If you choose adoption, you’re eligible to receive financial support throughout your pregnancy. Explore the covered birth mother expenses by state here.
Continue readingBirth Mother Expenses Covered By Each State
Interview with Kathleen LaValle, President & CEO of CASA Dallas
1. As a President & CEO working in child advocacy, how would you describe your role in advancing safer, more stable futures for children and families?
As the CEO of Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), my role is to advance the agency’s mission of protecting children, restoring childhood, and helping victims of child abuse and neglect reach their full potential. Working with an extraordinary board of directors and an exceptional, long-tenured staff, I help provide the strategic and operational support Dallas CASA needs to continue accepting 100% of court appointments to advocate for children in Dallas County child welfare cases.
2. What path led you from a legal career in commercial litigation and regulatory disputes to leadership in child advocacy and the CASA community?
I joined the Dallas CASA board in 2002 and chaired the board in 2006. I was drawn to a model that so effectively combines public (state agency and local courts), private (Dallas CASA), and personal (each volunteer child advocate) commitments. The idea that each child has a court-appointed advocate dedicated to their best interests is compelling, especially when you bring it down to the child-level experience of anticipating a Dallas CASA volunteer’s visit and feeling less alone and forgotten because of that connection.
I enjoyed three decades of practicing law, but this Act III in my career has been amazing. A fellow board member reached out when I applied to become the CEO in 2014, suggesting I had fallen and hit my head and wondering what I was going to do when I came back to consciousness and realized what I had done. I can happily report that I have regained consciousness and remain honored to serve as Dallas CASA’s CEO.
3. How has your litigation and regulatory background shaped the way you evaluate risk, accountability, and outcomes in child-welfare systems?
In the first months serving as Dallas CASA’s CEO, I introduced and implemented a 360-degree enterprise risk assessment. Two lasting impacts of that initiative were earlier awareness of and protection against cybersecurity risks and a stronger emphasis on child safety.
Partnering with Praesidium, Dallas CASA was able to provide training to every program and recruiting staff member on the risks of child predation, and we have followed up with ongoing trainings.
4. From your experience, what does the CASA model contribute to a child’s journey through the court and child-welfare process that other participants may not be positioned to provide?
As Dallas County struggles through the difficult transition to privatization, Dallas CASA’s role in supporting each child’s path to permanency has increased. A Dallas CASA volunteer frequently remains the most constant and consistent presence in the life of a child in foster care who is living with uncertainty and fear.
Dallas CASA volunteers form a caring connection with each child, reducing the risk that a child will feel lost or forgotten. While providing fact-based reports to the court about each child’s educational, therapeutic, and medical needs, Dallas CASA volunteers also encourage each child not to see themselves as “less than” or defined by their time in foster care.
5. When a child’s safety and long-term well-being are both at stake, how do effective advocates help decision-makers keep the child’s voice and needs at the center?
Helping to keep the child’s voice at center is particularly a focus in our permanency court hearing dockets where older children appear and have an opportunity to be heard.
6. What is one practical way a prospective CASA volunteer can prepare to build trust with a child while maintaining appropriate boundaries?
Showing up is the best way to build trust. For many of the children Dallas CASA serves, their advocate models what a reliable, “I show up when I say I will” adult looks like. Dallas CASA has volunteer policies and trainings focused on appropriate boundaries, as well as staff trainings on recognizing “red flag” behaviors that may signal a violation of those boundaries and a possible pattern of grooming.
7. What have you learned about the collaboration needed among CASA volunteers, attorneys, caseworkers, caregivers, and the courts to support a child effectively?
Beginning seven years ago, Dallas CASA began accepting 100% of court appointments to Dallas County child welfare cases. Serving the entire need has greatly increased Dallas CASA’s impact and strengthened its relationships with other stakeholders. Opening our training space to all organizations serving children and families has also enhanced Dallas CASA’s role as a thought leader in child welfare.
Dallas CASA has served in leadership roles as founding board members of the North Texas Foster Care Consortium, as members of the Dallas County Child Welfare Board, as the host of the annual Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness event, and in leadership of the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking. In addition, Dallas CASA’s hosting of regular “judges update” sessions over many years has proved very effective.
8. For professionals outside the child-welfare field who want to make a meaningful difference, what skills from business, law, or other careers translate especially well to CASA advocacy?
Dallas CASA invites any interested individuals to register for one of our weekly virtual information sessions at dallascasa.org. No prior experience in social work or law is required or expected.
Dallas CASA provides extensive training and exceptional supervision so that interested individuals can become effective child advocates. We hear concerns from individuals who wonder if they have the skill set, and then realize they were born to fulfill this role.
If you don’t live or work in Dallas County, just Google your county name and CASA to check out local opportunities.
9. As President & CEO, what lesson from your work would you most want Texas Adoption Center readers to carry forward when supporting children and families involved in the child-welfare system?
The message I’d like to share with adoptive and foster parents and advocates for our children is to think of ourselves as carrying out a sacred mission as trustees of the safety of each child. I’m grateful to all of you who help protect children and restore childhood, while helping each child fulfill their full potential.
10. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Dallas CASA urgently needs more volunteer child advocates. Anyone interested can register for a virtual information session at dallascasa.org. If you do not live or work in Dallas/Fort Worth, please Google CASA and your county name to connect with a local CASA program.
Hidden Pregnancy: Signs and Symptoms
You deserve to know all the hidden pregnancy signs and symptoms. Find premier support, including services from the Texas Adoption Center.
Continue readingAdoption Agencies vs. Adoption Consultants: What Texas Families Should Know
If you are hoping to adopt, or you are pregnant and considering placing your child for adoption, you will quickly run into two terms that sound similar but describe very different roles: adoption agency and adoption consultant. They are not competing services, and choosing one does not mean giving up the other. A licensed agency is the organization that legally places a child and supports everyone involved. A consultant is a coach hired by hopeful adoptive parents to help them prepare for and navigate that process. Many families work with both at the same time, and Texas Adoption Center encourages waiting families to do exactly that.
This guide explains what each one does, how each fits into Texas law, what pregnant women should know about the families they may be matched with, and how to tell a legitimate consultant apart from an unlicensed adoption facilitator, which is a very different thing.
What an adoption agency is
An adoption agency, known in Texas law as a child-placing agency, is an organization licensed by the state to place children with adoptive families. In Texas, the Health and Human Services Commission regulates child-placing agencies through its Child Care Regulation division, an authority that transferred from the Department of Family and Protective Services in 2017.
Licensing shapes everything an agency does. Agencies must follow the state’s Minimum Standards for Child-Placing Agencies, found in Title 26, Chapter 749 of the Texas Administrative Code. Among other things, agencies must give expectant parents preparation services that address “the legal and social implications of adoption” and “available options,” complete a pre-placement home screening that evaluates the prospective parents, their family, and their home environment, supervise the placement for at least six months, and run background checks on staff. The person running the agency must hold a child-placing agency administrator license, which requires a graduate degree or a bachelor’s degree plus two years of relevant experience, a year of supervisory experience at a licensed agency, and a passing score on a state exam.
Most importantly, licensed agencies are one of only three parties legally allowed to place a child for adoption in Texas. Under Texas Family Code Section 162.025, only a child’s parent, the child’s legal guardian, or a licensed child-placing agency may place a child or serve as an intermediary between an expectant parent and a prospective adoptive parent.
In practice, this means the agency is the hub of the adoption. It provides counseling, casework, and legal support to the expectant mother; it completes the home study, matching, and post-placement supervision for the adoptive family; and it answers to the state for all of it.
What an adoption consultant is
An adoption consultant is an independent professional or company that hopeful adoptive parents hire to help them get ready for adoption and move through it with more confidence. According to Open Adoption & Family Services, a licensed Oregon agency, consultants typically research agencies, help families build adoption profiles, connect them with attorneys, and offer emotional support. Many also educate families on how domestic infant adoption works, help them understand open adoption, coach them on budgeting and timelines, and help them apply to more than one licensed agency at once.
Consultants do not need a state license because they do not do the work that requires one. They do not place children, they do not serve as the intermediary between an expectant mother and a family, and they do not provide the home study or the legal work. Those pieces always come from a licensed agency or an adoption attorney. A consultant’s role is education and preparation, and their fees are paid by the adoptive family on top of agency fees.
For many waiting families, that preparation is well worth it. Families who have worked with a consultant tend to arrive at an agency with a polished profile, realistic expectations about timelines and costs, a clearer understanding of openness, and the emotional groundwork to handle the ups and downs of the process. That makes them stronger partners for an agency and, ultimately, better prepared to build a relationship with a birth mother.
How agencies and consultants work together
Think of it as two roles with one shared goal. The consultant prepares the family and helps them find the right agencies. The agency then does what only a licensed agency can do: counsel and support the expectant mother, make the match, complete the legal placement, and supervise the family after the baby comes home.
A typical path for a waiting family looks like this. The family hires a consultant early, often before they have chosen an agency. With the consultant’s help, they complete their home study through a licensed provider, build their profile, and apply to one or more licensed agencies. Once an agency presents their profile to an expectant mother and she chooses them, the agency guides both sides through the match, the hospital plan, relinquishment, and post-placement visits. The consultant remains a source of coaching and encouragement throughout, but the agency is the party legally responsible for the placement.
This is also the arrangement the National Council For Adoption recommends: families who hire a consultant should do so alongside a licensed child-placing agency, so that the placement itself stays within the regulated system. Texas Adoption Center welcomes families who come to us through a consultant, and we encourage waiting families to consider working with one.
Consultants are not facilitators
This is where a lot of confusion comes from, so it is worth being clear. An adoption consultant and an adoption facilitator are not the same thing.
A facilitator is an unlicensed person or business that advertises to pregnant women, collects a fee from adoptive families, and attempts to match the two directly. In Texas, that is exactly what Section 162.025 prohibits anyone other than a parent, guardian, or licensed agency from doing. Because facilitators sit outside the licensing system, the National Council For Adoption notes that their education, experience, record keeping, and policies are not regulated or evaluated, and an expectant mother who is matched through a facilitator may have no one in the process whose job is to support her.
A legitimate consultant stays on the education and coaching side of that line. They do not advertise for expectant mothers, do not present families to pregnant women, and do not promise a match. If a company calls itself a consultant but offers to “find you a birth mother” or charges a fee tied to a match, it is operating as a facilitator, and families should walk away.
What this means if you are pregnant and considering adoption
If you are an expectant mother, you will never need to hire a consultant, and no one should ever ask you to pay for anything. Your support comes directly from the licensed agency: an adoption specialist who walks with you through your options, help with living expenses as allowed under Texas law, an attorney who represents you during relinquishment, and someone to talk to at any hour.
You may notice that some of the families whose profiles you see have worked with a consultant. That is a good sign. It usually means the family has spent months learning about open adoption, thinking honestly about what they can offer, and preparing emotionally for the relationship with you. It does not change how the agency works with you, and it does not create any obligation on your part. You choose the family, you set the level of openness you are comfortable with, and the agency is there for you before, during, and after placement.
Key differences at a glance
| Licensed adoption agency | Adoption consultant | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal authority to place a child in Texas | Yes, under Family Code 162.025 | No, and does not attempt to |
| State license and inspections | Required by HHSC | Not required for coaching services |
| Who they serve | Expectant parents, adoptive families, and the child | Adoptive families |
| Counseling and legal support for expectant parents | Provided | Comes from the agency |
| Home study and post-placement supervision | Provided or arranged | Helps the family arrange it through a licensed provider |
| Profile coaching and agency research | Sometimes | Core service |
| Fees | Agency fees, paid by adoptive family | Consulting fee, paid by adoptive family in addition to agency fees |
Questions to ask
If you are a waiting family choosing a consultant, ask which licensed agencies they regularly work with, how their fees are structured, and whether any part of their fee depends on a match. A good consultant will be clear that matching happens only through a licensed agency.
If you are a waiting family or an expectant mother evaluating an agency, ask whether it is licensed as a child-placing agency, in which state, and under what license number. Ask who provides counseling and independent legal representation to the expectant mother, what happens to fees if a match falls through, and what support continues after finalization. A licensed agency should be able to answer every one of these with a document, not a promise.
Where Texas Adoption Center fits
Texas Adoption Center is a nonprofit, licensed infant adoption agency serving expectant parents across Texas and working with adoptive families in almost every state. Expectant parents receive adoption specialist casework and emotional support, monthly living assistance, and an attorney for relinquishment counseling. Adoptive families receive home studies, matching, and post-placement supervision, along with ongoing post-adoption services, and we are glad to partner with the consultants many of those families already work with.
If you are pregnant and exploring your options, you do not have to figure any of this out alone, and you do not have to make a decision before you are ready. Texas Adoption Center can provide confidential support and help you understand what adoption could look like for you and your baby.
Call Texas Adoption Center 24/7 at 512-893-7943, or text 361-461-3742.
Whether you are considering parenting, adoption, or simply need help understanding what comes next, getting accurate information and compassionate support can help you make an informed decision.