[LisaV]

My husband and I have recently stopped fertility treatments and moved on to adoption. We asked friends and co-workers for references on agencies and were directed towards several. Unfortunately these did not work out for us. One was extremely religious and we are religious people and the other wanted completely open adoptions only. Then out of nowhere an agency contacted me after seeing my posting on Resolve. They seem great for many things and others scare me to death. They have only been around for several months. They are Lifetree Adoptions in Dallas. I actually contacted them and talked for over an hour and I feel much better, but still hesitant.

We are currently going for domestic newborn adoption and are open to race somewhat. They are charging fees with everything included minus the final legals at $32,000. Then we need to pay the application fee. They are on an income based scale which completely irritates my husband. Actually when I look at several other agencies the numbers are really close, in the mid to high $20s. Now my concern is adopting out of state. They are in Texas and we are in Alabama. The agency we have contacted to do our home study is charging $1750 and will charge $200 per visit post placement. It is my understanding that Texas requires 5 post placement visits. This just adds up to so much money!

Also what is required to bring a child into Alabama? Do we need our own attorney? Several agencies say they take care of everything, but I do not know. Some of our friend have used the attorney associated with the agency only and things worked out fine. Do most people do this?

I am just lost, confused, overwhelmed, you name it. Does anyone have any info or feedback? By the way, sorry for the length of this.

Lisa