Unlike most of my colleagues in the profession, I knew by junior high school that I wanted to become a social worker.  After getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Spanish at Valparaiso University in Indiana, I worked for a short time in Public Assistance in Westchester County, then moved to Mexico.  Seven years later I returned to the U.S., and earned my Masters in Social Work at New York University.  With two young sons and hopes of improving my own parenting abilities while assisting families, I started working in the foster care system in the South Bronx in 1981.

During years of recruiting, training and studying potential foster and adoptive parents for children placed into foster care due to neglect and abuse, I talked to numerous other people who hoped to adopt healthy infants instead, but couldn’t find out where or how to begin.  The foster care agencies and county Social Service Departments had enormous caseloads and no time to even answer telephone calls from couples hoping to adopt newborn babies.  So in 1988 I began my own practice in adoption counseling and home studies.

The field of adoption has been continuously evolving ever since.  Many of my early home studies as a private practitioner were for adoptions from Romania, as the media informed the world of deplorable orphanage conditions.  While that country no longer welcomes adoptions, the pictures of its orphans inspired many Americans to look overseas for their sons and daughters.  Later, the families of children adopted from China provided amazing encouragement for further international adoptions.  As political and economic conditions change, different nations’ children become available for adoption, and Americans are more responsive than ever.  I have done home studies for families adopting from many different countries, including Russia, Guatemala, Vietnam, Korea, Ukraine, Columbia, India, Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, Cambodia, and Bulgaria.

Simultaneously, adult adoptees have made us all more aware of the importance of honesty and openness in domestic adoptions.  Birth mothers can actively participate in the adoption plans for their children.  While these changes are beneficial for the children, they may cause initial anxiety for prospective adoptive parents.  As with other social issues, we have learned that “the experts” in the field of adoption are not necessarily qualified by advanced degrees, but by their actual life experiences.  I have done home studies for adoptive parents of various ages, diverse races and ethnicities, and varied educational, economic, social and marital backgrounds.  I can also interview and write reports in Spanish if needed.

I’m most proud of having raised seven children (bio/step/adopted.)  Now that they are grown, my husband and I live in a little log cabin in the woods - which is why I work primarily in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains.  In addition to my private adoption work, I continue as part-time supervisor in an agency promoting adoptions from the foster care system, and enjoy writing articles and attending adoption conferences.

Contact Pamela for a confidential consultation.

Pamela DeMan
Delaware County, Greene County, Sullivan County, Rockland County, Orange County, Ulster County.

Voice and Fax: (845) 252-7198

Email: pamdeman@aol.com