Adoption Assistance and Support

Adoption Assistance and Support is a Licensed Child Placing Agency in the State of Texas. We provide adoption home studies for individuals and families adopting through domestic and international agencies, with our studies meeting all requirements for USCIS, international and domestic adoptions. We also provide services for families and birth mothers in which a "match" has already occurred, with our staff providing birth mother counseling and the agency providing the legal services to assure that your adoption is completed according to best practice standards. Most full service adoption agencies provide these services only to clients who are adopting through their agency. Those of you who seek to adopt through an agency which is out of the area or out of state usually need only the home study and post-placement supervision (except China, which requires that a not for profit agency provide the home study. We are affiliated with an agency to whose services we can refer you for the not-for-profit resources, at an additional fee for their support and sponsorship). We also provide home studies for second parent or step-parent adoptions and legal custody proceedings. We work throughout the State of Texas, with our fee outside the DFW area adding the cost of airfare and car rental.

Susan McKay began the adoption consultant business in 1991, and Diane Keller entered the business 4 years later. Most recently, Susan Etheridge, LMSW, has joined us, part-time, in conducting home studies. All of us learned the many complexities of placing children in adoption throughout our service at Child Protective Services, gaining great respect and empathy for adoptive families. Diane Keller and Susan McKay retired from CPS at the end of February, 2002, after 27 years. Susan Etheridge retired from CPS in in 2004, and now is Executive Director of the Collin County Childrens Advocacy Center. As a 3-person team, we are able to complete the work on numerous adoptions in a reasonable time frame, usually within 2-3 months from start to finish. As you may have learned, many home study providers may put you on a waiting list for weeks or months. We are highly committed to the earliest possible permanency for children, as well as supporting families who adopt, and we understand that you want your adoption to happen as quickly as possible and with the least possible amount of confusion and delay.