I just want to say that Families Uniting Families is amazing, caring, supportive, and communicates…read morewith ease. We reached out to them two years ago with interest in adoption. They had classes for us to take to get certified. We choose the route of fostering to adopt. Our FFASW went above and beyond any of our expectations, and we greatly appreciate everyone at Families Uniting Families and highly recommend them for your fostering or adoption needs.

This is a great non-profit group that helps individuals that are unfortunate to need it.read more

I cannot express how grateful we are to have had Aubrey as our doula during my wife's pregnancy and…read morebirth experience! As a first-time moms, we were filled with excitement but also a fair amount of anxiety about what to expect. Being a person of color and in a same sex marriage the healthcare system hasn't always been kind to me unfortunately. We wanted someone there as an advocate for us. We interviewed 3 doulas, Aubrey being one of them and it truly was a no brainer. From our very first meeting, Aubrey made us feel completely at ease. Her warmth, kindness, and incredible knowledge truly set her apart. Not to mention she has a great personality, that's important because you can potentially spend a really long time with this person during the birth . Aubrey was always available to answer our questions, no matter how small they seemed. She provided us with invaluable resources and information that empowered us to make informed decisions about our birth plan, we actually felt prepared. My wife's birth was a 4 day failed induction and Aubrey guided us the whole way through. Explaining all the procedures before it happened. On the 4th day we had to make a decision about a C-section and I think we would have been even more of a nervous wreck without her knowledge. She was always there to give us unbiased information so we can choose what we felt was best for us. We felt like we had a trusted friend our side. All this to say Looma is amazing, we also did the encapsulated placenta through them and since opening up their studio I am currently taking my daughter who is 1.5 years old now to their Spanish lullabies class with Xóchitl who is amazing! I'm looking forward to attending their Mama meetups and other classes they host.

The space is beautiful and welcoming! I am so excited to have this in our Long Beach community!read more

I think what surprised me the most about doing a coaching session with Mary is how quickly she gets…read moredown to business. I'm used to counseling sessions where you have to go for a few sessions before some help starts, and so it just feels exhausting to even get started with someone new. But Mary is Very intuitive. She got right to the heart of the matter, very quickly, and gave me some really practical advice. And that advice Actually Worked. I'm still in awe as she has no context on my life or my "spirited" kid. If you're having any challenges with your kids, I totally recommend setting up an initial session with Mary to see if you like her style. I'm really thankful for her advice

I started coaching with Mary at my wits end. Not knowing how to handle myself towards my children…read more I wasn't myself anymore and my children were very much aware of that. Fast forward to today and I am a calm mother. I have 3 children. My daughter going into her tween phase and there's a parenting style for that stage which I had no clue about. I also have two rowdy preschool boys. They love to climb, jump, build, destroy, wrestle. That is something I had to learn to be comfortable with as long as it wasn't dangerous and learn there are safe ways for boys to have their time in their way. Mary is amazing! She has guided and open up so much to me to be the parent I want to be.

This is a great place if you're interested in becoming a resource/foster parent. I took my PS-MAPP…read moreclasses here and also classes to renew my license. The people I've met during the classes were real friendly and helpful. They offer classes during the day, evenings, and weekends. The classes are usually very small. Please call ahead and let them know what class you'll be attending so that the class won't be cancelled for lack of enrollment.

I've attended Cassie's Baby Care 101 class, her CPR class, and I used her as my post partum doula…read morefor the first month of my twins' lives. First, her classes are awesome - straightforward and so informational. Cassie has a ton of experience and she shares her wealth of knowledge in such a clear and concise way. But more importantly, she was a voice of calm as she was our night doula 3x a week for the first month of my twins' lives. The first week, she came during the day just to help me get settled. I think a core memory for me will be waking up (4 days PP) after the longest nap of my life to Cassie serving me my lactation tea and reminding me to pump. For weeks 2-4, she came 3 nights a week and took care of all of the night feedings. Not only did she take AMAZING care of the babies, she was always there to support me and my husband. She had wonderful advice for everything from which probiotic to use, to which bottles work best for our babies. I truly cannot recommend Cassie enough. She helped us start our parenthood journey off strong. By the time she had to move on to her next client, my husband and I felt well equipped to take on every night on our own.

I can't say enough good things about Cassie!! My daughter arrived 6 weeks early and Cassie was…read moregreat at recommending swaddles and preemie diapers and all the things I needed for her to come home early. Although she couldn't be there our first night home, she made sure we had support from her Mom who also is a postpartum doula. She was able to help us until Cassie could start with us at our scheduled time. My daughter also had some tummy issues that we weren't sure about and Cassie recommended we bring in a diaper to get it tested with our pediatrician and she ended up being diagnosed with a dairy allergy. We would have never known to do that if it weren't for her. She is so sweet and makes you feel so comfortable as you navigate this next stage of life!

You give birth once and unfortunately I had a very bad experience with Lorraine. I would not…read morerecommend it to anyone. She definitely a good marketing person of herself and she did not keep that up during the birth for me. Please think twice before you hire her. I did hire her because she has experience but sometimes it's about the excitement. She is done. She is doing it just for money and she is not even doing it right.

I always thought I would try a natural birth but I really started to do alot of research once I…read morefound out I was pregnant. So many times my friends were going to go "natural" but in the end they would give into the almighty needle. So I did a ton of research and I came to the conclusion that I was going to educate myself as much as I could and that I would hire a doula. My husband was very skeptical... His entire family laughed when I said I was going to try a natural birth. Their exact words "Why would you ever choose that?!!" So I dragged my reluctant husband to our 6 week Hypnobabies course. By the 3rd week he was fully on the natural train! He told me "I really think you can do this!" The class was great and I really loved how we bonded with the other couples!! Lorraine was our doula also and it was a great experience. From our interview to when our sweet baby girl came Lorraine was at our disposal. She kept me calm and focused during my birthing time/labor and at the end I faced some complications... Lorraine gave me the lowdown on what was going on and let me know that it was crunch time! Looking back it really was the perfect pep talk... I pushed the baby out in 3 contractions!! And believe it or not I was up and walking around 30 mins later! My husband looked more jacked up than I did, lol. I had such a positive experience with Lorraine on top of a great birthing experience. I would do everything all over again in a heartbeat!

5/5 - Highly Recommend for First-Time Parents…read more My wife and I took a birthing class with Lia, and we are truly happy with the entire experience. As a first-time dad, this class taught me so much about how to stay prepared and how to be a strong advocate for mom while she's in labor. I went into this wanting to make sure I could actually help and not just be "dead weight," and this class delivered exactly that. I really appreciated how Lia explained that every birth is different, and showed us a variety of experiences from other couples. It helped me understand what to expect and how to support my wife through whatever direction our birth might take. I also loved that I had to actively participate--taking notes and learning alongside my wife really prepared me for the big day. We also enjoyed meeting other couples who are going through the same process. It made everything feel more real and more supported. When the time came and we arrived at the hospital, I genuinely felt prepared because of this class. As first-time parents, we absolutely recommend taking this class with Lia. It made a huge difference for both of us.

I'm an RN. I work in a hospital. I'm no stranger to the Labor & Delivery world. Even so, Lia's…read moreclass was amazingly helpful, not only to me, but also to my husband, who is definitely NOT in the medical field :) It is clear that she has so much L&D experience; she educates using scientific articles and her doula experience. Lia is entertaining too! Her bubbly, casual demeanor make classes fun. She provides education and her opinion without judging if you choose something different. I really appreciate that she promotes participation and camaraderie among the parents in the class. She responds quickly & thoughtfully to questions via email and text. I repeated her class for my second pregnancy. I've now successfully delivered 3 babies 'the Bradley way' and I could not be more grateful to Lia for helping me prepare for such unique, miraculous, athletic events! #dates

Shared Science is a nonprofit that supports Momentum Robotics Team. Momentum is a FRC robotics…read morecompetition team based at Sato Academy of Mathematics and Science.

This is our second year participating in a Shared Science afterschool program. The engineering with…read morelegos and robotics is challenging and fun for my children (ages 7 and 9). The program is well staffed with knowledgeable volunteers- the curriculum is creative and challenging.

Wanted to provide an additional update since it's been about 3 months. On October 27,2025 I…read morerequested a receipt for the "services" and Marisol agreed. Till this day I have not received any sort of receipt for the "services" provided. Adding to my feelings of being ignored, since she got what she wanted the payment of $2,800 dollars.

This review truly breaks my heart to write. When I get pregnant with my second child and I…read morecontacted Marisol right away to book her as my Doula. I was so excited to finally meet her in person and I signed the contract right away. I immediately sent over my deposit and I requested that she provide me with a receipt for the deposit . The fact that she was initially declining my request for a receipt because she wanted to wait until after the baby was born was probably the first sign that trouble was coming. I went back-and-forth with her and asked to get my receipt for the money that I had already paid so that I could use that receipt for a reimbursement with my flexible spending account. She still refused to give me the receipt so I reached out to my flexible spending company and asked them if I had to wait for the baby to be born in order to be reimbursed and they said no. Finally, Marisol agreed to give me a receipt for my deposit. I found this quite odd since people generally get a receipt when money exchanges hands. My husband and I meet with Marisol around 36 weeks to go over the birth plan. I tell her that my plan is to have her help me labor at home as much as possible since I wanted to reduce the likelihood of medical interventions. I also asked they she capture some photos for us. Marisol explained that we should not contact her right away if labor starts in the middle of the night, only call when ready. She kept stressing this point and even emailed me a document that says to only call when we are ready for her to come. A couple of weeks later I go into labor late one night. My labor progressed quickly and we called Marisol when we wanted her to come over, no answer. I then texted her. A short time later I told her we were headed to the hospital. Labor pains got so intense that I was not able to monitor my phone so my husband and Marisol were texting. Labor pains were so intense so I requested an epidural at the hospital. Once Marisol got this information , she assumed she had more time. I guess she didn't take into account that that epidural was not completed. Long story short, she didn't make her way to the hospital until after the kid was born. Per her contract, she had 90 minutes to get to me. My labor was quick but she had a 3 hour heads up. I was actually disappointed that she came to the hospital because now it feels like a random acquaintance just showed up for one of the biggest days of your life and now you have to entertain them. She stayed with us until we got transferred to our postpartum room. At this point, Marisol was not a part of my birth story at all and I was angry. A couple days later I immediately requested a partial refund. She denied my request saying she was "available." Instead she offered me one additional 3 hour postpartum visit. I didn't accept that and said we could discuss this matter when she did her postpartum visit. During the visit, Marisol said she could tell that I "felt some type of way" and she asked me to share my feelings. I told her I felt cheated, I'm out a lot of money and she didn't have to do anything. It was her choice to not come to me right away, I followed all of her instructions. Marisol then told me she was actually on her way to me but she needed time to shower, clean her doula supplies and pack her doula bag. Once she heard about the epidural, she returned home to pack snacks. This information infuriated me....she missed my birth for this?!?! This is an area where you don't get a do over. I would imagine that with the nature of this job you would always have your supplies clean and ready. She ended up offering me 12 postpartum hours. I told her that was not what I wanted since I didn't want to think of things for her to help me with. In plus, it's easy to get help during the day. I ended up requesting my money back and threatening legal action since she breached her own contract. In the end she agreed to return 1/2 of my money ($1400) and I was able to avoid legal action. (I didn't mind taking legal action, this was an open and shut case according to the guidance I received). I'd say she still came out ahead, $1400 for 2 short visits to my house and a short 45 minute visit to the hospital after my kid was born. I am beyond bummed about this experience. So yes, I still "feel some type of way!" I'm not sure how you could say you were available yet you missed the birth. And I still can't comprehend the rationale. I'm so confused.