Want to Adopt FAQ's

How can I get Chosen?
You will be chosen by the Birth family whom is working with the agency who has the situation. You will be given all contact info for agency or attorney. They will present you to the family of the child.

What is a profile?
A Profile is a scrapbook that will give the birth family a peak into your life. It is about 5-10 pages long. Photo of you and your family, Dear Birth mom letter, photo’s of your home, animals, other children, extended family members. Remember this is the birth families first look into your life. We have partnered with Bowman DG as a resource to create your profile book. For more information, please contact them at Joan's Profiles jlb8669@yahoo.com  .

What is the cost of adoption?
This depends on many factors. Agency fee, legals, birth mom expenses. Does she have health insurance?  Most Adoption Situations range from $23,000-$35,000. I have even seen them go higher, sad but true.

Domestic Placement with LBOH here in Ohio
If LBOH is working with the Birthmom Directly here in Ohio the placement fee is $5000.00 with legals fees and finalization being paid to the other Agency and or Attorney who is hadling this service for our agency, most of the time this is an additional $5500.00, Living Exp in Ohio is capped at $3,000. LBOH will make every effort in keeping our total adoptions under $15,000.
Although, I must say we dont get allot of Birthmoms here in Ohio.

Are there Tax benefit of Adoption?
Yes, there is a  tax credit that can be claimed in the year you finalize your adoption.

How long will the process take?
The adoption process is different for everyone. Just like natural child birth, you may have a short adoption wait or your wait maybe longer. If you are open to any gender child, any race and flexible on age, medical or drug exposure your wait is lesser for the more you are open to.

What is the legal process?
You must retain your own legal representation unless the agency has a legal option. Agency or Attorney will help you through all legal aspects.Most situations we work with in our Referral Program is included in the fee of the Adoption Situation and you will use that option. 

Can the birth parent(s) come back at a later date and take their child back?
This is rare and thanks to media has been blown way out of preparation. In all states there are laws about this. You need to check that states law but all states have a time frame that birth family would need to prove duress. Most states have revoke times from 24 hours-30days. 72 hours being the average.

What is the difference between an open and a closed adoption?
Open adoptions the birth family has a relationship with the Adoptive family. This maybe photos, letters, phone calls and even visits. All families Open Adoptions are different but I am here to tell you it is a very nice thing to have. Feel free to ask me about our open adoption with my daughter Chenise’s birth mom. Closed Adoption is no contact at all with birth family.

When do I get to take the baby home?
Most of the time you can leave the hospital with the child and must stay in the state the baby was born in for at least 7-10 working days till you get your ICPC clearance to leave the state. Then you may go home. If baby is born in same state you live you may go home when baby and birth mom are discharged. In some states such as KY and TX(Depending on Agency you work with) you may have a longer stay and baby may be placed in a private care till you get permission to take baby with you.

Will I know the medical history of the birth parent(s)?
Agency and Attorney’s do all they can to get you the information up-front. There maybe cases that a baby is already born or birth mom didn’t have much care before birth. The HIPPO privacy laws are also making it harder to get medical information released as quickly as we would all like. There maybe times when you need to make a quick decision and at that time you will need to decided what is right for your family based on limited info, but if at all possible all efforts will be made to get you what you need to feel comfortable in your decision making process.

Do I qualify for adoption?
Every adoption agency and attorney has their own policy’s but I am sure that your family will qualify with someone. There is a child for everyone. Never give up your dream. We do have trouble working with some states due to their Adoption Laws KY and NY are two of the most difficult.

How many agency’s will I been working with?
You will be working with more than one at a time if you are interested in a situation and your profile is not chosen for that one particular situation , you will be kept on hold in case another one would open in the future. My fee is due at match of any agency you have been referred to by me.

What is Your Referral Fee?
We charge $1200.00 at match for our Referral Program and have a $100.00 Application Fee to cover calls and faxes to agencies. Time spent in search of the perfect situation for you. We are a Agency Licensed in Ohio, We are their for families many times after hours to answer any questions or concerns they have during their journey. We have a closed support group for our registered families.

What do I need to do to get started?
You will need a Updated Home Study, a Check, money order or Pay Pal (merts1234@yahoo.com) recieved in the amount of $100.00 registration fee made to the order of Betty Smith or Little Bit Of Heaven.(This will cover time spent in adding you to data base, Home Study Review) 2 Color Profiles with Dear Birth mother Letter. Application must be filled out, signed and dated.

What happens next?
You will be added to the data base once your Homestudy is reviewed, you will receive all emails of situations available before they are ever added to the web site. If you see something that you would like to learn more about or submit for you will email or call me. We will move from there in speaking about what will need to be done, all situations and agencies require different things. There maybe additional paperwork to fill out for some situations.
Almost all the agencies I work with waive application fees for my families.

What if my Birth mother comes through LBOH and not the Referral Program?
Birth families will have the opportunity to view your profile if it is a situation you seem to be interested in. If the Birth family would choose your family to parent her child you would have a phone conference and if both parties were comfortable with this match then you would move forward in signing a match contract. A $1000.00 match fee would be due with contract and the balance due at time of placement, which would be $4000.00 plus your fee to Agency/ Attorney for all legals. (This fee will vary but LBOH will make every effort to keep this fee low so that the entire adoption is under $15,000).
This is only if Birthmom is here in Ohio, not in another state and we are working with her in her adoption plan.