized
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Pros: *Prior to signing with this agency, I called repeatedly over a two month period to ask questions about adoption in general. The caseworker I spoke with during that time was very friendly, helpful and overly accomodating. One time, she spent over two hours on the phone with me answering all my questions.
*I found the staff very reliable and felt they took a personal interest in our situation.
*After we were matched, the agency was very quick to get all necessary paperwork in order and provide us with contact information for the hospital contact person and our attorney in Utah.
*While in Utah, they were always in constant contact with us to answer any questions we may have had and to explain what to expect next.
*While waiting to clear ICPC, we were told that our state was unhappy with the way Utah's termination laws were written and that our state would not clear us to return until it was redone. Within an hour, Barbara Casey was on the phone with us, explaining what the problem was and her plan to fix it. My husband and I truly felt that Barbara was going to do all she could for us and kept us updated throughout the day. By the end of the day, she called to say that a compromise had been reached and we could return home as soon as possible. They got us home one week from the day our son was discharged and it may have been even sooner had that week not been over Presidents Day, when all government offices were closed.
*After returning home, we quickly scheduled our three post-placement visits and we filed our petition in court shortly thereafter.
****We had our first meeting with the agency to officially sign with them on December 8, 2009. After creating our profile, we joined the matching network on January 19, 2010 and submitted our profile to a potential birthmother on January 28th. We had our homestudy on February 1st and received the call that we were matched with our birthmother on February 2nd. Our son was born on February 10, 2010 and we finalized on April 14, 2010.****
*A Baby Step Adoption recognizes how much of an emotional journey adoption can be and how important it is to you, as an adoptive parent, to move the process along. As an adoptive parent, you just want to know that the process is final and that beautiful baby is yours forever. The entire staff works very hard to make that happen as quickly as possible.
Cons: We have no complaints at this time.
Reviews: *This agency really does try to create a positive adoption experience specially tailored for you. You have the flexibility throughout the matching process to change your preferences and to set your own budget. They work very hard to find everyone's ideal match within the budget that each couple has set.
*Being able to review potential birthmothers and choose which situations to send our profile to was a very important positive for us. While doing my research, I found a lot of agencies that took your preferences and submitted your profile to birthmothers that matched those preferences. You just waited for the "baby call." Our agency recognizes that adoptive parents should have some control in that process. They also realize that a new couple may change or expand their preferences as they become more familiar and more involved in the process. Therefore, every client is notified of every birthmother available, whether it is similar to your preferences or the complete opposite. As a result, each couple has the power to decide what birthmothers may be right for them. In the end, the birthmother is the one who chooses the couple, but it helps to know that your profile is being submitted to potential matches that are right for you.
*My husband and I strongly recommend A Baby Step Adoption and will use them again in the future should we decide to adopt again.
Review by cpattinger submitted on June, 11, 2010 at 07:01 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2009
Status: Placement
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Intrastate
Special Needs: No
Child from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Pros: Emotionally beaten up from years of fertility treatments, a failed domestic adoption and a failed international adoption, my husband and I found A Baby Step Adoption (Babara Casey). We interviewed over 20 different agencies and private attorneys between December 2009 and January 2010. We "signed up" with A Baby Step Adoption in February, 2010. Our home study was taken care of quickly and by the end of March 2010, we had an adoption profile and were on our way to being matched with a birthmother. The agency is very busy with many relationships with other attorneys and agencies. Weekly, we were presented with birthmother situations that we could choose to send our profile or not. Some required sending a profile to have the birthmother review but surprisingly, there were several "quick" placements where an adoptive family was needed immediately. We took advantage of one such situation. After an adoptive family backed out of a birthmother situation, we stepped in. From the word "go" the staff at A Baby Step were at the top of their game. They coordinated with the birthmother and father to have my husband and I in the delivery room; they helped coordinate a private space for us with the hospital staff where we could spend time with the baby post delivery and they had open two-way communication with us from start to finish. Due to the outstanding work with the birthmother, coordination of placement and emotional support of the staff at A Baby Step, our son was born on May 13, 2010 and we have not missed a single moment. I wish in my heart of hearts that we would have found this agency sooner in our quest to be parents.
Cons: There really are not many "cons" to working with A Baby Step. The staff is well trained, competent and effcient.
Reviews: We have recommended A Baby Step (Barbara Casey) to many of our friends. For couples wanting to adopt, this agency is THE best value for your heart and wallet!
Review by stuckdh submitted on April, 27, 2010 at 02:42 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Jun 2009
Status: Finalized
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Intrastate
Special Needs: No
Child from Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Pros: Barbara Casey and A Baby Step Adoption are professionals at what they do. We have been trying for years to have a child and heard all kinds of horror stories about domestic adoption. We also saw the stats that showed trying to get a domestic newborn could take upwards of a few years. Barbara and her office team matched us within 1 month of being with her agency. Although that adoption failed, not to the doing of the agency (it happens), they quickly matched us to the baby that is now our beautiful daughter. Less than 10 months from when we signed on with the agency, we had our daughter and the adoption was finalized. The process was great, she knew the laws and prepared us for every step of the way including preparing us for worse case scenerios. The entire team is professional and most important diligent in making your dreams come true.
Cons: None. You get what you pay for.
Reviews: Highly recommend this agency
Review by happymom submitted on April, 14, 2010 at 07:40 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Aug 2008
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Oct 2009
Time Until Placement: 14 months
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Pennsylvania, United States
Pros: Being our first adoption and agency that we worked with we are satisfied with A Baby Step Adoption. Once we were matched, the adoption process to finalization went very smoothly and quickly. They were able to find a birthmother in our state, that kept our costs within our limited budget.
Cons: They are a small and intimate agency that are very busy, and need to be more tactful, organized, and polished at times, but they do have a sincere concern to help grow our family.
Reviews: I will be recommending A Baby Step Adoption to close friends who are looking to adopt.
Review by krees submitted on April, 9, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Jan 2009
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Nov 2009
Time Until Placement: 10 months
Type: Open, Domestic, Intrastate
Special Needs: No
Child from Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Pros: All of barbara staff were kind and professional and willing to answer all questions. The challenges of adopton are not always easy but they really work hard to make your dream come true. Our baby in 6 months old and the social worker called just the other day to see how we were doing!!
Cons: all the negative goes away (honestly) once you have your baby.
Reviews: I am forever grateful for the help of Barbara Casey, Linda and Kelly. We have the most beautiful baby girl and are thrilled.
Review by blueschiz submitted on August, 31, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Jun 2008
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Jul 2009
Time Until Placement: 13 months
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Kansas, United States
Pros: The two social workers we met were both competent and kind. Kelly did our home study and post placement and was easy to work with and very supportive. We worked with Maggie on one possible match and she was responsive and helpful.
Cons: I don't really know where to begin. Disorganized, unreasonable and abusive. We worked with A Baby Step when they were Adoption Associates, Barbara Casey (owner). They took our initial fees and performed the home study. It took many phone calls to get the home study completed. Once completed, they did not match us with a birth mother, rather they continuously emailed us with situations held by various adoption lawyers, facilitators and agencies. It was very stressful and we did all the work, contacting these various entities and sending out profiles. Then we were expected to pay the full fees of the lawyer/agency in addition to what we paid A Baby Step, nie Adoption Associates. We were advised to use a particular facilitator (Reachsource) and as soon as we paid the fee the birthmother disappeared. Later we accidentally met another agency (Connections) through Barbara Casey (Adoption Associates) and went with them for our adoption. Connections was excellent, professional and accountable. Then Barbara got ANGRY with ME for going to another agency, which is what she promoted us doing all along. She YELLED at me on the phone when I asked for an accounting of our expenses with her - which did not seem unreasonable to me. We were not able to resolve our problems and we left with them having $2500 in legal fees for services they never provided and $500 in birth mother expenses for the reachsource situation that fell through, which Barbara refused to return. $15K to them total for homestudy, post placement and referrals.
Reviews: I would never recommend this agency. When in their office I heard several very angry voice messages on their machine, so we were not alone in our frustration with them. And I never should be verbally abused by a service provider.
