[tobeafamily]

Judy,

Since I've never paid anyone to help me make an adoption connection, I can't say how much more someone who was paid would 'go to bat' for us.

I will say that our agency and attorney were both very 'plugged in' to the schools, crisis centers, hospitals, physicians and others where pbparents may be 'found'. They also do as many seminars as people will have them do - to PTAs, school classes, youth groups, etc.

When we went to select agencies, one of the things we did was to ask our OB/GYN and friends at a crisis counseling center who they'd recommend - both pointed to the same agency.

Our agency taught us how to network and was also tremendously supportive of our networking efforts - every call we got we 'ran by them' to see what they thought. The agency director I swear has a 'scam meter' that can detect even the best/worst scammers. She also updated us on local known 'scammers'. Recently three families who were all contacted by one young lady actually teamed up and called the police on her thanks to their 'link' through the adoption coordinator.

One of the things I like about California is that they actually have licensing guidelines for facilitators. That would give me some reassurance that they've at least met some minimum standard before providing services.

:-)

Regina