Birth Parents Testimonials

If considering adoption, Full Circle is a great agency to look into. They can provide many services that prove to be extremely helpful in the adoption process. A counselor is available 24/7 to answer any question you may have. They will advise you on the process of adoption and do not pressure you in any way to ultimately chose adoption. [Agency’s addition: If allowed by the law of your jurisdiction and warranted following a needs assessment….] they will help you with living expenses during your pregnancy and this will basically relieve some of the stress you may be encountering. The thought of choosing the future of a child is definitely stressful and worrying about whether you can afford to pay the bills each month is not something you should have to deal with. With Full Circle, you’re able to choose which couples you think are the best fit for your child. You are able to meet with different couples and talk to them over the phone. After the adoption is finalized, if you choose to, you can receive updates on your child’s progress.

Full Circle proved to provide me with an excellent adoption experience. I had been thinking about adoption and did some research online. I came across Full Circle and was impressed by the adoptive family letters. They were very insightful. I chose a couple and decided to meet them prior to making my decision. I was happy with the couple and knew that my son would be in good hands. Throughout the process, my counselor was available to me whenever I needed her. I was working full time and many places are not open past 5 PM. So, if you think that you will not be able to reach someone, you can. I would call her on the weekends and during evening hours. This never seemed to be a problem and she was always able to answer my questions. Full Circle was able to help me with my living expenses, which enabled me to have a clearer mind when thinking about my son’s future. I was less concerned how I was going to come up with money to pay for rent and more concerned with what path I was going to choose for my son. I was and still am happy with my decision to choose adoption. I think it is mainly due to the fact that I knew where my son was going to be going, who was going to be taking care of him, and knowing that I made a very informed decision. Full Circle helped me with this. The most important thing about this life altering decision is knowing that whichever way you choose, adoption or not adoption, it was an informed decision. You do not want to regret your decision and should be happy with it. I am fortunate enough to receive updates on my son’s progress from the adoptive family along with pictures. I look forward to receiving these and I know I chose the right decision for not only my son, but for my self as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and feel free to contact me at the following email address: christineannsheridan@yahoo.com. I would be more than willing to share my experience with you.

I was very pleased with the level of care and involvement I received from Full Circle Adoptions because they were the only agency that made me feel like I was a mother first and not a commodity. Full Circle was supportive to me after the birth of my daughter and has continued to be supportive in a non-intrusive manner.

I am impressed by the high quality of clientele Full Circle Adoptions maintains. Full Circle has a diverse selection of intended parents that, much to my dismay, was not available to me at many other agencies.

I would recommend Full Circle Adoptions to birth mothers or Intended Parents because of the educational background of the Director, Marla Allisan JD, LICSW, and Case Manager, Meredith Davies JD, LSW. I found that innumerable questions I had posed to adoption attorneys and staff of other agencies were either never answered or redirected with irrelevant remarks. Marla Allisan was the only person who I felt responded to me in an educated manner with real answers that allowed me to research further and in more depth on my own.

I liked, very much, the ideology of Full Circle Adoptions with respect to being in the business of adoption and handling every other issue on a case by case basis. I was opposed, from the very start, to working with an agency or attorney who was really in the business of religious doctrine, moral code of exclusivity, or some other social alignment that really exploited adoption as an avenue that broadened this other objective.

I had a very successful experience with Full Circle Adoptions. I had gone through 2 other agencies before finding Full Circle online. We had initial meetings with the agency’s social worker, in which they provided information about adoption, including information about our rights and they also reviewed our needs. Full Circle was wonderful in speeding up the ‘interview’ phase since that was my biggest concern at that point. She was very helpful with arranging the meetings with the couples and wonderfully supportive in my choice of adoptive parents. The agency helped me with my financial needs [Agency note: consistent with state law and a financial needs assessment]. They have also been great about paying the hospital/doctor bills. As they come in, I just send them off to the office, and I don’t have to worry about a thing. I am very happy with the end result. The adoptive couple I chose could not be more perfect for my baby boy. Finding Full Circle was my destiny. I am so happy they were there for me every step of the way.

Hello, my name is Jorja and I am the very proud mother of a daughter, Jessyka, who was mature enough to not only make a very difficult decision, especially for her age but then to also follow through with it in spite of a lot of opposition from me. I am also the very proud grandmother of a little boy who was lucky enough to be a part of an Open Adoption which gave him parents who are absolutely this grandmother’s dream come true. But we will get to that in a moment.

I am sorry I could not be there in person to convey my feelings on Open Adoption, not only from a grandmother’s point of view but also as someone who was adopted.

When my daughter told me she was pregnant and that she wanted to put the baby up for adoption, I cannot tell you how devastated I was! Not only did I cry and argue with her but for the majority of the pregnancy I prayed that God would change her heart or mine; I have to be honest and say that I was leaning more towards the side of changing her heart than changing mine. I even started checking into what I could do legally to adopt the child against my daughter’s wishes. She wanted her baby to have both parents to raise him, some thing she didn’t have for very long as I was a single parent the majority of her life and she didn’t want him to have to do without financial security in his life, another thing she never had as we had struggled financially most of her life. She also did not want to watch me struggle to raise another child; I had offered to raise him. In order to fight for the baby I would have had to sacrifice and sell my house to pay for attorneys which I would have done without hesitation. What I wasn’t willing to sacrifice was my relationship with my daughter. By going against her wishes, I would have destroyed our relationship and also told her that I didn’t have faith in her decision-making abilities.

But I could not imagine having a grandchild that I would not be an active participant in his life. I already had two grandbabies and was very active in their lives. Jes kept assuring me that with Open Adoption, I would get to be a part of his life. But remember I was adopted so I had a different view. While I was raised off and on by my biological mother (my grandmother between times), I was 12 when I found out that the man I thought was my father had actually adopted me when I was 18 months old then within a year, he and my mother divorced and he wasn’t around after that. So in a child’s eyes that meant there were 2 men out there who didn’t love me enough to claim me. That is one of the thoughts that will run through your mind when you can’t ask your parent why they didn’t want you. What is wrong with me? I found my biological father when I was 32 years old. It took me years to get up the courage to call him. I had known who he was and where he lived since I was 12 but I was always afraid if I contacted him he would reject me. That was not the case and we are now building a good relationship. But I didn’t want my grandchild to ever go through those doubts. The closed adoptions that I had seen always left so many questions unanswered. You wonder why they did it, do they ever think of you, do you have siblings that they loved enough to keep, etc. even into health issues that are hereditary. There is just no closure for that child.

Well, enough on my views of adoption of old. I told you I kept praying that God would change Jes’s heart or change mine. Well, from day one I always knew that the baby was a boy and so in all my prayers, I had called him Josiah Grayson but I only told my mentor and my daughter-in-law never mentioning the Grayson part to my daughter as they had disliked the name Josiah when I suggested it. They had chosen a different name that I really was not fond of but it wasn’t my decision to make. Then approximately 3 weeks before the baby was born, Jes came to me to say they had chosen a name I probably would not like. When she told me Grayson, I started crying so she thought I hated it. When the adoption agency called to say the adoptive parents had also chosen that name I just knew it was one more sign that God was involved. The first thing in this process that had convinced me was when the adoptive parents had the same names as my daughter and me. So many things fell into place that there was no doubt that it was not going to be Jes’ heart that would change but mine.

I am not going to tell you that it was not hard to watch that baby go home with someone else when the time came but what I am going to tell you is that when you see the look on that couple’s face as they hold that baby and you see so much love and wonder in their expressions, it helps. It helps to know that they have wanted, waited, sacrificed, worried, prayed and anticipated that child as much as any biological parent ever could, if not maybe more. When they took my grandson home, I never, never, never had a moment’s worry about whether he would be cared for and loved as much as any grandmother could wish for her grandchild. As time passed, I kept my distance because I wasn’t sure where I fit in but let me state right now that is not anything to do with the adoptive parents or their family, it was my own feelings. From the very beginning of this process, George and Jessica as well as their families have always made me feel like I am just another extension of the family and have included me as a part of the baby’s life. I have had the pleasure of watching him grow over the past two years into a very lovable, intelligent, well-cared for, secure toddler who is far above a lot of his peers and I believe that is due to WELL I have to say Good Genes of course but also the loving, secure environment of an absolutely awesome “adoptive” family who as stated before is this grandmother’s dream come true.

Let me state, Open Adoption is absolutely above and beyond any of the old-fashioned closed adoption plans. Too many times people my age see it as being wrong or a choice that girls make because they don’t want the responsibility of raising a child but it is actually a very mature decision which is not easily made or followed through on. How many children are out there being neglected or tugged between parents who are not mature enough to think of the child before themselves? I cannot tell you that it has been easy on Jessyka but I can tell you that never once has she wavered, wondering if she made the right choice. If I was actually there in person, I would have to stand up and applaud my daughter, Jessyka for making a mature decision that I know I could not have been unselfish enough to make. I don’t tell you often enough, Jes, but I am very, very proud of you for what you did for your child!

When I prayed that God would change my heart or hers, I never dreamed it would be as complete as it has been.

Have a Wonderful Day!

Jorja