Review by christopherr submitted on August, 31, 2010 at 04:04 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 3y 3m
Start Date: Oct 2009
Status: Homestudy and documentation
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Florida, United States
Pros: I chose ANLC for it's many years of adoption law practice, they realized how fragile children can be and I just knew that they are the ones that can help me. They work to help parents and families create situations that are best for themselves and their children. ANLC helped us, the adoptive parents and the birth mother as well. They took care of us in every way before, and after the adoption.
Helping clients from across the country who need adoption services, I think is what they do best. They often handle legal issues that relate to adoptions where the birth families and adoptive families have already met. ANLC always look for a good family to adopt "their" child.
We were given a wonderful 3 year old boy, that is just perfect for us, and that's why I want to thank them so much.
xo xo :)
Cons: I can't think of any.
Reviews: No comments.
Review by jeffjeff submitted on August, 27, 2010 at 09:07 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 8y 2m
Start Date: Mar 2009
Status: Placement
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Oklahoma, United States
Pros: We adopted our 2 boys, 8 & 10 through Adoption Network Law Center. One from Oklahoma City and one from Tulsa.
The first birth mother who picked us let us support her for several months, then backed out. Fortunately, ANLC found us another right away. There are no guarantees. There can't be.
During the time leading up to the adoption the birth mothers were treated very well. We paid for their rent, groceries and medical bills. The social worker drove them to do their shopping. While we were in Oklahoma for the birth, the adoptive father's (me) sole responsibility is to make sure she didn't have to eat hospital food. For every meal she would tell me what she wanted and I would find a restaurant to order carryout.
In the beginning we kept in touch with the birth mothers. As time passed the contact dwindled, but we still exchange letters with other members of the birth family. We are planning a trip to OK to see the birth mothers again.
Thank you.
Cons: More law firms like this.
Reviews: I recommend Adoption Network Law Center.
Review by marinan submitted on August, 24, 2010 at 02:26 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 2y 3m
Start Date: Apr 2009
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Jul 2009
Time Until Placement: 3 months
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Lake Forest, California, United States
Pros: One year ago I was matched with through the services of Adoption Network Law Center. I was given a happy, healthy, absolutely beautiful baby girl.
The employees of ANLC were so incredibly sweet and kind and caring, the most helpful of them all. It's a really hard decision to make, to place your child for adoption. It's painful, and you constantly question your choice, wondering whether it was the right one, and I have no doubt that it was hard for the parents... but they did everything they could to help me along the way. ANLC helped me write an adoption agreement that I could be comfortable with, and helped match me with a family whose values and morals I agreed with. They constantly checked in on me, to make sure that I was doing alright emotionally.
Thank you, Adoption Network Law Center.
Cons: No problems at all.
Reviews: I wish to thank them with this review.
Review by mimismommy submitted on August, 2, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2009
Status: Placement
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from South Carolina, United States
Pros: We were matched very quickly. We realize that we were lucky for this to happen, but we are satisfied with the amount of work put into making our profile stand out. The consultant at ANLC talked to us and the emom at least once a week. Whenever a problem arose, she dealt with it quickly and stayed in direct contact with the attorneys. We were very satisfied with our experience and would happily recommend them to others.
Cons: The price is VERY high. Fortunately they offer loan options, but still... it would be nice if they were a bit more affordable.
Reviews: We love ANLC!
Review by Mar12 submitted on July, 17, 2010 at 10:39 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2007
Status: Homestudy and documentation
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Alabama, United States
Reviews: We joined ANLC in December of 2007 and what a mistake that was!!!!!
Here is our story.... We had the initial call and was told how wonderful they were and to hurry up and get our paperwork done so we could bring our new baby home!!! We were excited thinking wow it could really happen soon!!!! So we signed with them, paying $11,800 for their "Marketing". Well here we are almost three years later and we are still without a baby! So we signed up in December of 2007 and we ended up getting matched with a birth mom six months later. The baby was due two weeks from then. We could not believe it!!! We received the call and were given a verbal description of the situation. The girl was on methadone did not receive pre natal care until recently and few other issues. They needed our decision by the next day (still only verbal communication at this point). I spoke with many DRs who explained that the baby would be born addicted to methadone and would have to go through withdrawls in the hospital for about a month and there should not be any long term effects from that. (Yes, I had to research all of this all my own b/c ANLC did not know). So we called ANLC the next day and said we wanted to move forward. Now before they could send us the birth mom's proof of pregnancy, personal info, dr.'s info, etc.. we had to pay our "match fee of 9,800. Ok so I overnighted the check and they sent me all of the birthmother's info. A lot of the info was new to us some of the info was not relayed to us. We went on to have our conf call with the birth mom and adoption advisor. It went good and then I had a phone call and one or two emails with the birth mom. I tried calling her one Sunday and could not reach her. Then she was supposed to call me after her doctor's appt on Monday and I did not hear from her. I called ANLC and said something is not right. They said oh just give it until tomorrow and they we will try to get a hold of her. Tuesday came and they could not get a hold of her and her family just hung up on them. I remember just knowing that she had changed her mind and cried. They finally found her on Wed evening, she had given birth in the hospital and decided to keep the baby. We were told by our Adoption Advisor that she was going to find us the best baby ever and she was soo sorry! We thought ok, they will find us a baby soon so we got on with our lives! Here were are 2 years (almost to the day) that our birth mom changed her mind. We have not gotten ONE opportunity since then. We did not have any communication with ANLC for over a year. They requested updated pics of us, even though they had like 60 of them. It was just a general email to send in new pics. I then contacted them a month later to ask if I would contact this woman from ANLC that I had spoken with before and they said o'h she is not longer here this is your new contact. I could not believe it, how was I supposed to know that she was not there anymore. They did not even send a letter, NOTHING!!! The advisor that told me she was going to find me the best baby, moved out of the country. So much for that!!! My husband and I requested our match fee of 9800 back (BECAUSE EVEN IF YOUR MATCH GETS DISRUPTED, YOU DO NOT GET THE 9800 BACK, SO THEY HAVE NOT INCENTIVE TO MATCH YOU). and they denied our request. So we are stuck with them. I am seeking legal advice. This is just heartless!!! All they care about is MONEY!!! Once they have your money they do nothing to help you! If you want a baby, DO NOT USE THEM. They have made this journey horrible for us!!!
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Review by sdteacher10 submitted on April, 3, 2010 at 11:23 AM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Feb 2009
Status: Placement
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Intrastate
Special Needs: No
Child from Scotsdale, Arizona, United States
Pros: We were matched quickly, twice. After the second match, which we believed was perfect, we were unmatched and ANLC didn't even know! I had to research and figure everything out on my own yet I was charged for their earned time.
Cons: They try to intimidate adoptive parents with speaker phone calls and legal jargon. Once they receive your money they are not as responsive or sensitive. They work on their own time schedules so if you work until 4:00 or later; communications are difficult. Their BM screening process did not impress me and they say they provide weekly BM support to stay in tune with their thoughts but they don't AND they offered to give the BM our personal info. without asking us first during a 3 way conversation. Lastly, there is a HIGH turnover rate there with staff. The original gal I was working with was wonderful and then it went downhill from there after she left. They would not tell me why she left. I can only imagine.
In all, they have $23,000 of ours. It has taken them months (and many threats) to offer us reimbursement of our match fee, $9800. So, that would mean that they keep $12,000+ and now want to know if we want to stay with them. We are not sure what we plan to do at this time.
Reviews: Please feel free to contact me if you have had similar problems with ANLC. Thank you!
Review by USMCWife7 submitted on January, 29, 2010 at 02:20 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Jan 2009
Status: Withdrew voluntarily
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from California, United States
Cons: They told me they would not work with me because I did not now what was on my background and I know I had messed up one time but my husband had a HIGH Military Clearance... I also have a complex congenital heart defect and they did not want to work with us on that as well. They also, did not like the fact I was only 22 at the time of contact.
Reviews: I would watch EVERYTHING if you are going to use them.
Review by Kens08 submitted on January, 8, 2010 at 10:14 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 2y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2006
Status: Homestudy and documentation
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Florida, United States
Cons: Stay Away!!!! They stole over $19,000 of our money. Their contract does not support or protect adoptive parents at all. They matched us and then over a course of 5 days of conversations with the Birthmother we found out many many details that were never revealed to us, their were numerous serious issues to be very concerned about. When we decided not to get on the plane they agency hung up on us and we did not hear from them for days only to hear we could owe more money. We spent over year negiotiating to try to recover some funds. We did not! They are heartless and are only in it to broker children.
Reviews: After explaing out situation to our local attorneys, other agencies and govermental representatives, all agreed they were awful to us, however had heard other similiar stories
Review by Laura submitted on December, 8, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Jan 2000
Status: Withdrew voluntarily
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from Alabama, United States
Pros: This agency took $7500 from us and then we never heard from them. We made repeated phone calls and finally heard back from them. They told us we would only be sucessful if we accepted an interracial baby. This was not in our comfort range and we were very clear about this prior to signing up. Stay away from these people. They are crooks!!!
Cons: Be honest about the availability of children BEFORE they take someone's money.
Reviews: Stay away from these people. I think they particularly take advantage of people that live far from them.
Review by rdiaz submitted on September, 30, 2009 at 04:31 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 11m
Start Date: Aug 2008
Status: Finalized
Type: Semi-Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from North Carolina, United States
Pros: 1. The Nationwide marketing made a big difference. We were matched in 3 months. We worked with a very similar agency for 1 year and they never matched us.
2. The media manager helped us send in the right materials. We actually had 3 profiles.
3. They were thorough when they put together the legal part for our out of state adoption.
4. They paid us lots of attention. We actually had more than one contact and they seemed to all be on the same page when we called.
5. They were kind and supportive to our daughter's birth mother (she was only 18 ).
6. We got a lot of info on our birth mother.
Cons:
1. The baby was early so we got to the hospital after the birth.
2. The interstate part took about 10 days and that made it tough to plan Thanksgiving, but that is minor.
Reviews: We decided to post this rating because we heard from friends that there are negative things about them on line. We are so happy with the quality of service and having a complete family that I felt compelled to share how we feel.
They are everything they say they are and we will be back for another adoption.
Review by lorisurfs submitted on June, 7, 2009 at 09:02 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Sep 2005
Status: Homestudy and documentation
Type: Open, Domestic, Interstate
Special Needs: No
Child from California, United States
Pros: There is absolutely NO PROS for this organization...........
Cons: This is one of the worst agencies, they have such a turn-over of people working for them. They are unprofessional, and do not provide the proper information to adoptive families at all. The only way to communicate with them is if the adoptive family calls to get status. Their websites do not give adoptive families any feedback, good data, statistics, etc. They do not do client follow-up at all. They only get their birthmothers from them signing up on their website, not like the networking they state on their website. They do not go out of their way for any of their clients who have been waiting for years, I say years to be matched. If they find a prospective match, they usually do not have all the birthmother information when they present them to adoptive family. Most of the birthmothers are not screened properly. Not to mention are on drugs. They constantly want the adoptive family to change their preferences when they fail to match them. They use the same sales pitch for every question the adoptive parents ask. The lawyer in charge is not even part of the California Adoption Bar Association, and has a terrible reputation with ALL other Los Angeles Adoption Lawyers, not to mention has been sued by their clients at least 10 times in the last couple of years (Cases Listed online).
Reviews: This is the worst agency. I would not recommended them to anyone including the birthmothers.
Review by harvitt submitted on March, 15, 2009 at 09:59 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 0y 0m
Start Date: Dec 2003
Status: Finalized
Completion Date: Aug 2004
Time Until Placement: 8 months
Type: Open, Domestic, Intrastate
Special Needs: No
Child from Oakland, California, United States
Pros: We've adopted twice using ANLC. The first time went virtually perfectly. Both times we were matched almost immediately. In the first adoption our birthmom moved down to southern cal to live in their housing for the last 2 months of her pregnancy. We went down there a couple of times to get to know her, which was wonderful. They also handled the legal stuff in this adoption and things went very well, and i'd give them a 10 out of 10 for our first adoption. The problems with ANLC and why i rated them lower are addressed below.. Still, their main job is matching you with birthparents. And we were matched so fast both times, and our birthparents are awesome (open adoptions and our birthmoms have even become friends with each other) and so are our kids..
Cons: Our 2nd adoption was more complicated because it was out of state (WA) and they referred us to a really horrible agency up there, ACD (A Child's Dream, Poulsbo, WA). We ended up getting stuck in WA state for almost a month, and some of the delays were caused by ACD, who also ripped us off and were rude and inept, etc. We felt that ANLC did a great job matching us, but felt let down that they referred us to ACD and did a poor job of telling us what we were getting into by pursuing an adoption in WA state. The costs and time and aggravation were off the charts in the 2nd adoption. But, yes, we do have two wonderful kids.
Reviews: ANLC handles a ton of adoptions every year. Sometimes they can seem a bit overworked because of it. If you think that for whatever reason you are a person/couple that is exceptionally difficult to match for whatever reason, maybe they're not the facilitator for you, i don't know. Yes, there are complaints out there about ANLC, but if you are as big as they are, there will be some cases that fail and some unhappy people out there. There are also a ton of people who have been well served by them.
