Family Formation is hands down THE BEST business I've ever found on Yelp and I'm going to be…read morecounting my lucky 5-stars (see what I did there?) every day for the rest of my life that I found them. Thanks to Megan and the Family Formation team my husband and I finally have a daughter! It was a long road to get here (8 years, 2 rounds of IVF, 5 rounds of IUI, candle burning, fertility massage, acupunture, mystical treatments and more hormone injections then I care to remember) but honestly I believe everything happens for a reason, and meeting our gorgeous baby girl I can honestly say it was all worth it. The amazing thing is that after signing up with Megan and Family Formation the "wait" was almost nothing! We retained her services in early January and our baby was born in June! I know this isn't always the case and Megan did a great job of setting expectations so we were VERY surprised when the match occurred. I'm still suffering from a major case of baby brain + lack of sleep but a couple things I wanted to highlight about Megan and her team: 1. Unlike the bigger agencies, Megan only works with a small number of couples. After feeling like just a number in the revolving door of UCSF fertility we knew We wouldn't feel that way with Megan. And we never did. Best example: she gives you monthly updates as to whether you were presented or not. With the bigger agencies you get radio silence for months until the match occurs. Megan's very communicative. She always answered our (many) questions in a timely manner and often anticipated them before we had to ask! 2. After our consult...actually, after our initial phone call, we knew Megan was for us. She's got the perfect blend of kind/compassionate and matter of fact/direct. No BS with Megan. 3. Megan has the unique experience of being a birth mother herself. This means she's got a truly deep understanding of what a birth mother is going through and makes sure she is treated with the utmost respect and compassion. 4. Our adoption was out of state, but Megan found us a lawyer in that state (required for out of state adoptions) and stepped in whenever we had questions so we always felt supported even when we legally had to work with someone else. Thank you Megan (and thank you Yelpers for your amazing reviews that led us to find her). You've truly changed our lives!

This review is long overdue but so necessary, bc anyone going through fertility treatments, family…read moreexpansion goals etc is already under enough stress and anxiety about things, so helping assure others that they are in amazing hands with Megan and her team is so important! I feel so lucky that I was able to work with her through my journey with using a gestational carrier. Megan is so caring, easy to talk to, helpful and keeps you informed every step of the way. Everything was properly taken care of - while always keeping us in the loop and letting us know next steps, and in a timely manner. You can put your mind at ease knowing at least one part of whatever journey you're on will be handled by the best here. I absolutely have and will continue to recommend Megan and Family Formation. They're as good as it gets!

We attended our first Adoption 101 class in 2020 and the official outreach program in 2021. In our…read moresearch for agencies, we were really drawn to Adoption Connection (AC) b/c of their commitment and fierce advocacy for Birth mothers. After speaking with other agencies, attorneys and consultants, we felt that they were the most transparent not only with adoptive parents, but also with offering Birth Mothers perspective, counseling, and a listening ear to make the most informed decision during the most difficult time of their lives. We were told from the outset that 3 years+ was a realistic estimate in terms of placement and though we hoped it would be earlier, we understood how delicate this journey was. We were sent quarterly updates with the number of times our brochure had been presented (over 40 by the end of our process), but we had never met a Birth Mother in person yet. It's very easy to go to dark places and play the blame game as to why it hasn't happened yet, but we decided to turn our sadness into a year of yes. Yes to the trips, yes to the dinners, and yes to adventures that came our way. We started therapy and really worked on being the best version of ourselves we could for whenever we got the call. In our research, the best advice we were given is that as adoptive parents, we have to be ok with being 4th place in terms of choices for Birth Mothers who are placing their child up for adoption: 1st is with a birth parent 2nd is with a family member 3rd is with a member of their community We were more than happy to be 4th place and it's with that mindset, we were able to wait (as difficult as it was) almost 3 years for a placement. Our Birth Mother was very confident in her decision to place her child up for adoption, but understandably had second thoughts once the child was born. Those first 30 days were so stressful and AC really stepped up and not only offered comfort, perspective, and options for the Birth Mother, but also coached us through the difficult time of having the child with us and the possibility of things not working out. It was very important to all of us that our Birth Mother felt secure and safe in whatever decision she made and in the end, she felt that we were the best option for her child. Adoption is not for the faint of heart, but if not for the expertise and advice of the team at AC, we definitely would not have been able to honestly tell our child that this decision was not made lightly and was made out of an abundance of love b/c he was so wanted by all parties. We're so thankful for the Adoption Connection Team and their continued support of Birth Mothers and Adoptive Families.

This is a close to a scam as it gets by avoiding the legal classification as scam. The whole…read morecompany seems to be set up by family law experts as 'legalized sam' skirting regulations as much as possible. You pay a high fee for outreach ($30k) to be shown 1-2 times a year to potential birthmothers. You will not have any matches for years. After that the 'case workers' will push an adoption on you without giving you any disclosure required by CA/ Federal law about the baby or birthmother situation. They will label it as only chance. Everything is hush hush. The cases they show you before you pay the fees are so different than what you will actually see it is heartbreaking. Avoid at all costs (like other reviewers here have detailed).

I am an established resource parent in Alameda County, I originally went through the county itself…read more(social services) to be certified for foster care etc and then we later adopted through the county. We now have been finalized with our daughter for 3 years and are ready to expand our family again through fost /adopt, but we decided that we wanted more input than we were allowed to have with the county. My daughters sister (who was also in foster care) ended up in a great home and that all came about through A Better Way, so we decided to look into their program and have begun our pride training classes. Since this is my 2nd time going through pride training (my last training was more than 5 years ago) initially I was not at all excited, but I have to say that I am really enjoying the classes. Being that I have been a foster parent, a concurrent planning placement parent and now an adoptive parent I am quite familiar with how things work, what the kids go through etc... and A Better Way does a really good job of balancing giving out that information (and not scaring people) along with presenting the lighter side of fost/adopt. I am very eager to finish the training and get to the next and so far so good. I would recommend a better way to anyone considering fost/adoption.

Please beware. I experienced the staff within the Another Road to Safety Program as being very…read morenegative and unprofessional. Please beware.

My husband and I were so lucky to have Nina involved in our adoption process. She prepared our…read morehome study, follow-up home study and post placement review. We have also utilized adoption trainings from her private practice. I can say nothing but good things about Nina. We were terrified when we began the process of adoption and her friendly nature and extensive knowledge immediately alleviated our fears and reservations. Any question we had, she could answer it. We felt completely at ease with Nina. She was so excited for us when our daughter was placed with us and that meant she was invested in the process with us. That was very important. If you are a family thinking about adoption, I would highly recommend you speak with her. She will give you not only knowledge and guidance, she will give you comfort. Trish and Francisco Gomez

Nina is an inspirational therapist! In 2012 I placed my daughter for adoption and I was very lucky…read moreto be referred to Nina immediately. She was my rock during a time of chaos and change. She motivated me to be strong and gave me the tools to heal. She is a fantastic listener and is able to read body cues and address core issues that need to be dealt with. I strongly recommend her!

Where to start? My husband and I adopted three, elementary school siblings and were beyond lucky…read moreto have Devon as our assigned social worker. From matching and finalization to attaching with our kiddos and becoming a family of five, Devon continually blew me away. Thoughtful about the source of behavior, equipping us with the "right" language to use and tremendously targeted actions to develop our family dynamic, she shepherded us through our first year with grace, wisdom, positivity and professionalism. With her years of experience, she considers - and seems to intuitively understand - each family member and how to bring us together. Devon's warm and professional nature left us always feeling able to be wholly transparent in feelings and challenges. After every interaction, we would leave with greater understanding on the why, thoughtful next steps including the language to use and confidence that our family would continue moving forward. We are not the first, nor the last, and this perspective makes everything easier. I can't recommend Devon highly enough - we were honored to have her as our FFA social worker in the process and thrilled to be able to hire her independently after finalization to continue to help us, as needed, in the years to come!

I can't recommend Devon highly enough. The field of post-adoption counseling is pretty slim…read morepickings. Issues like attachment, PTSD, and delayed emotional development are challenges for every adopted child, but few knowledgeable guides for adoptive parents are available. And raising an adopted child is in many ways counter-intuitive. Example: raising a bio kid who has experienced consistent attachment is about nurturing independence; raising an adopted child is about fostering dependence. Kids with attachment disorders often make no sense at first glance. Their behavior can be completely mystifying and our natural impulses exacerbate the problem rather than healing it. This is where someone like Devon comes in. She has helped us understand child development, and the variations on it that occur in a traumatized or adopted child. She has been our steady guide in healing and raising our beautiful son, enlightening us in areas we didn't even know existed. Without her, to put it bluntly, we would have botched the job. We learned about Devon from our social worker, who had been her colleague for many years and considered her an expert in attachment. We attended a free class taught by Devon, for adoptive parents, and our eyes opened to the patterns we were seeing that differed so much from what we understood and expected. Since then we have worked with her at various stages of our son's development, and have been grateful every step of the way for her deep knowledge and support. Besides her expertise, we love her practical and non-judgmental support. She works with real people, real kids, real families, and encourages us to feel good about ourselves, rather than to strive for some perfect model that no one can achieve. She considers the whole family dynamic, every person of which is impacted by these issues, and she has reminded us to take care of ourselves and each other on this journey, as well as our little guys. She's also fun and grounding -- let's solve this one bite at a time and enjoy it too. We are profoundly grateful for having Devon in our lives.

When my husband and I decided to become foster parents we knew we wanted to work with a Foster Care…read moreAgency. After some research we found Rebekah Children's Services (RCS). After meeting the staff and completing our training, we found that RCS has the most amazing social workers. Not only are they always available for our foster youth, they are there to support us, the foster parents. That was the whole reason for going with a Foster Care Agency, having a team of people who are there to support the foster parents as well. We have been foster parents since 2019 with RCS and we would highly recommend them.

From the owner: For more than 115 years, our team at Rebekah Children's Services has been helping children Santa…read moreClara County find loving homes, get the treatment they need, and overcome obstacles in their lives.

These services are a scam. Since Seneca has been in my home things are worse than before. The…read moreamount of time these people take vacations blows my mind. I believe part of the reason these services are the way they are is because the connects are in between lapse and "time off".. having parent support services didn't happen for me. Never a stable person. My husband and I got no help. If you want an effective team to help meet the family and child I would look elsewhere.

I cannot say enough about Seneca family of agencies, my daughter goes to school. I one other sites…read more She has excelled so much. It's incredible and the staff are absolutely wonderful and they really care about the kids. The classes may be seven children in one class the whole school may have about 40 students Now this is the school that she goes to PathfiindersAcademy, and Union City. Absolutely amazing.. I really really appreciate them because my daughter was having a really really hard time with bullying getting her work done staying in class and not eloping and now she loves to go to school and always has positive things to say when she comes home. Altogether a wonderful agency.

I had the pleasure of working with Sonya, Debby and Evan over the past couple of years regarding my…read morecase. The team is extremely knowledgeable and driven. If I didn't understand the legal jargon they broke it down to laymen's terms for me. Punctual, forthcoming and overall a great team to work with. I will definitely recommend their firm to anyone looking for legal advice. Thank you for being the voice I needed.

I rarely write reviews anymore and almost never write bad reviews at all…read more The background -- I am an enterprise salesperson working in a high tech industry. I had an issue where my company was withholding a large sum of commission, probably somewhere in the ballpark of ~$200k. When I reached out to Minnis & Smallets, I received a prompt response to my inquiry that I was not a client they wished to represent -- was not even granted a brief call with an actual attorney to explain my situation. They literally have an entire page on their website (too wordy btw) devoted to NON-PAYMENT OF COMMISSIONS. So, I'm very curious as to what level of compensation issue cases they are handling if they have the privilege to turn down a probable six-figure judgment in my/their favor...? Oh, and the woman I spoke to was very inarticulate as to why the representation was denied, which was also odd. Bad experience and am happy to go elsewhere.

Very bad experience with this group of underhanded people on my approved home study that they…read morescrewed up. They just about destroyed my family and my life. I am happy to report they no longer are accredited. A friend went by where their office was and it appears they are out of business as they should be . Horrible dishonest people. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/Intercountry-Adoption-News/cancellation-of-the-accreditation-of-across-the-world-adoption.html

20 years later after using this agency I am still having to deal with INS as we never received…read moreinstructions on having our children registered as US citizens following an adoption from Guatemala. What is even worse about this attorney was the scathing letter she wrote to me following the adoption. She accused me of "ruining her relationship with Guatemala adoptions" when in actuality what she said I did never occurred. Professionally at that time, her and her assistant at that time should have traveled to Guatemala to go through the process in order to better serve her clients. Based on other reviews... I am not alone! Do not use this agency!!!

I joined AFS as a foster parent and was initially given 3 children who were a part of a family of 9…read morekids. Shortly after we were asked to take a fourth child. A few months later the parents of the 9 gave birth to a tenth child and we were asked to take him at 8 days old. My wife and I had the kids for 22 months. When the initial 3 arrived, the 2 elder ones were 11 and 9 years old while the third was 7. That 7 year old could sing the alphabet song but could no recognize A from B. When he left my home 22 months later he was reading at a Fourth Grade level. During our time one of the kids therapists (Katera) told us that she'd been in this field for 25 years and my wife and I were easily the best foster parents she'd ever worked with. Not only were we involved in every aspect of their lives which included participating in school activities. We were fierce advocates for their education and wellbeing. Bearing in mind that this was a family of 10 and we lived close to Discovery Kingdom I bought at my expense season tickets for all eligible children to that they could attend the park as a family. That meant the other foster parents dropping them off at the park and we took responsibility for the entire group. It was urging Tim's like these that we could see the love these children had for each other. My wife and I discussed it at length and decided we wanted to adopt the 7 youngest children as the older 3 were above the age of 12 and chose not to be adopted. At this point within the Child Protection Services the case was transferred from Foster Care to Adoption Care. Our home was visited maybe on 3 occasions by a Ms.Shipe who turned out to the a**hole of all a**holes. After her third visit she contacted AFS and asked them remove the children immediately from my home. I assume that the agency knowing that the children were at my home for 22 months without any problems waited for about 5 days before taking action then removing them on the sixth day. I tried to prevent this by asking AFS the reason for this, as was told they were removed because Shipe said "she knows there is a problem in that house but she just doesn't know what". Made a follow up attempt to meet with the VP of AFS with no results. Given the emotional investment we had in the kids being our family both my wife and I went into a state of depression and crazy thing is after 1 1/2 years AFS had the verbosity to call and ask us to take 3 more kids. They found no problems with our care for these children but did not defend us from Shipe leading me to believe they are in business not to help children but to make money. It remains to be seen if this is just the way THE SYSTEM WORKS or whether this was just a case that slipped through the cracks. I have sat on this for almost 5 years but it has always bothered me and I feel I need to get it off my chest.

Would not recommend working with this agency if you are a working parent. My partner and I filled…read moreout a form inquiring about the fost-adopt program and registered for orientation. Almost immediately we got a call from a woman named Lisa. Her first question was "so who is quitting their job to take care of the child?" I explained that we had good parental leave at our jobs (almost a year), and then we'd look into licensed childcare providers. She responded "foster kids can't go to daycare, because their brains are damaged! Anyway, NO child should be put in day care, even bio kids." Yikes! Definitely trauma affects brain development, but calling all foster kids "brain damaged" is misleading and creates stigma. I was also surprised about the daycare-for-bio-kids comments. That kind of shaming is bad for all families (bio, foster, and adoptive) - makes you wonder how they treat the parents trying to reunify! This woman also asked "why haven't you already arranged parental leave from your jobs?" It seems bizarre to expect that prospective foster parents have parental leave arranged before attending an info session. Most foster parents we know start talking to their workplace about leave as they complete training and can accept placements. The experience put us off applying to be foster parents for a while. We eventually did identify another agency that seemed a little more professional.