Have you went through a local lawyer?

Yes! Our birth parents found us online, through our own adoption website. We used Rita Meiser to represent them (she is our hands down favorite) and we had Mike Herrod represent us. Nothing but positive things to say about both of them. I don't think I could have done it without Rita, she truly got us through it. We also used Bev Quidort for some birth parent counseling. Positive experiences with all of them. There is one local attorney in particular who does has a really bad reputation. Our SW and attorneys said they wouldn't work with her (our birth parents had met with her and we got their first hand experience, which was quite negative). PM me if you want on that.

That is exactly how we adopted our son. We used a local attorney and had a profile on parent profiles. We chose this route after a colleague of my husbands told us about both of their adoption experiences, the first through an agency and the second independently (parent profiles and an attorney). It worked well for us but there are definitely pros and cons. PM me if there are specific details you would like to know.

I was a birthmother 18 years ago and Rita Meiser was my lawyer and Bev Quidort was my counselor. Today my husband and I are working to find a child to adopt and we are using Rita and Bev. They are both wonderful (which is why we are using them for the adoption)

Please remember that all discussion of fee based servcies must take place via private message, not on the forums. Thanks

We did consider this after finding a bmom on our own, but decided against it because if the match falls through you loose all of the your money that was paid to the lawyer for his work prior to that. With most (if not all) agencies you don't pay the big chunk of money until there is a match and if it falls through then you get it back, or at least a "credit." The other thing to keep in mind is the counseling services for the bmom. I think that's crucial. If you go through a lawyer I'd reccomend hiring a social worker or agency to counsel the bmom before, during and after the placement.