3 Steps to Adopt with an Adoption Consultant
What Are Adoption Consultants
Are you considering working with an adoption consultant but not sure if that's the right decision for your family? What would you even do when you make the decision to work with an adoption consultant? How can they actually help you adopt a baby?
I get it. These are big life-altering decisions. I know this because I'm an adoption coach who has helped over 1,000 families be formed through adoption. I can tell you from firsthand experience that having the wrong partner in your adoption journey can cause you years of misery and heartache, and cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Before I jump right into what an adoption consultant is, let me tell you what an adoption coach is, so that you can see the difference between what you're experiencing here with me versus what you would experience with an adoption consultant.
My job as your adoption coach is to teach you how to adopt, to help you avoid the common pitfalls that occur in the adoption process, and to help you create the adoption profile that helps you match because it makes an emotional connection with expectant families. For a select group of clients, this actually consists of answering your questions one-on-one all the way throughout the adoption journey. When you get an adoption opportunity, I help you think through all the common pitfalls and things that you need to look out for so that you can make sure that that adoption opportunity is legitimate.
An adoption consultant is going to do similar things. They're going to teach you how to adopt. They're going to help you create your profile, typically by using one of those profile companies that they have a partnership with. Next, they're going to network you with adoption agencies. They're going to have a requirement that you work with specific adoption agencies in order to match your adoption. Then they are going to ultimately answer any questions that you have as you go through the journey.
The main difference between a coach and an adoption consultant is that a coach is going to help you no matter which type of adoption you are pursuing and help you answer questions. No matter which agency partner or consultant you are working with. An adoption consultant is going to require you to work with a specific list of agencies that they feel are really best for you. The main difference is that I'm not working with specific agencies to recommend to you. Instead, I'm working as your advocate throughout the entire process.
There are two steps to being successful in working with an adoption consultant to adopt. The first is to pick the right adoption consultant for you. Unfortunately, there are some really bad actors out there in the adoption industry. They're going to be more than willing to take your money and promise all sorts of results, but then ultimately not fulfill their contract. Finding the right adoption partner for you is critical. It has the power to save you tens of thousands of dollars and save you from lots of years of heartache and misery throughout the adoption process. Weeding out those bad actors and ultimately finding the right adoption partner for you comes down to asking a specific list of questions. If you want the exact list of questions I suggest that you ask in order to find the right partner, then you need the adoption partner interview guide. This not only walks you through the exact questions that you need to ask but also helps you spot all of those red flags that should send you running in the opposite direction from that partner.
The next step for you to be successful in adopting with an adoption consultant is creating an adoption profile that makes an emotional connection with expectant families. The quality of your adoption profile can really speed up your adoption process. Having an adoption profile that creates an emotional connection has the power to save you years on your adoption journey. In fact, just recently, I worked with a client who had been waiting with her adoption agency for three years to revamp their profile. And after just one month of revamping their profile, they matched and brought home their baby girl. Hear more about their story here.
