Greg and Andee
When we decided to expand our family through adoption, we already had Adoption Associates in mind as our agency. Our friends had transracially adopted three times through AAI and had wonderful things to say about the agency and the people they worked with. Our expectations were met and exceeded at our first informational visit. We felt very comfortable talking about our decision to adopt outside our race, and AAI had many resources and book suggestions for us. Our second visit reinforced our feeling that AAI was excited to work with us, as they answered all of our questions and explained what the adoption process would be like for our family.
We were paired with an incredible and caring social worker. Whenever we had questions or concerns, we could easily reach her and obtain an answer. Although we were nervous about our home study, everything proceeded quite smoothly. Our social worker made us feel comfortable talking about our lives, family, and plans for our new child. Soon after the home study was completed, we were tentatively matched with a birth mom who was still deciding whether she would parent her child. AAI was completely honest with us about where the birth mom was in her decision. We appreciated that, as it allowed us to clearly see the situation.When the birth mom decided to parent her child, we were comfortable with the outcome of that experience.
Several weeks later we were contacted about our son, Malachi. He had been born and would be ours, but it was believed that he would be in the hospital for about eight more days. Also, it would be several days until the birth mother terminated her rights. We were leaving for a week long family vacation at the time that we were notified. After much discussion with AAI, we decided to attend the family gathering, but we would be in constant contact with AAI and would come home as soon as anything definite was known. AAI staff went well above what we expected of them during this time. Everyone was so excited to find out that Malachi would be released sooner than the doctors originally thought. Of course, we drove right home to pick up our son. All of the people that we had worked with at AAI were so supportive and congratulatory towards us on that day. Their excitement for our family was so genuine and touching.
Since our adoption, we have been approached by several people and asked who handled our adoption. We are excited to tell them that it was Adoption Associates. We had a wonderful experience working with AAI to add Malachi to our family.
