Building Blocks Adoption Service, Inc.

Someone wisely recommended that when I write this review that I write it as though I am speaking to someone like me. My husband and I chose to pursue adoption since we were unable to have children biologically. It was important to us to choose a professional adoption agency who provided guidance, information and support throughout the adoption process both to the birth parents and to the adoptive parents. A trusted friend, who was in the same position as us, recommended Building Blocks Adoption Services, Inc. to us based upon her extensive research about the various adoption agencies. The first email we received from BBAS was incredibly informative. The information and documents given to us answered the majority of our questions and questions that we didn't know to ask. BBAS spoke with us by phone to go over the information and ensure we understood the adoption process, the costs of adoption and the possibility of a match but unsuccessful adoption. It was important for us to have our eyes wide open and have realistic expectations about the process. Further, the fee structure seemed reasonable to us. BBAS explained the costs to be incurred, ways in which the fees could be financed and the tax benefits of adoption. Once we submitted our application and transferred our homestudy from our foster care agency to BBAS, BBAS worked with us to create our family's profile book. In doing so, it provided examples and guidance on how to create our profile. Once our profile was active on their page and social media platform, we quickly and frequently received comprehensive profiles of birth parents (including the approximate cost of adoption for those particular birth parents). Whenever we submitted our name for consideration, we timely received notification about whether the birth parents chose to meet us. When birth parents chose to meet with us, the meetings occurred soon after being chosen and BBAS provided clear information about the date, time and location for the meeting. (A BBAS representative was present for each meeting to facilitate the meeting). When a birth parent made a decision, BBAS quickly communicated the decision to us. (We typically found out the decision within 24 hours of the meeting). The birth mother of our son had an unplanned pregnancy and she had important questions she asked us during our first meeting. When she chose us, BBAS called to let us know and we quickly connected with the birth mother. I attended a number of her doctor's appointments and stayed in touch with her throughout her pregnancy. I kept BBAS in the loop about our communication with her and they kept us in the loop relative to their communication with her. BBAS sought our approval each time a disbursement was to be made to the birth mother and importantly reminded us that these disbursements were not refundable if the birth mother decided to parent her son. BBAS was in a difficult position of advocating for the birth mother and advocating for us. Although our interests were generally aligned, there were times when they were not and BBAS navigated those times diplomatically. After our son was born, our birth mother hesitated signing the temporary placement paperwork. We received candid and wise counsel from BBAS' employee and the phenomenal adoption attorney we found through BBAS. Ultimately, the paperwork was signed and over the course of the next six months, we virtually met with the BBAS representative for our requisite visits. Our adoption of our son was finalized earlier this week. Overall, we had a very positive experience with BBAS and found their staff to be caring and compassionate. There were some hiccups along the way but I think that can be expected and BBAS handled those hiccups with professionalism. In short, we recommend BBAS to persons pursuing adoption.

Wonderful people there and service!

I thought about adoption for a long time before moving forward with my journey to adopting an infant. I chose Building Blocks Adoption Service, Inc., because it was a local agency that I believed would give a more personal experience. The journey to adopting my son was not easy but was ‘oh so worth it’. From the home study to the hospital stay with the baby, there were individuals in place to help me through the journey. In working with the agency, I also had to opportunity to observe the care and support given to birth mothers. I cannot imagine the difficulty having an unplanned pregnancy and making the decision to give a child up for adoption, but the care and compassion given to birth mothers by Building Blocks caseworkers was remarkable.

We chose to do our adoption through Building Blocks because they had been used by a couple we know. Once we started the process we were given clear lists of what is needed as far as paperwork (sometimes it was very straight forward, other times it required a bit of googling to find answers), and used an online portal to upload scanned documents (if you are planning on adopting, buy a flatbed scanner). We created an adoption profile, which we chose a very different design style from the others, which I believe helped us stand out. We were matched shortly after our profile was created.
I really liked working with Denise, she is very straight forward and doesn't mince words to make you feel better when something unexpected comes up; she just tells you what needs to be done next to get you a child. She helped with our adoption as it was a pretty a-typical adoption (the birth mother had deliverer 5 weeks prior, so everything moved very quickly).
The rest of the staff was very nice, but occasionally didn't have our answers. There was only two instances of lost paperwork, unfortunately one of those instances was a certified copy of personal documents, so re-submitting them was not a simple matter.

We were adopting side of the process, but I feel that birthmothers are well taken care of by this agency; they are given top priority.

We used Building Blocks as our adoption agency to become a forever family!! BBAS was so supportive and so kind. They assisted us in making sure we were home study approved, provided us with lots of adoption situations and helped match us with a birthmother who needed support. They are absolutely wonderful to work with and so kind & loving. We feel so happy & blessed that they helped us become a family of 4.