[dante07]

Hi - I was hoping that I could get some information on adoption facilitators. Does anyone here have experience with facilitators? How much involvement do they have in the adoption process?

Any info would be really helpful.

Thanks!

[kelceesmom]

You need to do your research. We used a facilitator and were happy with that. Others who have used one are not.

They are not licensed as where an agency is.

Our facilitator offered counseling but didn't require it. I think a lot of agencies might require it.

[minibus]

Our agency markets itself as an agency, but they are really more like a facilitator, as they look for other agencies to "team" with across the country to match us with emoms/bmoms. For us, we REALLY really like our adoption worker. She acts as a go-between between us and the other agency and will push for what we want/what we are looking for. It also opens up our choices, as we're not tied to one agency.

[JustCourtney]

I would double check with an attorney in your state to make sure that you can legally work with a facilitator. I know that in IL we can not - not in ANY way!

If you can, this is a great place to get feedback. After you narrow it down to a couple of companys, you can post on the general forum and ask for people to PM you with their experiences.

Best of luck!

[waitingforanangel]

We are using a facilitator, and I can't imagine going through the adoption process without her! She helped us develop our profile, counseled us on what to expect thoughout the process, directed us to our social worker for the home study, developed a 3-ring binder for us with agencies layed out and in-depth info. on the agencies, etc. I could go on and on.

One very important thing is that she has very strong relationships with agencies all over the nation, and this can only help us as we work with these agencies. We are not going in with them as total strangers - we are linked to our facilitator, who the agencies trust. We now have contact with her several times a week, and she has presented us with several birthmother situations that we would never have known about without her. On her website, she has all of the information you could possibly need for the adoption - sample contracts, sample letter to the agencies, dos and don'ts throughout the adoption process, etc. If we have ANY question, big or small, she is available to us just about 24 hours a day. I can always get ahold of her. This is invaluable! I can't say enough about how helpful it is to know that you have someone on your side during this process.

You can contact local and/or national adoption support groups - they can direct you to a good facilitator. I got mine through my nurse practitioner who used her for an adoption.

Best of luck!!

Cathy

[devildogwife]

We used a facilitator and were not very happy. We definitely would not use one again.

[rredhead]

You do need to check the laws in your state to make sure faciliators are legal. We used a facilitator who marketed themselves as an agency. They were awful.
I have heard mostly negative results from people who have gone through the entire process using a facilitator.
There is one facilitator, however, who gets high praise. Despite our bad experience, I would consider using them the next time. PM me if you'd like to know.

[mom2justynsarah]

We used a wonderful facillitator from California. Since we live in S. FLorida, (where facillitors are NOT allowed) our adoption had to comply with both state's adoption laws (until my daughter's finalization). Our facillitator was the glue that held everything together for us. If we would adopt again, we would absolutely use her again!

Please feel free to pm me for details.