[Michigan Mom]

Hi!
What are the pro's and con's of going through a private agency vs. the state FIA?

Any info would be great!
Michigan Mom

[ebrennan]

From my understanding all the agencies are private. I thought with a name like oakland family services(OFS), that it was a state agency, but it is also private. FIA contracts all their foster services out. I am not possitive about this, but I think something like this was mentioned in our training.
One thing we looked for was how close the agency was to our home. You have to take the kids once a week at least to the agency for family visits. OFS seems to be very active in keeping the foster parents informed and things are moving alone smoothly.

Hope this helps

[jlnota]

The big difference between private & state is $$. For us adoption fee's for our 3 year old was waved (Free). Through private it cost thousands of dallars.

[leaabc123]

Also, usually, the state handles all of the kids initially and the harder to place ones (usually more difficult cases) go to privae agencies.
So, for people loooking for younger children or infants, they are likely to have more of a chance going through the state (but no guarantees for adoption usually).