Let me start by introducing myself ,my name is Ray and I'm a birth father and let me say this clearly and for the record , in hopes the following will attach itself forever to A is for adoption and its reputation .to start the owner lourie Colton is one of the most sincere,caring ,compassionate people that I have ever met in my 55 years on this planet(next to my mother God rest her soul) (and my wife rest in peace Mina) .i just can't speak with any higher praise when it comes to lourie and those who work with her at the agency.in reading some of the less than positive reviews put on the record here from those trying to adopt I will say this,the placing of child in a new forever home is not a simple thing,and there are many complexities of navigation that must be adhered to ,to protect everybody involved.so when anyone starts down the road to adoption know that there is never any guarantee of placement made by anyone. But if you feel like you have the patience and resources to bless a child with a forever home then the people at A is for adoption is the best agency operating period period.i know that my wife and I placed 2 babies we loved but could not care for up for adoption through lourie and her agency it was the most intelligent smart choice me and my wife have ever painfully made.if you are a perspective adoptive parent what you need to do is everything you can,then prey for the miracle and lastly but most importantly give A is for adoption a call and trust and believe you are in the best hands there are,I hope this helps even one person and may God bless you all (I include you lourie and your daughter I hope all is well for you both,and all you guys ,it's God's work that you do don't ever forget it,and don't ever stop because lourie your making tomorrow a brighter place for so many people and you build families and nothing is more near to God than the children .ok I'm done I didn't mean to write a book but I did.i love you guys forever read more

If you have seen my other reviews this is just the update on my last review. Laurie and the rest of the staff were absolutely amazing. Baby 2 took forever (due to covid) but we are finally done. BM #2 was difficult to say it best but Laurie was in our corner the entire time. We are finally happy to be a family of 4 and thank the staff for all their hard work. I wish them the best in all they do. Baby #2 arrived happy and healthy. read more

A is 4 Awful. This "company" is a complete scam like many reviewers have mentioned. We've spoken with a couple other individuals who have fallen into their trap, shelled out way more than we did ($36K) and were left with absolutely nothing. We initially were introduced to adoption attorney Jan Chamerat who connected us with A is 4 Awful who found us a match. Of course we were excited, provided the $18K fee to their company, along with an additional $18K to pay for the birth mom expenses. Long story short, the birth mom decided to keep the baby so we lost out of that $18K and A is 4 Awful also kept their $18K fee even though they barely lifted a finger during the process. Their communication throughout the 5 months was terrible, and while we tried to get updates, info, anything, it would take them days to respond. They also do not vet their birth moms, so their clients are left with women who have no plans on giving the baby up for adoption - they just take advantage of the system with your money, while A is 4 Awful does the same. We also received all the birth mom receipts which were a complete joke. They hand wrote the birth mom's name on random expenses, we paid for baby daddy's cell phone and service, we were charged for duplicate bills, and when we confronted A is 4 Awful, they of course never responded. They still owe us $800 after I audited everything. It also seemed that Jan Chamerat has some type of deal with A is 4 Awful. Jan had mentioned at the beginning of our journey that she works with a handful of agencies/consultants to find matches. Then while on the phone with Laurie, she spilled the beans that Jan exclusively works with them. Conflict of interest. Please do not fall for this scam. Please do not let Laurie's pleasant demeanor fool you. Please go an alternative route when finding your child and do NOT let your emotions get the best of you. I can't stress the devastation this company put us through, along with countless others. We do not want anyone else to be affected by them. If you have any questions, concerns or would like alternative options, PLEASE reach out to me. We are caring, kind individuals and are now proud dads to two beautiful children through a different agency who has our best interests at heart. Lastly, our adoption fell through in March and none of what I've written is out of anger as I've wanted our emotions to simmer down before providing public feedback. This is a factual account of our situation in the hopes of redirecting families searching for their child. read more

The warmth of their initial sappy sweetness will fade... leaving you feeling disappointed, frustrated and taken advantage of. Reading some of these negative reviews hits home with me and my experience with A is 4 Adoption. Although A is 4 Adoption may not be a scam, I certainly FELT scammed. Their communication is terrible, they blow off red flags, and their vetting of birth mothers is minimal. I would suggest researching actual agencies (A4A is a facilitator). Find a place that better vets their birth mothers and protects their adopting families. read more

Truly kind people at A is for adoption. They helped complete our family and we are forever grateful. We adopted out of state so our local agency worked with A is for Adoption to help facilitate the match with our birth family. What I loved the most was how awesome they were in supporting our birth mom both emotionally and helping with their immediate needs. Laurie and Vanessa kept us in the loop and made the process easy on us since we were traveling from out of town. Quality agency and I highly recommend working with them to expand your family. read more

DO NOT adopt from this agency they will steal your child. For 7 years I have been trying to locate my son, from an open adoption and begin getting nothing but lies and more lies. Before I had my son, I have promises of everything and the Agency vindictively manipulate me during a stage of addiction when I needed help, they also withheld information from the adopting parents that I was struggling with substants abuse and I should of take that has a red flag. They basically told me whatever they thought I wanted to hear in order to adopt my child, since then multiple woman I met, who has gone thus agency, as also encounter the same problem. At the end I want to know the overall wellbeing that was promise to me, which is the safety of my son, I just want to know my son. With how this company is begin negligent I fear something darker is on the WORKS! PLEASE HELP. Any information will be appreciated it. read more

A is 4 Adoption is an amazing organization. Laurie and her team go above and beyond to help all parties involved in the adoption process. I would highly recommend them! read more

SCAM * I was dating some hoe that had no idea who the father was and was pretty sure i wasnt the dad. But she was too embarrassed and told agency i was the father. no biggy ,,,,,right? wrong !!! If i was the father i would take care of my kid and not put up for adoption. to be sure i requested a paternity test from the mother while she was pregnant. well its kind of dangerous to do so we were told by agency to get done at time of birth. the hospital wasnt suppose to release baby until test was completed. well agency lied to me and baby was released and they were so uncooperative in assisting with test and said the mother has the only decision and decided to put up for adoption and i dont have a say. ARE THEY INSANE !!! now i have retrained an attorney who stated he will make this agency pay all my legal fees and money for emotional strain to ME AND my family. and if the kid is mine it will be taken from some single moth in LA who also was unhelpful in my getting this test completed. its disgusting how they pretty much kidnap someones kid and send it off. keep i mind the agency was providing cash to the mother on a daily basis to pay for her fentanyl addiction. which resulted in a premature birth. also the agency told mother if she would write a 5 star review they would pay her $100 SO YOU CAN BET MOST IF NOT ALL OF THEIR POSITIVE REVIEWS ARE FALSE AND ENCOURAGED BY THEM OFFERING CASH. hey a is for adoption, get ready and see ya in court. all of you should be ashamed targeting poor helpless girls and taking all the adoption funds for your new mercedes and house on the hill and giving them chump change and dumpy motels. im working on something for congress to pass a bill on regulating your disgusting practice. its flat out criminal what you do!! read more

The entire team at A is 4 Adoption are professional, efficient, and truly wonderful at what they do. Their work is not easy, and they do it with grace, respect and compassion. It is clear that they are committed to this work because of their desire to create loving and healthy families, which is what they did for us. I recommend them highly and without reservation. read more

I am a current birthmother and with the help of a is 4 adoption, I was able to find a wonderful family for my son. This has been the hardest thing I ever had to do but with the help of a is 4 adoption I was able to navigate a seemless open adoption. Thank you to the ladies of A is 4 adoption for help me every step of the way . I would definitely recommend any birthmom who is looking for options for their child that rest assure a is 4 adoption will help you above and beyond through this life changing process. read more

I honestly dont have the words to even begin to describe how amazing this organization has been! I highly recommend A is 4 Adoption. All the employees that I worked with were absolutely amazing and helped to make sure that the remainder of my pregnancy wasn't stressful and comfortable as possible. Before I was referred to them by a friend, my pregnancy was scary, stressful, and just in general my entire situation was not looking like it was going to have a good outcome, but thanks to this organization, my baby went to the most amazing family and I can rest my head at night knowing that my baby is in the best place he can be. I really could not be happier with the outcome that my adoption process had and I am beyond grateful for what A is 4 Adoption has done for me and my baby. I would absolutely recommend this organization to anyone that is wanting to go the adoption route. read more

A is for Adoption helped us to find our beautiful baby daughter! We are very grateful for their help and work throughout the adoption process and will forever remain thankful for helping to make our dreams come true. read more

What a mess. Run as far as you can. These people strive to tell you you have a kid then 40k later take two months to tell you you do not.

Get a homestudy and go with a reputable, professional, modern and REGULATED agency who is trained to do this sort of delicate work. Don't focus on the few positive reviews and Laurie's endlessly sweet demeanor as we did. We were led on for 2+ years by this poorly managed "team" and lost countless time and $$ in our quest to become parents. AI4A shipped in two unstable birthmothers from out of state (red flag!)... those were our "matches" - framed to be perfect situations for us - and both were scams... revealed only after we shelled out living expenses, ASP fees, legal fees and more for both women over several months. But of course their fine print frees AI4A of any fault. Heartbreaking. Challenge them for recent references and real analytics/results of their work. Be warned or be ready to deal with complete ineptitude and spotty communication. PM me if you'd like more details. read more

We had a strong experience with A4A and the whole collection of professionals in their extended network. We were matched with a baby whose mom chose to giver her up when she was born. It was Lori and the social worker that made us comfortable to fly 2,000 miles and meet our daughter within 36 hours of being matched. We found them to be supportive and responsive during our time in California and even after returning home to Ohio. I would recommend using A4A to all my friends and family. read more

Where to begin. The good news is, we ended up getting the best baby and we are very happy with him. As far as dealing with the agency, it was a huge disappointment and filled with lots of frustration. We signed up and were excited to get started with the process. Laurie and her team seemed very genuine and caring and we liked that it was a smaller agency; we thought we would get a more personalized service. We were matched after only a week or so. There seemed to be some red flags with the birth mom, which we brought up to the agency and the immediately said not to worry. They also would not follow up with us when they met up with her; we constantly had to reach out and ask for updates. Low and behold, she gave birth and changed her mind so we ended up having a failed adoption. During the 2 days she as at the hospital deciding whether or not to have a baby, we were on pins and needles waiting to see whether or not our adoption would go through. It was one of the hardest few days I've been through and very emotional. During this time, it was hard to get any updates or information from the agency and they were the only ones in contact with her. At one point, I was told they were responding to us during their office hours which was a surprise to me to hear since when we signed up we were told they were there for us 24/7. After the failed adoption, they changed how we were notified about new birth moms without any communication. When we first signed up, they would call us about new birth moms and ask if we wanted to be presented. After our failed adoption, they stopped notifying us about new birth moms and would just present without our knowledge. I asked to have updates still about when we were presented, either before or after and was told they were too busy for that. I tried asking Laurie multiple times how many families they were working with / trying to match and it was always 4-5 families. She also said they rarely have failed adoptions but then mentioned once or twice they had multiple families in our situation... Nothing she said seemed to add up. It made me not trust anything they said or feel like anything they said was at all genuine. It was also very difficult to get any answers / contact with anyone. Ultimately, we got matched with a wonderful birth mother about a week before she gave birth and had a beautiful baby boy. The birth mom and him are amazing and I couldn't have imagined being matched with anyone else. We also were told that although we might be frustrated with their "service" while trying to be matched, it wouldn't matter once we got a baby and that they'd be there for us the whole time at the hospital etc. That also was not true. Christine showed up to help and spent an hour or two with the birth mom and maybe 30-40 minutes with us. That was it. Laurie sent an email with no contact number (but did say to contact her if we needed anything - not sure how we were supposed to do that). I also was told by them that they'd contact our lawyer and birth mom advisor to let them know we were at the hospital. That also never happened and I had to handle that all myself. I am glad to be done with them and do not plan to use them for any future adoptions, and have not recommended them to any one else I know going through this process unless they want to deal with an agency that is not very professional or genuine in my opinion. read more

To say I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with this organization and agency is an understatement. They are unreliable, inconsistent, and self-serving. After having numerous conversations, it became evident that the only interest of this organization is to make money and to gain profit, and not to find homes for the children or pregnant mothers that they supposedly "serve." During my initial conversation with one of the employees, Lisa, I inquired about the costs, as our family would have to budget and plan accordingly. I was told that costs would be about $22,500: $4,500 up front to cover initial fee for committing to the agency, and then the additional $18,000 once matched with a mother. When I inquired about what the $18,000 would cover, I was told it would cover the attorney fees and the home study. I was asked to complete an application, which included many personal details about our family and finances. After speaking with my husband, we discovered that we had more questions than details, and I reached back out to Lisa requesting a phone call before submitting our application. During the second follow-up phone call, the proposed costs were different; Lisa shared that additional costs would need to include the cost and care of the mother. And while I understood the need for this added cost, I shared my surprise that these costs were not mentioned in the first call, especially since I had requested specific details. Lisa shared that she was "surprised" that she shared any projected costs, because she wasn't supposed to discuss costs with clients, and that only Laurie, the owner, was allowed to discuss these matters. I requested that my husband and I set up a meeting with Laurie so we could get the details and be able to plan accordingly. We scheduled an appointment with Lisa to have a phone conference with Laurie, and submitted the application (withholding some detailed information until we had the opportunity to speak with Laurie). The day before our scheduled phone call, Lisa called me to "reschedule" the meeting due to an "emergency" that Laurie had. My husband and I looked at our availability and rescheduled the meeting with her for the next week. After the meeting was rescheduled, Lisa then told me that she had a message from Laurie to make sure I was aware that the cost of the adoption at minimum would be $40,000. As I shared my surprise that again the cost and figures seemed to be inconsistent and changing, Lisa asked me if we needed time to acquire the money, or if we had the $40,000 readily available. She then explained that the $22,500 goes directly to the agency, and that none of that cost includes attorney fees, home study, OR the care of the mother. When I shared none of this had been previously explained, she then told me that she was "sorry I didn't understand her before," suggesting that I misunderstood her and it was my mistake, rather than her not providing me accurate information. When I shared my frustration, Lisa then proceeded to tell me that their agency was "very selective" of the families that they work with. To me, this was very clear that if we didn't have the money, they weren't interested in working with us. When I shared that it felt like perhaps the agency wasn't interested in working with us, she told me that maybe it wasn't a "good fit." I expressed that since there seemed to be multiple misunderstandings in conversations with her, that perhaps we should end the conversation and that I should continue the conversation with Laurie next week at our scheduled phone call instead. Lisa then told me that it would be up to Laurie to decide if she would call me or not. Confused, I noted that we had already rescheduled our phone call for next week. Lisa then said, "Unless you have the $40,000 readily available and all at once, Laurie will not want to speak with you." At this point I was feeling very frustrated, and in disbelief that we would be written off so quickly. We had never expressed not having the means or finances, and had only asked for detailed information, which we were not given. Instead, we were given inconsistent information. I then asked Lisa what the point was in "rescheduling" our phone call if there really was never any intention of us meeting with Laurie. Lisa then said she had to go, that she would call me back, and hung up on me! Obviously, she did not return my call. On their webpage the agency notes that they are "committed to the adoptive parents who are opening their homes and hearts to the child." All we wanted to do was to open our homes and hearts through the adoption process, and we were never given the opportunity. My guess is because it probably seemed like we didn't have the funds, and that this agency couldn't profit off of us with their continued increased additional costs. My husband and I are grateful that we did not share our personal information and that will NOT be supporting such a selfish, self-serving organization. read more

The company ghosted us - they stopped replying. When we inquired, they claimed "with A is 4 Adoption expired April 28, 2021" however we went back to the original contract and there was NO contract expiration date. When we confronted them on this - they were embarrassed and didn't offer any explanations why they would lie that the contract expired or why they thought it was professional to ghost - with no reply. There was no reach out or anything (even if they thought it had expired, they should have contacted too). This is incredibly unprofessional and they should either fix this or lose their license? read more

My wife and I are in the process of finalizing our adoption with A is 4 and I can say that they definitely know what they're doing! We had two matches through them and they were very nice through the process and were able to guide us through the highs and lows of adoption. Each of their employees work one on one with birth parents and adoptive parents for each case and help drive that personal touch for each person. They're a smaller company currently and we did have some trouble getting answers as each agent handles multiple cases at once (and the spring/summer is the busiest time of the year for them). Overall we would definitely use them again and would recommend them to others (birth parents and adoptive parents) to use in the future read more

Really quite disgusted that we fell into the trap of working with Laurie and Shelley at A is 4 Adoption. We excitedly "matched" with an expectant mother in June of 2016 to never hear from her again and have had very limited communication with Laurie and Shelley since then. How convenient? After sending over $25000 to the agency in June of 2016 (at least $20000 of that was an agency fee) which was non-refundable per their contract, we have not been presented with any other potential matches in the last 16 months unless we would agree to send another $10000-15000 to A is 4 Adoption for Birth Mother expenses. Of course we have said no to this as we are scared that any additional money we would send would disappear again without any further connection to an expecting mother or child available for adoption. I'm not sure how Laurie and her staff sleep at night taking limited funds from hopeful adoptive parents who I am sure have worked harder than they do to save up that kind of money. read more

My husband & I can't say enough for how grateful we are to A is for Adoption! Our path to Ais4A came as a referral from a friend & colleague from school, who had done all the footwork to find Ais4A, and who had successfully adopted two children. We're a family now (our adoption has been finalized), with a beautiful, nearly 9-month old boy. Through the entire process, we felt that Laurie, Shelly and the the team (we had Ashley walking us through everything when our son's birthmother's water broke & was with us initially at the hospital), were personable and always had our best interests in mind. Furthermore, we felt that they were always working diligently to help us work through issues when they arose, and towards matching us as best and as efficiently as possible with a birthmother. As newbies to the adoption process, there was certainly a learning curve, and it is our understanding that although there are commonalities in the process, the experience overall is as individual as the people involved. In the end, however, we could not have asked for more. Thanks to Ais4A, we were brought together with an amazing couple, our son's birthparents, who extended tremendous kindness and generosity (they included us in the entire birth experience), and to whom we continue to stay in touch. Ais4A's support at the hospital was invaluable- not just for my husband & I, but also for our matched birthparents. This is peace of mind that is unmatched by the larger, nation-wide agencies. If we decide to adopt a second child, we would certainly pursue adoption through Ais4A again! read more

We just wanted to say how happy we are that we chose "A is for Adoption". My wife and I were very nervous about going through the adoption process, but the team at "A is for Adoption" made it so easy. They took their time explaining what we should expect through this journey and some of the challenges we would face. Even though the process was emotional--both good and bad-- at the end of the day we wouldn't change a thing. Thanks to the support we received, and the patience that they had with us when we became frustrated, now my wife and I can say we feel complete. We love our baby boy and can't imagine our life without him. Thank you "A is for Adoption"! read more

I've placed with A is 4 Adoption 2 times. It comes to me with great pleasure in saying they are phenomenal. The entire staff at A is 4 Adoption are so loving and kind. They do not judge and share there empathy with you. This can possibly be your hardest decision in life. And it may come that you find yourself feeling self hate or self resentment. Don't let it get you down. If you place. You will soon feel the empowering feeling of joy, love. When you see that you just made impossible possible. If you feel you need to watch your child grow. Than just know, you can do so. I get photo updates of my children's growth and milestones as well as a visit every year. Laurie will ask you all of your thoughts, feelings, and expectations for your child's future. She will work for you to make it possible. She is an exceptional woman and I look up to her. She took her gift, and made it possible for others to find there's. A is 4 Adoption truly is a blessing and a gift. I'm forever grateful that I found them. read more

Where do I start?! A is 4 adoption helped us build our family. They found us our 2 beautiful children, who are now 3 and 5. The process of adoption is complicated, emotion and scary. So many uncertainties. Laurie and Shelly walked us through the process every step of the way. The process was also so quick! No painful waiting. We brought each of our children home in about 6 months from signing on! It was also so reassuring that they were helping to provide the support and resources our children's birth mother needed and deserved. We are hoping to grow our family again soon through A Is 4 Adoption. I wouldn't trust anyone else! I recommend them highly. Thank you, A Is 4 Adoption, from the bottom of our hearts for all that you do! read more

do not under any circumstances work with these people they are liars and will do anything to get a birth mother to sign away her rights they promise to help with food and rent and put me in the most disgusting drug infested motel possible and I had to beg for them to give me money for food doctors visits etc which they failed to do on almost all occasions. if you work with these people be prepared to be victimized read more

Meeting Laurie and Shelly changed our life! With their help, we have the family we always dreamed of having. The thing that gave us the confidence to choose AI4A was the fact that Laurie, the owner, was an adoptive parent herself. She shared her struggles, her disappointment, her fears and her joys of being an adoptive parent. She knew what I was going through as a woman who wanted it all- a successful career and a family. But time waits for no one and when we tried to conceive, it wasn't as successful as we had hoped. Adoption just seemed to be the right decision for us and it may sound corny but "all the stars aligned" and we were led to AI4A. We were scared of the financial obligation and the emotional obligation but there is no reward without risk and our risk paid off! In 3 months, we were matched and brought home our healthy, beautiful son! The agency held our hand every step of the way. We can say with confidence that our experience was an exceptional example of the possible outcome of the adoption process. We met one birthmother, we loved her, she was due soon, and our son is HEALTHY. That is not always the case. I have read some of the reviews on the page that are not as positive and in all honesty, it isn't fair to put that much weight on the adoption facilitator. This process works on 50% their expertise and 110% FAITH, HOPE, PRAYERS and good timing. The agency does their best to screen potential scams and do their best to communicate with these lost, scared, desperate, and many times flaky birthmothers. But until the baby is in your arms, the birthmother calls ALL the shots, including if they follow through with prenatal care, smoking, drugs, what they eat, when to meet, etc. Even in our case, the birthmother gave us a few scares when she didn't show up to several meetings. We closed our business several times to fit her schedule because it was inconvenient to meet on our day off (lol, really?) and then, she didn't show up! We have to understand that they have "drama" in their lives that we may see as insignificant but to them, its their whole life ending and they will put you on hold! But in the end, it all worked out and it was part of our journey to experience the ups and downs. This is not to say that there aren't bad adoption facilitators. You have to do your homework because there are horror stories out there. AI4A is a reputable and reliable agency based on our experience. The agency will give it to you straight but in the end, it is up to you and your faith. Laurie, Shelly and our birthmother will be in our prayers FOREVER because they were God's instrument to bring us our baby boy. read more

My daughter paid them a match fee, paid birth mother expenses for 2 women, attorney's fees as well as home study... no baby from them. They do not screen the pregnant women and you get FAS and drug babies. They wasted her time and money. All together spent about $40k and no baby from them. read more

We utilized A is 4 Adoption and had a terrible experience. I have run into many others that have adopted over the years through them and they weren't happy with the experience but they ended up getting a child even though it wasn't in their preferences so they weren't unhappy. They indicated if they adopted again they probably wouldn't use them. I should have know that from my first few phone calls the specific numbers that were given to me kept changing from how many they adopted out in a year to the average age of the birthmothers they use. You would think they would know that sort of thing but I think the numbers may have been fudged a bit which is why I kept getting different numbers. Basically we never heard from them for months and months after we signed up and paid our $9k, then we started getting a email with one sentence stating "we presented your profile to 1 birthmothers this month but unfortunately they went another way". Then we got a few phone calls about birthmothers that weren't a fit for us but we were given the speech "you never know when the next one will come along" speech. We waited for some and some we caved in on. The ones we caved in on, we had to agree to drive or fly 2+ hours North that week to meet the birthmother and btw, please bring a gift. We were fine with that but had to find child care as our 3 year old daughter was in preschool at the time and gets out at 5pm and no family in the area. We asked if the birthmother could do it in the morning. No, it had to be in the afternoon. We asked if we could change it to another day. No, it had to be that day. We have to make a decision on the spot. We pushed back saying, we were trying but we were met with, the birthmother holds all the strings and we either do this or its not the right situation for us. What? WOW. This is the strong arming they do. They either make you feel bad for not being able to do something; making you feel like you must not want it bad enough or they stone wall you. I cannot count how many times, the phone got silent after I asked a question, a question that was completely valid that they simply didn't want to do. For example, that scenario when the birthmother had to meet that afternoon and not morning because she worked a part time job. The phone grew completely silent and I sat silently on the phone, waiting to see if they had hung up on me or what was going on. What was going on was I had asked what if we go up on Saturday, well they didn't want to do that. I need to bend to their way. They make you feel like the bad guy all the time. Like we were open to any ethnicity mixed with caucasian or full anything except African American and some drug exposure but not heavy drug exposure. I got the talk from Laurie, the owner after the 2nd birthmother that maybe I should consider widening the scope of what I was willing to accept. True, they are all God's children and they need a home but I am not the type of person that is equipped to manage a drug addicted baby or any/all of the potential life long health problems that can come from that. After a year of going back and forth, they came to us with a child that again, wasn't a match for us but said this is just before your contract ends so it's now or never, again, strong arming. We decided that we didn't have enough trust to pay them another $9k with the way they had managed their business and themselves over the past year to adopt through them. We moved onto another agency. This industry is not for the weak hearted which we knew but we came out scarred and without a child and our daughter will not have a sibling because of the practices and procedures of this adoption facilitator. Stay away. read more

My husband and I were very pleased to work with Laurie and Shelly at A Is 4 Adoption. We were matched twice. The first match fell through, which was devastating, but they searched for another child for us for several months. After a few bumps in the road, we were able to bring our child home and are awaiting finalization. No agency is perfect, just as no ONE is perfect, but I think Laurie and Shelly genuinely care about their birthmothers and adoptive parents and want to bring familes together. I would recommend A Is 4 Adoption if you realize that adoption is a marathon, not a sprint, and it can be a heartbreaking and expensive undertaking. In the end, having your sweet baby in your arms makes all of the tears and stress worthwhile, especially if you have professionals like Laurie and Shelly to help and support you. read more

They said that the mother was expected to get 3-5 years for her crime, and, therefore, stay in jail and keep living expenses low, and she, of course, got out within the month. Then, the agency said that her current living situation was not healthy, so we needed to provide a home for the birth mother, her daughter, her mom, and a possible live-in boyfriend. But, they said we would have to pay for 6 months of a 3 bedroom house so that they could sign a lease. Then, of course, the birth mother got in a fight with her mother and needed to live in a hotel forever, which made the living expenses skyrocket. Then the due date got moved to a later date so we would have to pay for living expenses longer. We just like we were getting financially drained and taken advantage of and no one cared. We had to try to figure out how to communicate with the birth mother, figure out where she could possibly give birth, etc. We did not feel like we were given important information and had to do a lot of the work ourselves. read more

A is 4 Adoption gave us a family and we are very grateful to Laurie and Shelly. The journey of adoption is not easy. There are so many factors that can influence whether a child is placed with you. If adoptive families go into the process understanding that birth mothers have the right to change their minds at any point, and they do sometimes, it makes an unpredictable process a little more bearable. We experienced that with our first match. It was heart breaking. Shelly spent hours in the hospital with the birth parents while they tried to make up their minds. They finally decided to parent, which we respected. While Shelly was representing us, her main priority was to support the birth mother during the decision- making process, and ensure the safety of the baby. This is how it should be. Something else adoptive families must realize is that they need to work with an adoption agency that provides the best care and support for the mothers. A is 4 Adoption is that agency. Birth mothers who feel support and trust with their agency are more likely to follow through with adoption. Entering the adoption process with this mindset, helps to understand the times when phone calls may not be returned ASAP, or emails may not be responded to immediately. The social workers are not ignoring you. There is just someone at that moment who needs them more, like a birth mother. Right after our failed adoption, Shelly encouraged us to try again. Laurie and Shelly worked tirelessly to not only match us, but to do so with a couple who was serious about following through. We have a beautiful son and an amazing birth family whom we love. It was a bumpy journey, as this type of journey usually is. Any agency that promises a completely smooth ride is probably lying. An agency that helps you through the rough patches can make the journey so worth it. We would recommend A is 4 Adoption. read more

My wife and I adopted our beautiful daughter in 2014 and could not be happier with the facilitation services they provided. Actually, they matched us twice because the first match didn't work out (the birth mother changed her mind after the baby was born). The disruption of the first match was devastating but they reassured us through the emotionally (and financially) tough time and moved quickly to find another match. We are so grateful. Looking back, we can say with confidence that all of their advice was spot on. Their philosophy, unlike most other facilitators or service providers, is to take care of the birth mother first. That may cause frustration to prospective adoptive parents, as did to us at times, but that is the reason of their success. Adoption is a long, hard process. We learned that we don't control how things go and everything is up to the birth mother. We had to be very patient for a long time, then had to be decisive and courageous when the time came. The good people at A Is 4 Adoption provide sound advice based on experience. They know how to do their job and how to keep their cool under pressure and stressful situations. Most importantly, they do their work out of love, out of the desire to do good and turn terrible situations into something wonderful. They have our sincere gratitude and utmost respect. My wife and I recommend A Is 4 Adoption to any prospective parents without reservation. read more