Horrible experience! They are not transparent, the communication is poor and we wasted our time and money! They claim to have connections in every state but when we first started the process we were in Oregon and they only had two recommendations for local home study companies. One was a single lady doing them and she said it takes a min of 6 months just to do the paperwork and another 3-6 months for apporval. The other company was quicker and had more staff but they had poor reviews and they said they didn't even know who lifetime was. Also, Oregon requires all prospective parents to have health insurance, which we asked lifetime about on our initial phone call and they said we would have to get it for the child once adopted but we didn't need it before then. But Oregon requires it for the parents prior to completing the home study, so if they have connections in every state how did they not know that? They talked us into signing their contract right away after our initial phone call. They said they only took on a small number of families at a time and they were almost maxed out. I fell for the BS...which normally I do not fall for that kind of sales pitch. But I was excited about adopting a child, so I ignored the red flags! They said we could get our profile done quickly and get it live right away. Then it would be live while we finish up our home study. They said several times that the home study was not a big deal, and a quick process. Which we discovered later is not true at all. It takes months and months to complete. We focused on all the photos and paperwork for our profile and then after we finished our profile they said we couldn't go live until we had our home study done. So we wasted several months on the profle. They require professional photos and action photos of your cooking, activities that you talk about liking, etc. for your profile, which we were happy to do but that takes time. We expressed our frustration, their poor communication and even expressed that we felt they had bait and switched us. They said "I am sorry you are frustrated with Lifetime and you have experienced some challenges. Do the best you can and we will wait for the home study." Didn't even try to address our long list of concerns, or try to find a solution to make it right. I asked several times what would happen if the contract expired and I NEVER got an answer about what would happen. But I assume it would cancel and they get to keep our $31k for very little work to help us build a profile that no one will ever see. They got to keep our money either way as their "services" are non refundable. We moved back to Arizona. They have an option to put your contract on hold but it is only up to 9 months and then you have to pay another $750 when you unfreeze it. After getting settled back in Arizona we decided our experience with lifetime thus far was terrible and we didn't want to give them anymore money, so we didn't unfreeze. They might be fine once you get to the adoption. It sure seemed like it based on their reviews, family stories, etc. BUT do not sign up unless you already have your home study done, finger print clearance cards, physicals, health insurance, and professional photos ready to go or you are wasting your money and time with them. Home studies take months and months to complete, it is a very invasive process and a complete waste of time to be signed up with lifetime prior to having your home study done. Don't fall for their lies like we did. They won't make your profile active until your home study is done because you "could be selected by a birth Mom as quickly as 2 week".

We chose Lifetime because of their strong, Christian values and because of their superior, educational approach about open adoption, which we had very little knowledge about before. Their ability to give us such amazing support for us during our wait, through our failed match, and to our successful adoption went far beyond our expectations! The webinars were an invaluable resource in helping us understand as much as we could along the journey. By the time our adoption came around, we were calm and at peace because we knew what to expect, even when different challenges arose. Our initial coordinator, Joy, was a great source of encouragement during our wait and after our failed match. Furthermore, our birth mother coordinator Veronica made herself so readily available to us and took time to let us voice any concerns and to thoughtfully guide us to the best resolution for everyone involved. She also took such care to ensure the birth family was empowered to make their best decision and gently supported them in it with the utmost sensitivity. We can’t imagine having gone with any other agency, and the new bond we have with the birth family is far better than anything we could have imagined-and the relationship is still young! For anyone considering an open adoption, Lifetime is among the best agencies to guide you through what would ordinarily be a daunting journey. We hope you will be able to share the life-changing joy that we are now able to experience because of them! Thank you Lifetime for leading us to our forever family!

We felt supported from start to finish with Lifetime. Every phone call, check-in or webinar made you feel like part of a family. Once matched, Lifetime was with us every step of the way and continued to check in even after we brought our sweet baby boy home. We are forever grateful for their leadership, support and prayers - always working behind the scenes to help us make our family complete.