Please Note: Given the sensitive nature of Adoption Connection�s relationship and work with birthparents, adoptive parents and adopted children, some names have been altered/substituted to protect privacy.
Vignettes
03/20/2015 The Handsome Father Weekly | Featured Family: Brenzel-Gaines
03/06/2015 The Handsome Father Weekly | Featured Family: Davidson-Vezina
03/24/2014 Adoptive Families Magazine | Adoption Photo: Finally home, 2014 Welcome Home Photo Contest
03/08/2014 JFCS 30th Annual Family Awards Gala | Honoring of Massimo and Barak (Adoption Connection clients & adoptive dads). Video of their heartwarming relationship and adoption story
Adoptive Families Circle | 2013 Holiday Photo Contest Our son Kody whom we adopted in 2010 with your agency was one of 5 runners up in an Adoptive Magazine national photo contest! - Anne McKinnie Higginbotham
05/23/2011 KQED | What Didn't Happen
2007 JFCS FAMMY Awards | Julia Weber & Charlie Fineberg (Adoption Connection clients and adoptive parents)
Testimonials
This organization is caring, compassionate, and considerate of the feelings and issues of all parties involved.- Jodi Warner
Although we just started our journey with Adoption Connection, we've been incredibly impressed with everyone on their team. If you're considering expanding your family via open adoption, I highly recommend attending Adoption Connection's numerous seminars. They are all just fantastic!- John Matero
Hi Lynne and Adoption Connection Team!
We finalized Olivia's adoption today in court! Once again, thank you for all of your support and guidance throughout the process.Take care,- Tracy, Alfredo & Nicholas
Last week, we stood before a judge to finalize our adoption! We obviously couldn't have gotten there without the help that all of you provided. Thank you for helping our family come together!- Alex, Richard & Abigail
We had our court day last Friday, May 10th for Sameer's adoption. We can't thank you enough for working with us through this process!- Subodh and Margot
"Sorin is 5 months old now and such a happy guy! We have been so spoiled as he was sleeping through the night at 3 months and is so easy going. We are so blessed! Thanks AC again for all you do to make families come together!"-Ryan and Marea
"We had our finalization hearing and the judge baked us a cake, it was very special and things are going great!"- Lisa
�I stongly recommend Adoption Connection. Lynne Fingerman, the co-founder of the agency, is a Berkeley mom and has years of experience with every type of domestic adoption. She is well known and respected throughout the state. They were able to help us connect with birth parents. They help you with your letter, offer advice and counseling on inter-racial adoption, have great pre- and post-adoption workshops, etc. I can't say enough positive things about them. We had a great experience and have several friends who have as well.�-thrilled to be a mom (April 2004 posting, Berkley Parents Network)
Dear Lynne,
We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your constant, immediate support. Although you are very busy with many families, plus your own, you always gave us the feeling that we were the most important when we needed it. This was true of your ENTIRE staff� we can�t tell you the positive effect you hd on Jennifer�. Her world was turned inside out, in a good way.
We appreciate your integrity, your sensitiviey, your compassion, your ability to allow each person their feelings, calmly and without judgement.You are wonderful at what you do!
Needless to say, we are extremely happy, through the sleep deprivation and constant motion. It�s what life is all about. With great fondness,- Terry, Daisy and Pablito
Oh my Lynne you've brought me to happy tears. Words cannot express how much we appreciate your tireless work on our adoption of our son. You can tell that your job is more than a paycheck because you�re fair and you really care about the children, bio parent and adoptive parents. Thank you!Regards,
- Patanisha
Dear Lynne,
Thank you so very much for everything you did for Greg and me and our family in those first few days of 2014. We thought everything would be relatively smooth with our plan, however, when things got more complicated that we expected you provided me with reassurance and support I needed. I am certain you did the same for our birth mother. Thank you, and your husband, so much for all of your time and significant effort driving to meet us. Our little family will always think of you, Rachel, and Adoption Connection with love!Warmly,- Lisa, Greg and Theo
Dear Randie,
A heartfelt thank you for all of your assistance and support these past months. Your weekly check-ins and reassurance during what was a very challenging period for us were greatly appreciated.
We also wanted to thank your committed staff for their help during this past year. Leah helped us get our outreach letter up and running on Adoption Connection�s website in record time. Melissa was incredibly kind to us during those weeks when we needed a Sacramento connection. And, of course, Julie has been fabulous at keeping us in the loop since we started our journey. Maybe the saying should go: It takes a village to complete an adoption?
We have nothing but praise for Adoption Connection and would be happy to shre our experience with other prospective adoptive parents at conferences or in conversations if you think that might be useful. Please feel free to contact us anytime. Thank you for everything.With gratitude,- K and A
Dear Lynne,
A BIG thank you from our new little family for making it so. Your care, kindness, concern and expertise surely helped Phoebe find her way both home to us in Los Gatos and home in our hearts.
You will always be part of our thoughts when we reflect upon how we all came together. Thank you and God Bless You,- Lisa, Corey and Phoebe
Dear Lynne and Staff,
On Nov. 2ist Michael�s adoption will be finalized. Hard to believe it is almost here and in retrospect it wasn�t so bad given what we ended up with. In truth, we couldn�t have done it without all of your help, support, advice and your determination. Thank you, thank you for hanging in there. We appreciate it beyond words.
Take care and maybe we�ll need you again sometime?
All the best,- Dan, Jane, Jesse and Michael
To Lynne, Leah, and the entire staff at Adoption Connection,
Thank you for all of your hard work! For a while we didn�t think it would happen, but we had confidence that the right match would eventually find its way to us! Thanks for always helping to keep our spirits up and keeping us pointed in the right direction.- Lisa, Lisa and baby Maya
Lynne,
This is a long overdue note to thank you for all your help and advice in the adoption of our son. You and the rest of the staff are so knowledgeable, helpful and responsive, which helps to keep the adopton process from being so overwhelming.
Our son Thomas is now four months old and thankfully is a healthy, happy child. We are truly enjoying our expanded family! Thanks again to you and your staff for helping us make our family a reality!
Warm Regards,- Jill, Jim, Jenna and Thomas
To the staff of Adoption Connection,
I kept this card (Card had the following quote �Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.� - Emerson) by my bedside for a long time while we waited. Our thanks to you are beyond measure for the gift you made possible for us to receive.
There is really nothing I can say that would really capture and convey how much your help has meant to us and how immensely grateful we are and will always be to you.
It took us nearly 10 years to make our family and we are frequently just stunned at simple moments when we have the stillness to recognize our children are asleep in their beds, or to be driving and realize they are both right there in the back seat. WOW!
Thank you for your very valuable work,- Lisa, Doug, Robby and Amanda
Dear AC Staff:
I just had a nice conversation with a couple who is thinking about using AC and were given our contact information. In talking about our experience, it reminded me of how grateful we are to all of you. While our journey to become parents wasn�t easy, I wouldn�t change a thing, as if we did we wouldn�t have our amazing daughter. Thank you for all that you did and continue to do. Thank you for your support and guidance.
We truly feel like you all will forever be a part of our family- Maria Smith
Hi! We just wanted to thank you for all the help you have given us thus far with the adoption of our healthy beautiful daughter!! Alexa was born at 2:23pm. She weighed 6 lbs 6 oz and is 19 inches long. P's labor was really easy for her and she was so compassionate towards us that she let us take Alexa to our room seconds after her birth to have skin to skin contact with me. The love we have for each other has continued to develop into a beautiful relationship. We have spent time with each other everyday so thank you for matching her with us!! We love her dearly!!!
Sincerely Grateful,- Suezann and Greg
We heard that the judge signed the adoption decree today! We are very very happy!! Thank you for your help during all of the process. I really appreciate your patience answering my endless questions and concerns.
Dan and I were saying we would love to come in some time if you are looking for couples to talk in the adoption classes. We were so convinced it would never happen that I would love to share how quickly things can change!
Kind Regards,- Sue and Dan
We were talking last night and both feel like we "abandoned" Adoption Connection after our son arrived. First, we simply wanted to express our profound gratitude for all of the help from your staff. We couldn't have made the journey without their support. Second, we'd like everyone to know that this has been an incredibly joyous event for us. Our son is simply wonderful and has brought light not only into our lives but throughout our extended families �including our son's birth parents, who we text and share pictures with often. We had the pleasure of paying them a visit last summer as well. If we can support Adoption Connection in any way, please let us know<- Mark and Nicole
We cannot help but think of you this evening, as we celebrate the first night home with our son. Our celebration is yours, especially at this miraculous time of year for Passover and Easter. Each of you, in your way, heard us and supported us. The spring was quite the emotional rollercoaster as you know... forgotten now in the gaze of a newborn. Our son was born Thursday, at 10:45 am, and we met him at 5:30 pm the next day, as well as his birth mother. We brought him home this afternoon. We can't wait to come in and introduce him to you in person so he too can share his gratitude by charming you with a smile. Thank you to each and all of you, the entire team at Adoption Connection.- Frances and Jennifer
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all the work you have done with our adoption of our baby. We have appreciated your professionalism, humanness, and sensitivity throughout this process! We look forward to working with you on the post-adoption and the finalization, and also in a couple of years when we adopt our second child!- Margaret and Will
We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your constant, immediate support. Although you are very busy with many families, you always gave us the feeling that we were the most important when we needed it. This was true of the entire staff. We appreciate your integrity, your sensitivity, your compassion, your ability to allow each person their feelings calmly and without judgment. You are wonderful at what you do! Needless to say, we are extremely happy, through the sleep deprivation and constant motion � it's what life is all about.- Tim and Samuel
June 1 was the date that we brought our new son home to California. He is now 9 months old and the love and joy of our lives. We truly appreciate all the professional services that Adoption Connection provided. Beginning with the Homestudy services through Finalization, we were treated professionally and with comfort all the way though this very sensitive process. We especially want to thank you for being there on June 1st (during the birthmother's signing the relinquishment), for two very important phone calls where we needed advice pertaining to California laws. We were also grateful that the ICPC was handled smoothly so that we could return home to see a relative who was ill. Thank you again for everything, and we hope to see you very soon during our next adoption!- Susan and Taye
Thanks for the great ideas regarding how to improve our letter. My wife and I both felt your comments were right on, and that making the changes we discussed will make our letter much clearer and better. It is good to have the input, because the whole 'Dear Birthmother' letter project seems pretty daunting to us right now.- Val and Jenn
I wanted to thank you again for the Preparing for Adoption Workshop. I can't begin to tell you how helpful it was to us. We have not decided what we are going to do yet, but we do appreciate all of your help and your thoughtfulness.- Cyndi and Jim
Thank you for leading our Preparing for Adoption workshop series. Your insight and thoughtful stories regarding adoption were inspirational to us. There is so much to learn about adoption, and you have given us the guidance, encouragement, and tools that will last us a lifetime.- Doug and Lisa
