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.
Susan McKay has been a social worker for the past 39 years. She completed her Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin in 1973. She worked 27 years with Child Protective Services in Dallas. She began working with domestic adoptions in 1982, beginning her work in international adoptions in early 1995. She currently is an home-study service provider for international and domesic adoptions, post-adoption supervision, and second parent/step-parent adoptions. She can refer you to the agency with whom they are affiliated if not-for-profit agency support is required for your China adoptions.
Diane Keller has been a social worker in Dallas since 1973, having completed her Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1981. She worked with Child Protective Services for 27 years, gaining her adoption experience there. She developed a strong interest in private adoption, beginning to work with Susan in providing adoption services in 1995.
Susan Etheridge completed her Masters Degree in Social Work at U.T. Arlington in 1992, and was a social work professional at Child Protective Services since 1983. She was the Program Administrator for the Dallas CPS office from 1999-2004. Since retiring July, 2004, she has been the Executive Director of the Collin County Child Advocacy Center. Susan has been conducting home studies for adoptive placements since beginning her career at CPS, and she has been working part-time with private domestic and international adoptions for the past 4 years. She has added new capacity for us to complete more home studies in a shorter amount of time, and our clients have been very happy with her work!
The service we provide is difficult to find and is generally at a cost much higher than ours. We hope to provide your family with expertise and the best possible adoption experience, at a reasonable cost.
