[mdesi]

Please only answer this if you actually used them. (Sorry, but I posted this somewhere else, and have been given all kinds of imformation about them from people that NEVER placed one. No offense intended, just want the voice of experience.)

Did they work? Did anyone match as a result of placing an ad?

[mg1970]

I just placed a few last week. No contact yet but I have seen a few direct hits to my website from those zip codes, so manybe someone is looking.

I've heard from a few people that they got matched this way and if you think about it, it makes sense. Most people who choose adoption do so because of financial reasons, and people with lower incomes are less likely to have internet access, so I am thinking that classified ads might be a way to reach this demographic.

However, they are pretty darned expensive if you want to get any kind of coverage. I am sticking with newspapers in my states in the largest cities for now.

[sandymomof2]

I haven't been on the forums in a while, but was looking around at the posts today and this one caught my eye.

We found our younger daughter through advertising in newspapers. We also advertised when looking for our older daughter, but ended up getting matched through our attorney.

Not all papers are really expensive to place ads. I took a different approach and stuck to smaller cities, and ads tended to be less expensive. Call around to various papers and get quotes. I ended up getting the most responses from ads in small town papers where people read the entire paper from front to back. I also asked the person in the advertising department how many adoption ads were currently running and chose papers where I was the only ad. And then I ran the ad for a month at a time rather than a shorter period.

Good luck! If you have other questions, let me know!

Sandy

[my_igit]

We used them and it worked. My sons birthmother found us through one of the ads. I know its not for everyone- but I would recommend it. Some of the newpapers are crazy expensive and some are not. We had a phone line in our house that accepted toll free calls. Good luck!

[mdesi]

Thanks. I live in a sprawling city, but have been collecting papers from various parts of town - particularly anything that is given free or mailed free to people. The ads are pretty cheap, but I just wanted to find out from others how effective they are. You guys have been helpful. (I'm all for anything that gets us closer to building our family.)

[mg1970]

Interesting approach to go for the small towns / free papers. I might have to try that.

Here is a link you may be interested in, it lists all the newspapers across the country.

US Newspapers - US Newspaper List

I am not sure if all the "free papers" are included, such as classified only papers. If anyone has lists of those I would appreciate it if you would share that.

M