We are beyond grateful for the team at FNAC and all the support and guidance they provided throughout the process of adopting our daughter on her birthday in 2024. This was our first time adopting, and they were with us every step of the way. They made sure all of our questions were answered. This is obviously a true passion for everyone at FNAC. We feel very fortunate we chose FNAC to help us grow our family. read more

After years of fertility issues and trying to conceive naturally my husband and I decided to adopt. We talked to multiple agencies and decided on a possible open adoption through ACSD. Sarah was very upfront and honest with us about the process, cost, timing, etc. which we both appreciated. After about two years, a lot of paperwork, and waiting for a match we finally were chosen for a beautiful baby boy. Sarah was there through the whole process, gave us guidance when interacting with the birth family, gave us recommendations for a reliable attorney, and we truly felt she had the best interest for birth mom, baby, and my husband & I. We now have the most wonderful baby boy, his birth family is a part of our lives, and will definitely work with ACSD if we decide to adopt again. Thank you ACSD! read more

Well long story short... our family is complete. Thankful for Sarah and the team for all the support throughout our adoption journey. We did a lot of homework and first time orientations throughout the US with other agencies. We are so very thankful and happy we chose ACSD. Love, care, support and most importantly creating a forever with our birthmom and miracle baby. read more

I can't say enough good things about ACSD. Our journey to become parents was difficult to say the least, but ACSD was truly the miracle we had been waiting for. Sarah Lanza helped us welcome our son into our family through a unique, "stork-drop" situation. Because our match happened so quickly, we needed a lot of guidance with immediate logistics, as well as that personal touch. Sarah was always available, patient, and responsive. I had a lot of questions at different steps along the way, and never hesitated to reach out to Sarah and her staff. Sarah has a way of making both adoptive parents and birth parents feel comfortable and supported. I appreciated the efforts that ACSD makes to provide the opportunity to get to know other adoptive couples and get support from them, too. I have made some lifelong friends and have seen many happy families formed. Adoption can be a difficult process, but ACSD went above and beyond to support us. If I could go back in time and tell my past-self anything, it would be to go straight to ACSD. read more

Family Network Adoption Center - Our little guy - Adoption Services Near Me - El Cajon, California

*I just want to point out that most likely any of the negative reviews are from the other Sarah who was the head director of ACSD before Sarah L. took over, 3 years ago. I will continue to update my review as I move forward in this process of open adoption with ACSD. I am a birth mom who is currently pregnant with my 3rd child. I remember I first found out I was pregnant around mid-April and it was never an option for me to keep this baby girl(as much as I would have loved to), so initially, when I found out, my decision was at about 90% do adoption/10% do abortion. I have lived out here in AZ since August(2020) of last year but I grew up in San Diego and moved from Temecula, so yes my heart was set on choosing an adoption agency in San Diego because I wanted my baby girl to be able to live/grow up in San Diego, just like I did. So I started looking up adoption agencies in S.D. and I came across this agency. I remember it was a weekday evening, around 6 PM, I put in my information and 20 minutes later I received a call from the head director, Sarah L. I had spoken to 2 other adoption agencies(National one & local AZ agency) after I spoke with Sarah and I was comparing those interactions with my interaction with Sarah/ACSD and what I got from those 2 were they felt too rushy, it did not feel personal and I just spoke to an administrative lady. With Sarah, I understand it's a small private adoption agency but it definitely spoke volumes to me when you're speaking to the head director, she and I were on the phone for at least 60-90 minutes during our first interaction and it felt very personal, she got to know me, ask how I was doing, she was interested in my story and answered all my questions and concerns and was very honest and respectful towards me, which I appreciated very much. I was only around 4-5 weeks into my pregnancy, I tested positive 5 days BEFORE my period. Sarah had informed me that I could not match with a couple till 20 weeks (I matched 19 weeks), she continued to keep in touch with me every 3-4 weeks to see how I was doing and would ask now and then if this is something I still wanted to do. Sarah is not only an advocate for birth moms but she is an advocate for couples looking to adopt. As I spoke to her each time, we BOTH got to know each other, I enjoyed every time I spoke with her on the phone and was so fascinated to learn about what SHE does as the H.D. of this agency, and through that is how I learned this is more than just a job to her, it's her PASSION. She is good at what she does, & you will soon see that with each interaction you have with her. When it finally came time to match, I drove down to San Diego from Chandler, AZ and I stayed at a maternity home(Lamb of God) in Escondido, I almost chose to stay at a hotel and Sarah did compensate for my gas there and back and would have compensated for one-night hotel stay but I wanted to stay longer and explore my beautiful city while I was down there. I'm glad I chose the other route, I was able to stay longer, was provided food and a beautifully decorated bedroom where I slept and looked over couple profiles for 3 days. What I really like is how Sarah is cautious about giving her opinion when it came time to ask what sort of couple I am looking for, she wanted to make sure I made the decision without throwing in any of her opinions. I kept a pretty open mind, there was no particular race of couple I was looking for just that I wanted couple's who had been waiting the longest with her program and had no kids at all, as there were some couple's who had kids already, that was basically my approach. She put it in stacks of 2019, 2020 & 2021 couples for me. I never really looked through the stack of 2021 couples but that all changed when my mom suggested if there were any hispanic couples(I'm mexican), because I love my mom and I value her opinion, I looked for her and there were really only 2 hispanic couples in the 2021 stack. I was originally set on a 2020 couple that I really liked...till I started reading one of those couple profiles that was hispanic and caucasian(again, i'm hispanic & the birth father is caucasian) and much to my surprise I actually found myself really interested in their profile and reading over it. I ended up going with the hispanic/caucasian couple profile, it FELT right, I go a lot by how I FEEL. I really got to know the couple I matched with, they made every effort on their part to get to know me and since I'm in AZ and they're in SD, I was able to meet them the day I chose them, Sarah delivered the good news and Sarah was so sweet to stay behind after work around 5:30-6 and have me meet them at ACSD location before I left for AZ next day. I am so happy with the decision on made in going with ACSD! Thank you Sarah for EVERYTHING!! read more

I do not have enough words of praise for the Adoption Center of San Diego. This is not just a job for Sarah Lanza and her team, it is their mission. Long story short: They are amazingly helpful, loving, and give great guidance through your journey. From our first day we have felt welcome and cared for. They helped find us the perfect birthparents. Our baby boy is such a gift. We received support, guidance, and counseling to help us navigate our journey. We participated in monthly support groups, holiday parties (pre Covid), and felt the love that ACSD gives every day. They helped guide us to good lawyers, doctors, and helped prepare us for the County's home inspection and other bureaucracy that we did not know about before working with ACSD. Thank you so much for all of your help ACSD! read more

For anyone that has had the opportunity to work with Sarah and her staff, they will know the amount of time, support, coaching, education, and love that goes into the adoption process. My family and I have had the amazing pleasure of working with the Adoption Center of San Diego and can't say enough great things about this organization, and the process we went through to be blessed with our son. Sarah spent a lot of time with us, educating us about what "open adoption" means, and how as a family, we can embrace this beautiful gift. The monthly support groups not only for the adoptive parents, but also for the birth mothers shows the type of dedication and love Sarah has for her job. I could never imagine anyone giving her or her organization a bad rating because if they really worked with her and embraced the process, they wouldn't have anything but wonderful things to say. Adoption is difficult. It's emotional, sad, often times happy, and sometimes frustrating. But Sarah, and her staff helped us get through all of these emotions. She helped us at every step of the process from assisting with the "Dear Birthmother letter," to guiding us through the legal process, to helping us with our tax credits, to providing education sessions on how to speak to our child about adoption, to hosting large parties two times a year for all the adoptive and birth families. The list goes on and on and I am so thankful and blessed to have experienced adoption the way Sarah has showed us. Thank you Sarah and Adoption Center staff or making this a process that will forever be in our hearts. Your devotion, dedication, and love for all of us shows through in all the good deeds you do to bind families together. Thank you for making our dreams come true. read more

Family Network Adoption Center - The gift of life through adoption - Adoption Services Near Me - El Cajon, California

not sure what to rate, I and my husband do want to have a happy story like other couple here. reply from sarah was " We don't take Gay couples as it take forever for the couple to adopt". on further asking if they have ever worked with gay couples they have not worked with any gay couple so not sure how is she getting her statistic from. On other hand if you see the adoption stats there is no difference in adoption time between straight vs gay couples. read more

Hard time deciding between two or three stars Adoption Center of San Diego. Sarah Jensen is the director and I believe her heart is in the right place. She doesn't work with too many couples at one time, so the typical wait time is only 12 months--pretty awesome for a domestic newborn adoption. But... neither my husband or I got the warm fuzzies from her. We felt she was a bit short with us, a bit harsh. I had a lengthy list of questions and when they weren't answered in the orientation, I let her know that I'd be emailing/calling within the next couple days. I emailed the list to her and she called to discuss them. I wasn't home so she left a message with my husband. She was very insistent with him and later with me that she had covered all my questions in the orientation. Ummm... not to my satisfaction she hadn't. She apologized that she hadn't answered them fully, but honestly? She was rude about it. It certainly didn't feel like a heartfelt apology. Before she accepts you as a client, you have to go to a 3-hour orientation. (BTW, it costs $100.) Afterward, you can fill out a form telling her a few details about you, your spouse, your marriage and what you are looking for in adoption. Once she reads that, she'll let you know if she's willing to work with you. My husband and I got a big, fat refusal. I can respect that. She has 20 years of experience and knows who she can best help. But here's what upset me... First of all, when I didn't hear back from her within couple days after faxing in the form, I emailed her. She emailed me back to tell me she didn't want to work with us. I think a phone call would have been much more professional. I responded to the email, asking why and could she please refer us to other agencies. (In the orientation, she said that if she couldn't help a couple, she'd give them other suggestions.) She did not reply back. Not only is that unprofessional, but it's rude. If you're looking to adopt, I definitely recommend that you go to the Adoption Center's orientation. It might be the right agency for you. But I wanted to share my 2 cents... read more

My Wife and I attended one of the orientations and were quite excited about the possibility of adopting a baby. We then paid $250 to have a one on one meeting with her. I don't know what happened during that meeting, but she refused to answer our calls and emails for weeks afterwards. Finally, 6-8 weeks later she finally told my Wife that we didn't "qualify" to be adoptive parents. She was unwilling to give a further explanation. My Wife and I have been through several miscarriages....but I honestly think that having someone tell you that "you aren't good enough to be parents" hurt even more than the miscarriages. My Wife was so hurt, she wouldn't even discuss having children for well over a year after this happened. She was utterly devastated. A quick response, and an explanation of WHY we didn't qualify would go a long way. But it seems like if she doesn't like you, she just ignores you and hopes that you go away. Oh, and the $250 was supposed to include the one on one consultation and a few other things that followed. Since we were rejected, my Wife asked for a partial refund. We were denied that as well. read more

There is absolutely no better place for open adoption than Adoption Center Of SD. Sarah Jensen is absolutely incredible and our experience has been a blessing every step of the way. Sarah is a miracle worker and is used by God to bring children into their forever homes. She is also a strong advocate for the brave birth moms who make the selfless choice of placing their little ones for open adoption. We now have our daughter in our home thanks to Sarah and have a wonderful relationship with her birth mom. We are forever grateful to Adoption Center of SD for our little blessing and greatest gift. read more

If you thinking about adopting, i would encourage you to scroll down and look at the reviews that get filtered out. Yelp uses an automated filtering system that it claims to keep our fake reviews. They admit this is an imperfect system: http://tw2.ls.bf1.yahoo.com/news-call-kurtis-why-did-yelp-filter-review.html?woeid=2398401&lat=38.40902&lon=-121.365624&statecode=CA&cityname=Elk%20Grove As a long time yelper (been doing this several years) I am not a fan of this filtering system. Not only do you have to scroll down and click on the filtered reviews but then you have to type in one of those "CAPTCHA" codes to see the page--it says it's too make sure you are real but why do they care if robots can see these filtered out reviews? It makes no sense. ANYWAYS, most of the filtered reviews for the Adoption Center are good ones and they are from real people. The problem is, the auto filter tends to filter out people who only write one review or who don't have a lot of "YELP friends". So I encourage people to check out other sites as well to get a balanced view, in particular you should check out their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/49835098638/ None of this is to discount the negative reviews or your own good judgment. I have not discussed those negative ones nor am I trying to mediate that process; as an adoptive parent myself I just want you to make an informed decision and get the full picture of the great work Sarah does. FULL DISCLOSURE: Sarah, the director is my mother in law. I haven't, however, run this by her nor do I pretend to speak for her. All opinions and information below are completely my own. My darling wife and I started the adoption process with the Adoption Center after suffering through two miscarriages the previous year. Macee, the beautiful baby girl that we ended up adopting didn't actually come from any of Sarah's birth moms (we ended up connecting with her through a different serendipitous series of events through Sarah's adoption community connections but that's a whole other story:) but we went through the beginning process with Sarah and had a great experience. We went through the orientation and application process and Sarah was up front with the other prospective adoptive parents as to our relationship with her. THE PROCESS: The Adoption Center does OPEN ADOPTIONS. Basically, this means that the adoptive parents and birthmoms maintain some level of communication and periodic meetings/hangouts. Beyond that, open adoptions are really about an attitude of appreciation for the birthmoms' sacrifice and love and a DECISION to incorporate the birthmom into the lives of their son or daughter. Open adoptions aren't for everyone, just as adoptions aren't for everyone. If open adoptions aren't your thing, there are agencies that do closed adoptions but these (as I understand) are getting more rare. The way Sarah does the matching: it's up to the birth moms. Adoptive parents write a letter introducing themselves to a birthmom (includes a pic or two). The birthmom gets a stack of letters/applications from the prospective parents and picks a potential adoptive couple that way. From this point, they usually speak on the phone or meet and from there the process continues. Thus we made sure we were not given any unfair advantage. The birthmoms were not informed of our familial relationship with Sarah so they could chose impartially (even though we didn't end up getting matched). ADDITIONALLY My wife grew up attending the great events that Sarah puts on for adoptive families and birthmoms. She usually does two events/picnics a year I believe. These are events where the birthmoms and past adoptive parents get together in celebration and appreciation. It's pretty cool to see kids that are now in college hanging out with both their parents and birthmoms. What is clear is that Sarah has a deep love for adoptive parents and birthmom--this is evidenced by the hundreds of families she has helped during a LIFETIME dedicated to the adoption process. read more

So we have been working with Sarah and her team for about 10months now...and our experience has been amazing so far! When you meet her you get a since that her heart is in the right place and as you get to know her it confirms that her heart is in the right place. And this is why I had to write something. One of the main reason's why we choose to wk with Sarah is because of her caring reputation!!! To me, her genuine love and care for everyone involved is vivid... birthmother's, birth family, babies and adoptive parents. Her reputation for caring is true to our experience :) I love examples, so I'll give you a few and you can make your own judgment: 1) As soon as we started working with Sarah, she gave us a sticker that I put on my car. One of my neighbors saw the sticker and said "Hey, how is Sarah?"(at the time i had only meet her once she lives several houses down from me, but Grace plays with my next door neighbor). I had just pulled out of my garage so I asked, you know Sarah? She said "that's how we got Grace" (her 12years old daughter). So next time I saw Sarah I shared with her what had happened, and to my total surprise she remembered Grace, her adoptive mother by name and her story. 12years later over hundreds of babies. 2) We have had the privileged to meet several Birthmothers and even Birth families over the pass 10 months... At her Workshops, Adoption Picnic in Coronado and Walk for life at balboa park. You can see they have a special bond. These birthmothers spoke very highly of her and was glad they had Sarah to help them through their adoption journey. All the birthmothers I meet had already placed their babies for adoption. 3) Sarah has called to check on us... texted me to see how we were doing after we missed a couple of support groups (we always go so that was random for us)... held my hand and cried with me throughout this journey. I did not know Sarah or her team before this process!!! I'm not going to lie the Adoption journey is not an easy journey, and I for one feel like those birthmothers I spoke with, I'm so glad we have Sarah to help :) . read more

If you are pregnant and know that this is not the right time for a baby, PLEASE call The Adoption Center of San Diego and talk to Sarah before making any decisions. 20 years ago (yes she has been doing this that long) I got out of a very bad relationship. Two weeks after relocating to San Diego, I found out I was pregnant. I was a single mom with two kids and struggling to make ends meet. I made an appointment to have an abortion. I thank God every day that I was not able to go through with it. This may be the right option for some, but definitely not for me. I started weighing my options and made an appointment to meet with Sarah. It was one of the best decisions of my life. She was kind, understanding and knowledgeable about all the options I had. I left her office with a stack of potential adoptive parents for my unborn child. I looked over them, many times. I was always drawn to the same couple. I contacted Sarah and she explained the next steps to me. I met with the couple and the rest is history! My daughter turned 20 in February. Thanks to Sarah and our open adoption, I have been able to be a part of my childs life. I was there for her 1st birthday, Christmases, baseball games, my wedding, and her graduation from high school Thank you Sarah for your love, support and guidance over the past 20 years!!! read more

After extensive research we signed up with ACSD in October of 2018. We were lucky enough to work with both Sarah's on our adoption which was a pleasure as both Directors were great. They offer monthly support classes amongst always being there for any questions or concerns. I never once felt like I was in the dark or just a number, they were always very helpful through an emotional process. In July of 2019 we were matched with a birth mom. Sarah Lanza was there every step of the way up until birth and even after! I would highly recommend this agency to anyone looking for a way to become a family. They highly encourage open adoptions which is great for all persons involved. My only regret was taking so long to start the process. Being a mother and having a family has been the biggest blessing ever! Tha read more

This review is long overdue. My husband and I adopted our beautiful daughter from Sarah Jensen 3 1/2 years ago. Our journey was difficult and emotional, like most adoptive parents. The reason we chose ACSD is because Sarah is genuinely an advocate for birth moms. Having had a personal experience with adoption when I was a kid, this was critically important to me. I wanted to make sure my daughter's birth mom was safe and taken care of In EVERY WAY possible. Adoption is both a blessing and a painful experience. If anyone is considering adoption or finding adoptive parents for your child, I cannot recommend a better place. This is a truly sacred place for me and my husband. You will not be a number nor will you or your child be treated as just another transaction. There is support for both adoptive and birth parents. The group we started with are still friends and are such a blessing to my family. It's critical for my daughter to have a network of friends that have similar stories to hers. We love having friends to meet with and fostering life-long relationships between our daughter and other adoptive children. Whatever the reason you're reading this, I pray you find peace in your journey. read more

We adopted the most wonderful baby girl with the help of ACSD in September and we are so eternally grateful to Sarah Lanza and the staff at ACSD. The adoption process can be so daunting and overwhelming, and after several years of unsuccessful fertility treatments we didn't know where to start. Thank goodness a friend referred us to ACSD, where there was SO much hand holding and personal help and attention. Because they only work with a small number of adoptive couples you really get to know them, and vice versa. We started working with ACSD right after Sarah Lanza took over for Sarah Jensen and you would have never guessed that Sarah Lanza was new in her position - she was wonderful, and has continued to be supportive and a wonderful resource even after the adoption was finalized. Sarah was also so incredible with our daughter's birth mother and has remained an amazing support for her, which we are so grateful for. read more

In May of 2015 I went into labor with my heart set on adoption, my daughter's father was in agreement. After picking a couple my daughter's father changed his mind and we decided to keep our child and parent. When we made that choice (which we were in the legal area to do so) I called Sarah and told her. She was NOT happy, I told her I had spoken with my family and had more support than I originally thought I had. Bottom line I was keeping my child and to cancel the adoption. She was pure evil with me and made me break down in tears, bringing up my past struggles with drugs, depression etc. She threw my past and my struggles in my face all at an attempt to shame me into going through with the adoption. She also said awful things about my mother and father of my child. At one point she shamed me for having depression so bad I had trouble in the past holding down a job, she called me selfish and lazy. Finally I told her flat out I'm done with the adoption process she made me call the adoptive parents and tell them I'd changed my mind, it was heartbreaking to let them down but ultimately I wanted to parent my child. I found her making me call the parents VERY unprofessional and down right wrong, I filed a complain with my social worker and the city of San Diego. Sarah makes a lot of money from adoptions and her goal when speaking to me was to shame me into continuing the adoption, she even called the adoptive parents and told them to go to the hospital. They showed up at the NICU demanding I come to the parking lot to talk and sent me threatening texts to the point I blocked Sarah and the prospective adopting parents from my phone. AVOID THIS PLACE, don't share any of your flaws because if you do Sarah will turn on a dime. Truly awful experience from someone who claims to be a professional. My daughter is 3 months now and I don't regret parenting I only regret trusting Sarah Jensen. read more

Family Network Adoption Center - Glad i chose to parent my Violet Grace, avoid this adoption center like the plague!!! - Adoption Services Near Me - El Cajon, California

As stated by others, read the filtered reviews. Many negative reviews are written by people with whom Sarah chose not to work, so you have to read their angry comments with that in mind. Sarah only works with about 20 couples at a time so that people aren't waiting for years to adopt, so she is of course discerning and chooses to work with people she believes (based on 20+ years of experience) are going to be successful in the process. One factor is that your feelings about open adoption and your fertility; if you are not emotionally embracing adoption or have not confronted your fertility issues (if applicable), then you may not be a good candidate for open adoption. That's a blunt truth that you should know before going into this experience. Each adoption is so different and personal that I am going to stick with the basics of our experience with the ACSD: -We waited 3 1/2 months from the time we put in our application/final paperwork till we were chosen and our daughter was born. -It took us about 3-4 months to do all of the paperwork, write our "dear birthmother" letter, and have our pre-adoption meetings with Sarah. We do not include this in our waiting time, as you can move as slow or as fast as you want, and until all this paperwork is done, you're not in the "waiting pool." -The average wait through ACSD is approximately 9 months. We have met a few people who have waited 2 years and a few who have waited 1-3 months. Most of our friends through the center waited about 6-9 months before being chosen and/or having their baby born. -Our daughter was born completely healthy and not exposed to drugs or alcohol. Reviews stating that Sarah told couples that all the babies have been exposed seem totally false in my experience. Sarah told us that birth moms are usually very honest if there is drug/alcohol exposure, and that seems to be true from what we've witnessed. Of all the babies we've met over the last two years, very few have had these types of exposures. Just because a woman inadvertently gets pregnant does not mean she's a drug addict. -My advice is to be honest with yourselves about what you are wiling to take on, and be ready for anything to be thrown at you. -We had 5 days to prepare before our daughter was born. Like I said, be ready for anything. -Because adoption was our first choice for starting our family, we skipped the counseling portion of Sarah's services; if you are struggling with your fertility, there is counseling offered. During this time, Sarah might tell you that you don't seem ready to adopt. -You do have to pay for the orientation and counseling meetings before being accepted. This does feel like nickel-and-diming. But all your $ goes to helping counsel birth parents, so keep that in mind. -We do feel that Sarah and her team can be more empathetic towards the birth mom/birth family rather than the adoptive parents. And you know what? We're OK with that. As difficult and emotional as this process was for us, it was 10x more so for our daughter's birth mom. You have to understand that and put yourselves in the birth parents' shoes to really have a successful and healthy relationship with the birth family. -During our short wait, we were matched with another couple who were looking to place their 9-month-old son with us. Without going into too much personal detail, this match fell through twice and was a pretty awful experience for us. I just want to be honest here. It was horrible. During this time, we did not feel supported by ACSD because they do not typically do "older child" (non-newborn) adoptions and kind of left us to our own devices for the transition. Because of what happened with us, they have since changed their policies regarding non-newborn adoptions. However, I would personally recommend newborn-only adoptions through this particular agency, based on what we went through. -I would still give ACSD 5 stars, though, because we did feel much more supported during the adoption of our daughter, just 4 weeks after our failed match. Sarah was loving and helpful to both us and to our daughter's birth mom. She visited at the hospital and helped our daughter's birth mom through the group counseling she offers. In the end, we ended up being able to parent a beautiful, healthy, smart little girl, which was only made possible by Sarah and her organization. -Once you're part of the ACSD family, it is wonderful to attend the holiday parties and summer picnics. It's a nice way to catch up with other adoptive families and birth families and to foster an excitement about adoption for your children. It shows how much Sarah cares about her families, too-- both adoptive and birth. So there are some tips that I hope are helpful to you before beginning this process and/or choosing ACSD! read more

Beware...if you are over the age of 45, Adoption Center of San Diego is not for you!!!!! We paid $75 to attend an orientation in the Fall of '09. We spoke to Sarah Jensen, the director and asked if my age (I'm 49, my husband is 39) would be an issue. She said she'd review our paperwork and get back to us. It never happened. Never heard a word. Fast forward, to April of 2010, a friend, who had worked with Sarah sucessfully, encouraged me to call her. "Make her tell you that she won't work with you" he said. I placed a phone call and never heard back from her. Only this week, after sending her a polite but unhappy email do I hear from her. I got what felt like a nonsense explanation for why we hadn't heard from her, and then a hem and haw explanation that they are choosing the couples they work with more carefully since they are overwhelmed with families wanting to adopt. Said that it was heartbreaking, for her, to watch couples not get matched, who were over 45. Basically- she doesn't want to bother with couples over 45. She never would come right out and say she wouldn't work with us...but she sure did a dance around answering my direct question about it. Bottom line, she can choose whoever she wants to work with, but she should be upfront about, and not take $75 and then blow you off. Oh, and if you happend to call and ask her about my review, she also said the short timewe've been married was a factor- yeah- well we've been married for nearly 4 years, and together for 11 years!!! Not a short term relationship. Good luck adoptive parents. It's a tough road out there... read more

I placed my son through Sarah. She was amazing! She encouraged me, educated me, and was always there for me. I placed my son 16 years ago, and I'm still involved with him and his family. I would reccomend Sarah to anyone who asks! In fact I'm recommending her now! read more

First I would like to say that I am shocked by the negative feedback and overall reviews that Sarah at ACSD has received on yelp. I originally came on yelp a year and a half ago to read about ACSD and there were many more positive reviews with beautiful stories. After reading these peoples opinions I decided it was appropriate to share my experience. My husband and I are unable to have children so we looked into adoption. After many hours spent researching we came across ACSD. I was skeptical due to the cost but we decided to go to the orientation. We paid our $100.00 fee and were able to make an orientation the following month. We found the orientation to be useful, it cemented a lot of information we had already found through research and informed us of new information that we had not found answers to. After the orientation my husband and I sat down and wrote out questions we still had and saved those for when we met Sarah in person. The day we met Sarah one on one: Sarah is not the most warm and fuzzy person I have ever met, but to be honest with you I was ok with that. I personally was not looking for someone to coddle and hold my hand. I had questions, I wanted answers and we wanted to be parents. Sarah is honest in all aspects. She is in the business of helping the birth-moms make a decision that is right for everyone involved. She is NOT in the business of forcing young and scared women to give their child away. This may not be what everyone is looking for in an adoption center but I personally do not ever want to feel my birth-mom was forced to do anything. In response to the comments that Sarah is in the Birth-moms corner if they change their mind! OF COURSE SHE IS! How would you like it if you were making the biggest decision of your life and someone wasn't there to support you regardless of your decision? There is a risk in adoption!!! That risk is that the Birth-mother will decide to parent HER own child. Adoption is a gift that an amazing, courageous, selfless mother/father gives to adoptive parents. Adoption is not a business agreement where you pay money and receive a child. Adoption is messy and painful and a life long bond with the Birth-mother and possibly father of a child that you get to parent. Our son: My husband and I were blessed with our son last year. We were matched with our birth-mom in november and were holding our amazing son a short week later. Nothing in life is perfect and Sarah can not give you a perfect happy ending. But Sarah can give you the opportunity to be apart of the most amazing journey I have ever taken. We are thankful for all who played a part in our journey and hope that others can experience the joy we experience each and every day. Working with ACSD: Sarah screens her clients to make sure ACSDis the right fit for open adoption. I am sorry if there are people out there who were not a right fit. For those that are angry, would you prefer that she have taken your money and had you wait year after year not getting chosen? The cost: Adoption is not cheap. There are fees to many different places. These fees include fees to ACSD so that they can do what they do. Lawyer fees to keep everything legally safe for all parties, fees to the state of California for a home visit to certify that you are a fit parent, there are miscellaneous fees for notaries and of course fees to assist the birth-mother with everything from cost of living, to transportation, to clothing. Adoption is an emotional, trying journey that hopefully ends with a beautiful baby in your arms who will be your own. I hope that people who read the negative reviews take the negative words with a grain of salt and do further research into the ACSD and make their own educated decision and find a path that is right for them and their adoption needs. I wish all who read this health and happiness because if you are reading this you are hoping to be a parent and you are holding a place in your heart for a special child. read more

Everyone! Adoption is BIG business in San Diego. The practice of "Open Adoption" in San Diego, Ca./U.S must Change. It is common knowledge that "open adoption" in the United States is full of problems that stem from lies, deceit, coercion, trickery and ultimately the loss of someone's child. I should know, in happened to me in 2003. The promise that the "birthmother" will be able to "always" see and know (or have a full relationship) with her baby is given- not only adoptive parents, but by the social workers, agencies like this one and even CPS as well. San Diego is the WORST. When the signature has been obtained from the mother- more often than not- the adoptive parents simply disappear with her child. And this is the point where the mother (who has now been reduced down to what they call a "birthmother"), finds out that there is no real legal recourse once the adoptive parents bail out on that promise. Once the papers are signed, no one cares at the Court "why" you signed (or what you were promised) - only "that" you signed. And even though you were tricked- you cannot renege out of the adoption, the way that the adoptive parents have reneged out of their promise to you. This is WRONG- and it must stop. Promising a mother full contact with her baby (as if she has nothing to lose by signing adoption papers) is trickery and it is a LIE. I wish to change the law by adding an insert that says "STOP and READ." This insert into the "relinquishment" paperwork with be the FIRST page a "birthmother" sees and it will state that "promises of contact after adoptions were not made to me" and IF they were- DO NOT SIGN. The advice will be given that a "Stipulation for adoption agreement needs to be signed through a lawyer." And- that "Post Adoption Contract Agreements" are NOT enforceable in most states. Get a Stipulation through a Lawyer. "But understand these are VERY hard to enforce in the Court system." In addition, many resources need to be listed for the birthmother. This way, the birthmother can read it and see there is an issue if everyone around her is lying to her (which they usually are in open adoptions). Maybe she will talk to an attorney. Maybe- she can get the help she needs and avoid having her child taken as many of our have been. Please, stop letting these agencies steal your baby from you. Vicki Lorraine Noel, San Diego, Ca. read more

Don't even waste your time with Sarah Jensen. She is very unprofessional. We had a absolutely horrible experience. It is very sad how she runs her adoption center. Be warned. Stay away from this awful place. read more

We were extremely happy with how this agency worked with us. I would and have recommended it to others. They are professional, compassionate, communicative and above all, well connected. Even after adopting our child three years ago, we are still in contact with Sara (the gal in charge). She does such an amazing job keeping us in the loop by having numerous functions throughout the year for us and the birth-families to attend. They offer a great support group for "parents to be" and pregnant moms. I have nothing but great things to say about the Adoption Center of San Diego. I wish I could share my email address to answer any ones questions or concerns they may have about this process.... but with that being said, Sara could do the same and get you started in the "right direction". I highly recommend using this agency if you are interested in Adoption. What a great way to start the Adoption process :) read more

My name is Sierra. I found out I was pregnant and my boyfriend and I were horrified because we were both only fifteen, and definitely could not raise a child. He pushed abortion onto me, because if our parents found it would change our lives. He did not want that, and neither did I. But I am very against abortion. Taking a child's life away just is not right. While he lingered on that idea, I thought about keeping the child. But it would be very hard to do so considering I had no job and my mother was having a child too. I could not place the burden of having to pay for my child on my parents shoulders. They were having money problems and still are. Along with a newborn now in the house. I wanted my child to have a great life, with a mother and a father. Considering my boyfriend at the time wanted nothing to do with the child, therefore he would not be a father. At least not a good one. I also wanted my child to have a life filled with things I could not give him. Such as clothing, toys, crib, etc. At about 5 or 6 months along the way his mother found out. I then had to let my dad be aware of my pregnancy. It was after this that I found out about open adoption. We found an AMAZING family for our child. They are the best thing I could ever wish for him. Tobie Mathew was born September 4th, and joined his new family. And with that I gained a whole other family too. This is a great experience. And I would not have had it any other way. Sarah helped me out so much through-out this. She offered me support when I needed it, and she trully cares. She helped me make the right choices when I needed a guide. Something I lacked through-out the whole situation, she helped me get. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her. I think I would have felt lost. She took me through each step at the pace I needed. I feel connected to a whole variety of new people. I think the service she offers trully is a gift, and I'm glad she helped me find it. read more

After coming across these reviews for ACSD, I felt compelled to write my own review. While living in California, we adopted our first child through Sarah Jensen. We had a wonderful experience in every aspect of this process. We found her to be very professional and well organized, considering all the aspects she has to deal with in this type of situation. Several years later, we relocated to another state. When we decided to adopt another baby, we became quickly disappointed at the options/process in our current state. So, we immediately made the choice to go through ACSD again. Once again we had a great experience. We have also had friends adopt through ACSD, with great success. I commend her for her strict orientation process. After all, this is ALL about the future of these sweet children. I would highly recommend Sarah Jensen and ACSD. read more

We had a great experience adopting our two children through Sarah, and have recommended her to others, who have also started their families through Sarah. Her twice-annual events for adoptive families and birth families help us to keep in touch with other families who have adopted, and give our children friends they can relate to. ACSD is a wonderful organization. read more

From the moment we knew we were going through ACSD to become parents, it was like joining a community. Sarah is a natural at making all parties involved feel supported and welcomed. That support has continued through to the present day as we look forward to the annual summer gathering. Sarah is dedicated to being an advocate for birthmothers and bringing adoptive families and birth families together. I wouldn't have chosen any other adoption route!!! read more

I first learned about ACSD when I was about 7 months pregnant and not in a ideal situation to raise a child. I was nervous about meeting with the director, Sarah, initially because I had no idea what to expect. From the moment Sarah met with me to discuss my situation, she mirrored the values and ethics ACSD offers with sincerity and love.. In retrospect, there was nothing about my experience with Sara and ACSD that I would change. Everything from the timely communication and support groups helped validated the life changing decision I made for my son. I speak highly of this organization anytime my decision to do adoption is discussed. The experience with ACSD was overall amazing, loving, supportive, flexible, basically perfect. I'd recommend the agency to anyone considering adoption as a birth parent or a means to have children. From the bottom of my heart, thank you :) read more

I would give Sarah no stars if I could. She said downright hurtful and mean things to prospective parents such as "you are crazy if you think you are going to adopt a child untouched by drugs" and "why shouldn't the birthmother ask for money, IT'S HER BABY". I saw some pictures of the babies up for adoption. One of them looked mentally retarded. Most of the birth mothers looked like trailer trash. Sarah deals with some unsavory birth parents - you are better off finding an adoption agency owner who didn't keep her own unplanned pregnancy as Sarah did. What does she know about the pain infertile couples go through? She clearly sympathizes with her trailer trash clients and when your birthmother changes her mind at the 11th hour, believe me, Sarah is NOT going to be in YOUR corner. If adoption is too difficult consider embryo adoption and/or surrogacy. Genetic parents have never tried to claim the baby born of an embryo adoption. read more

I contacted ACSD to schedule an orientation after completing the online form with information about my husband and I (including our ages), and adoption goals. Today, a staff person called to let me know that our ages (45 and 50) and race would make it extremely difficult for us to be matched with a child. She did not recommend that we attend an orientation. I said "Why is race an issue? We are open to all races." Then, there was an awkward silence. There's a kinder, more professional way to approach the problem of having more adoptive parents that birth parents. They should be honest. Tell adoptive parents how long it would take to get placed, then ask if they are still interested. They could also let people know that the cost of their placement services depends on the amount of time that it takes to match them with a child. The saving grace is that we did not spend $100 to attend an orientation, then get dumped by ACSD because we're not the right age or color. read more

We have been working Sarah and her team since November of 2015, when we first started investigating adoption options. I cannot begin to express how incredibly impressed we were with this organization from the moment we met with many questions about adoption to the moment we met our new son. We were flooded with a tremendous sense of peace. We knew this was exactly who we should work with! ACSD were incredibly professional through every step of this life changing process. We are older--mid 40's with a biological son, so worried the odds were stacked against us. However, Sarah and Lacey were extremely realistic, yet encouraging. Fast forward to March 2017 ... our precious son was born and our lives were changed forever. I have so many great things I could share about this organization, but I'd say what spoke volumes for me was how authentic and deeply caring she was with our birth mom. We have regular interface with our birth mom and I know she feels very loved and cared for by Sarah, long after adoption rights were signed over to us. We would highly recommend ACSD/Sarah and team, without any reservation! read more

We have recently been blessed with our beautiful newborn son, thanks to Sarah Jensen and the Adoption Center of San Diego. We did extensive research on which avenue we were going to take to pursue adoption, and after interviewing with and attending orientations with several agencies and facilitators, I stumbled upon the ACSD website. From the first phone call speaking with Sarah's assistant, Lacey, we felt convicted that we were on the right path. And after attending Sarah's orientation, we knew that finally becoming parents was a matter of "when" and no longer an "if". Well, the "when" came much sooner than we anticipated. We were matched with a wonderful set of birthparents four weeks after getting all of our paperwork in, and our son was born less than two months after that. Since the match meeting, I witnessed Sarah's clear expertise in the world of open adoption, and she showed whole hearted compassion and care to the birthparents and to me and my husband. Sarah lives and breathes open adoption, and it is very obvious that her heart is completely into it. We will forever be grateful to Sarah and ACSD for helping our dream of becoming parents come true. read more