DFW Adoption Agencies: The Fab Four

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The DFW metroplex is home to several fantastic adoption agencies. These organizations provide a great deal of services to the area: domestic/international adoption, foster care placement/adoption, counseling, education, birth parent support, housing, and on and on.

While my husband and I talked with a few families who’d been through the adoption process, we found that our visits to the agencies themselves proved most valuable. It’s a great way to learn about your adoption options.

The main adoption agencies in our area are:

  • Gladney Center for Adoption. Based in Fort Worth, Gladney offers domestic (multi-state) and international adoption and extensive birth parent care. The agency also has a strong post-adoption support system/community. To discover a more extensive list of its services, visit Gladney’s website.
  • Catholic Charities of Fort Worth and DallasFrom international foster care to domestic infant adoption, the folks at Catholic Charities extend thorough resources and family-focused programs a mission of championing life and family. Learn more here on their website here.
  • Buckner Foster Care and Adoption.  This faith-based agency, promotes the beauties of open adoption through numerous avenues: domestic and international adoption, the Waiting Texas Children program, foster to adopt opportunities, and post-adoption services. Visit beafamily.org to understand more about Buckner.
  • Hope Cottage Pregnancy and Adoption Center.  Since 1918, Hope Cottage has created families through adoption and supported the care and cause of women. It offers domestic infant adoption, foster to adopt services, and counseling/support for birth parents. Check out hopecottage.org for more information.

Whether you are curious about creating your family through adoption . . .

Or want to know more as a good steward of our world’s children . . .

Or face difficult circumstances and consider choosing adoption for your child, start here:

Email, call, set an appointment with friends from the agencies above. They are tried and true, upstanding experts in the adoption field. You can ask any question, learn more about the process and policies specific to each agency and those general to state laws, and gain a “feel” for which agency is the right fit for your family.

My husband and I spent August and September 2010 visiting area adoption agencies and weighing the pros and cons of each. By the end of September, we understood tremendously more about domestic infant adoption and knew it was the choice for us. These are questions we found helpful during our vetting process:

  • What is the mission of your agency?
  • What services do you offer?
  • What is your adoption process? Fees?
  • How does your agency cultivate a relationships with birth parents?
  • What types of counseling/support do you offer birth parents?
  • How do birth parents come to join your agency?
  • How many placements do you average per year?
  • What is the average wait time?
  • What services do you offer to support waiting and adoptive families?
  • What is your policy regarding showing family profiles, notifying families of a waiting child?
  • What level of openness do you support in domestic adoptions?

Truly, each of the organizations above is top-notch and a safe choice, but stay tuned for a future post to learn why we chose Hope Cottage as our adoption agency. I will tell a bit more about “our story”–highs, lows, paper cuts, and all. As always, please let me know if you have any questions about adoption!

Oh, and here’s another pic of my cutie because WHO CAN GET ENOUGH?

kisses from Anna for FWMB

 

What experiences do you have with adoption agencies?

9 COMMENTS

  1. We love Buckner in our home. My husband previously worked for them, and my FIL sits on their board. They are doing amazing work across the globe. But I had no idea there were so many resources local to DFW!

  2. Hi Kayla! It took four months once we were officially a “waiting family.” I plan to write a complete post soon about our adoption process. Thanks for the question!

  3. I have a 8 year old son and for the last six years me and my fiancé having been trying to have another baby. My son wants a little brother or little sister so bad and with no success I’ve have can to the conclusion of adoption. Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can complete my family please.

  4. Hi, I have a girlfriend in the area that is placing a baby privately. However, she is looking for some support from other mothers that have given children up. I’m in Illinois so I’m not sure where to start but I was curious if you knew of anywhere that would be willing to give her some leads since everyone is kind of stone walling her since she isn’t placing the baby through them.

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