Adoption Consultants, Inc.
Birth Parent Line:
1-800-605-4588
(1-800-605-4LUV)
Adoptive Parents:
(818) 766-2222
Testimonials
Adoption Consultants, Inc.
E-mail: info@adoptionconsultantsinc.com
March 12, 2008
I am writing this as I listen to our baby on the monitor. I’ve just rocked him, laid him in his “Winnie the Pooh” room, and he is sleeping soundly. Our family is wonderful and complete, something that we had only hoped for exactly a year ago. How we got here is through God answering our prayers and putting Cathy Mantell and Adoption Consultants, Inc. in our path. Here is our story.
My husband and I were married in August of 2003. I have 3 biological children but because of complications during my last delivery I am unable to have any more. Josh, my husband, loved my children and me so much that he accepted the fact that my 3 children would be our only children. We have a wonderful marriage and family that is full of love. For a while, we were content. As our love for each other grew and Josh’s love for his step children grew he thought about what it would be like to have raised them from birth. Then our neighbors and close friends had a little baby boy. We babysat for them often and I even kept him when they went back to work till the baby was 3 months old. I saw how tender Josh was with a baby and wondered how wonderful it would be to raise a baby together. Josh saw me with a baby and saw a side of me that made him wonder the same thing. We talked and prayed and did lots of research. We looked into surrogacy, international and domestic adoptions. We ruled out surrogacy and international adoption quickly because of the risks. That left us with domestic adoption to build our family. We live in Savannah, Georgia and the agencies and adoption attorneys here were not helpful and made the whole process seem impersonal. We wanted our adoption journey to be wonderful and exciting and bringing a new baby into a family should be wonderful no matter how they come home!! The next part of our story is how we met Cathy.
Josh mentioned our desire for adoption to Monte, a co-worker and friend, because Monte and his wife had adopted their first child and were in the process of adopting their second child. Monte shared his story of their adoption using Cathy’s service and had his wife, Holly, call me later that day. Holly and I stayed on the phone for hours and she shared with me that they were just picked by a birthmother for their second placement and expecting a baby in October. Holly gave me Cathy’s number and web address and then our journey began.
Josh and I talked to Cathy on the phone for an hour. She answered all our questions honestly and told us what to expect. We understood because we have a large family with my own biological teenagers this might mean adopting for us could take longer. Later that night Josh and I decided we really wanted a baby and if it might take a while, the wait would be worth it!
We contracted with Cathy and got working on our Profile. Cathy helped me so much with all the details to make our Profile the best it could be. Finally, with Cathy’s and my new friend Holly’s help it was complete. Then we started our home study. Cathy, of course, coached us through that as well. Next, we waited. We expected a long wait and to our surprise Cathy called us with a situation!! A birth mom was due August 11, 2007. There were a few variables so Cathy explained all the pros and cons and answered every question I could think of. Josh and I discussed it and sadly we declined because there were so many variables in play.
Josh and I changed gears and started focusing on other things, but we could never get this baby off our hearts. We wondered if the Birthmom was well and if the baby was okay too. We kept Cathy updated on the progress of our home study and she continued to keep us pumped up as well. Cathy is very passionate about her work and has a wonderful talent of keeping you excited through each and every step. A few months passed, then we received an e-mail Cathy had sent out to her families about a baby boy who was recently born who was now with Child Protective Services. It was the same baby from the situation we had to pass on!!! Josh and I were crazy with excitement!! We asked Cathy if our adopting this baby could be possible and she said she would check for us. She reported back to us that most of the variables had been worked out. We “JUST” needed 3 birth fathers’ rights terminated, a relinquishment signed by the Birthmom, get CPS and the Judge to recognize the relinquishment, and release the baby to us. Oh…and we needed to track down the birthmother who kept disappearing on us. A tall order for us mere mortals, but Cathy is an angel!!!
Cathy kept in contact with the social worker at CPS and the birthmother’s attorney, and also referred us to an attorney who specializes in possible litigation matters to help us with any legal matters. Cathy relentlessly kept calling the birthmother to try to reach her, leaving her messages (and e-mailing her) how vital it was that she pop up in order for us to be able to adopt this baby. Cathy kept calling her mother too, who was helping with the placement, and asking her mother to track down her daughter with these messages. Any other person would surely have given up, but not Cathy! She pressed on and kept after our birthmother until we all connected.
With our birthmother’s reappearance and involvement, we received a court date and Cathy continued to work relentlessly to make sure all our ducks were in a row. Everything was looking GREAT. Josh and I felt like we would be bringing home the baby that had been in our hearts and minds for soooo many months!!! We made our travel arrangements and put the last minute touches on Alexander’s nursery!!! Yes, we had been referring to this baby as Alexander since the moment we heard about him!! We watched the news a few days before leaving and our hearts dropped to our feet. The San Diego courts were closing because of the California fires. No one knew when they would be open again!! We were heartbroken to say the least. But Cathy kept us in the loop and kept a careful watch on ALL aspects of our adoption. While all the county offices and court buildings were closed, Cathy kept calling to try to reach the CPS social worker and the birthmother’s attorney to get us back on track with a rescheduled court date.
Obviously, we were beside ourselves with this latest development. I don’t know how Cathy does it, but she knows just what to say to make you feel better. Cathy puts her heart and soul into each situation and sees you through it all!!! Every time we felt down and buried, Cathy helped lift us back up and gave us a renewed sense of hope. Finally, we got word of the new court date and made new travel plans. Cathy’s close contact with the CPS social worker in the case enabled us to get the foster mom’s phone number that was taking care of Alex. It was sooooo wonderful to talk to her and hear stories about Alex. The foster mom filled us in on everything Alex had been doing his first 3 months. Then the day came and we flew to San Diego. We were able to visit with the Birthmom as well as the foster mom and meet OUR son before the court date. We went to court November 13, 2007. It was so nice to meet everyone that made this happen. Josh and I left the courthouse with our son!!! It was a beautiful day!!! Cathy called us every day during our stay in California!!
It bears mentioning, what Cathy accomplished in getting Alex released to us for adoption was unbelievable! Even the adoption attorney who we had hired had earlier on given up on this case as impossibility. Once CPS gets their hands on a baby (and the baby had been in the system almost 4 months now), it is almost impossible to get a baby released. Only because of Cathy’s hard work and thoroughness and never give up attitude, coupled with her pleasant and caring manner do we believe CPS agreed to the release and were we able to reconnect with our “disappearing” birthmother, without whose involvement CPS and the court would have never agreed to Alex’s release. The fact we were able to confront every hill and mountain along the way and find a way to make our way over it, is a true testament to Cathy’s outstanding abilities. That Alex is now our son is a pure miracle when one considers what needed to occur in order for him to be able to come to us! No one ever believed this was possible, only Cathy! And she was right!
It has been 4 months now since we’ve brought Alex home and every day is a joy. We can’t imagine our lives without him. All the crazy circumstances that led us to this day were totally worth it. We would do it again in a heartbeat!! With all the ups and downs we went through to get here Cathy was constantly helping us through the maze. She will always be an important part of our family. She still e-mails and calls to check on us. She must have more hours in her day than I have in mine because she manages to give the same attention to each situation and each family, and you always feel like you are her top priority!
Well, we are back to where we began this letter. Alex is sleeping soundly and we are forever grateful to Cathy for bringing us all together.
Trish and Josh
Savannah, Georgia
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