My Husband and I are adoptive Parents. We chose Another Choice Adoption Agency because a co-worker spoke very highly of them. When we attended the information session, we made a real connection with Ms. Ruth Amerson and her staff right away. You see we had thought of adopting for a few years. This meeting provided us the details of the adoption process and the children waiting for families. We felt comfortable with the staff, they shared and answered all of our questions thoroughly. We signed up for the MAPP classes on that day. These classes are taught by highly qualified and skilled personnel. The curriculum is organized, helpful and gives you a reality check in understanding special needs children,their challenges and knowledge of how to deal with and get through it successfully. The Another Choice program is a hands on approach. About half way through the MAPP classes, we were so ready to adopt, but knew we had to complete the entire process which also included the required background checks, finger printing, home visits, personal references, etc.. The staff was encouraging throughout this process and followed up with us to make sure we completed everything within a timeline so as not to delay paper work processing, so that we could move forward and get closer to adopting our child. As we were going through the MAPP classes, the agency had us working on our family book and looking at profiles of "Waiting Children". We had already been looking at the NC Kids website frequently too. My Husband and I graduated the MAPP class and now we were waiting as the agency searched for a child for us. They continued to be supportive to us as we waited anxiously and had questions. They treated us like family even though we did not have a child yet, and again that hands on approach was beneficial. The day came when the agency notified us that they have identified a sibling group for of three for us. Yes, I said "siblings". Our plan was to adopt one child. The staff and Ms. Amerson always told us, "If you ask for one child you may get two, you ask for two, you may get 3, 4, 5. Ms. Amerson told us over the phone that these are our children and she knows that we are the parents they need. She felt very very sure that we would become a family. Even though she knew of our hesitation when I said, "but you said three children". She told us to come to the agency right away. I happened to be out of the country working at the time. Three days later my plane landed back home and we went to the agency. We had a few days to get our heads around this, talked about it and were open to looking into this because we trusted Ms. Amerson's experience, integrity, knowledge and passion for children and families. We went to the office and looked at the children's profiles. What an excellent match they had done for us. My Husband and I fell in love when we looked at their picture before we even read their profile, we knew that these were our kids. As we read their profile it became even more evident that yes, these are our kids. A visit was arranged for us to visit them in their foster home. We all made a connection pretty instant, spent a weekend together and cried when we had to leave. We assured the children that we would see them again soon and that we wanted to be their forever parents. Another Choice (Ms. Ruth) called us to hear how things went and to see if we had questions or concerns. Our only question was, "how soon can we get them home"? Another visit was arranged for the kids to come to our home. We had did the things suggested by the agency to help them feel comfortable in coming to see their new home; bedrooms setup, family outing planned, other family members to come meet them, etc.. The kids felt comfortable and safe too. We just loved them right away. In the coming months we fostered to adopt them. The adoption decree was granted and we became a permanent family. Another Choice Adoption Agency has continued to be very supportive and reaching out to our family. Even when we needed to reach out to them as a resource. They provide both pre and post adoptive services. This agency truly believes in finding loving families for children in foster care and they care about the family unit. Their post adoptive programs are very helpful; Kids Night Out Program has helped my kids feel normal (because they are), boosted their self esteem, helped them feel the permanency, develop social skills with other kids in their age group, reinforces to consistently follow rules given by adults, healthy competition and more; Girlz Talk where they along with others girls sit and talk with a licensed Therapist about girl stuff which helped them develop mentally and they gained positive social skills and feedback in a comfortable forum; Teen Program has helped my teen tremendously by showing her that she is worthy and to act appropriately rather than exibit unacceptable behaviors just to fit in with what she thought were popular clicks or groups; Sister to Sister is a program for Moms. We talk about things like balancing work and family, challenges with our kids and share experiences on how to deal with it. We go out to the movies, dinner, etc.. to treat ourselves, have fun and talk about stuff. This is a positive sisterhood resource provided by the agency. There are other post adoption programs like, DADS which my Husband has participated. We adopted 7 years ago and have been a happy family ever since. God has truly blessed us all with each other. I can't thank Another Choice Adoption Agency and Ms. Amerson enough for their professionalism, integrity, support and loyalty all these years. I highly recommend this agency if you are looking to adopt older, African American, or special needs children. May God continue to bless Another Choice in all the good work that they do to find families for the many children in foster care that are waiting.
Review from Guidestar