As I'm guessing not all of you are familiar, in the US it is actually more common to have people connect through the internet for the purposes of adoption. The adoption does not take place over the internet of course, but it allows for the birth mom to acquire all the information of the possible parents, and then if she decides to pick those parents she takes that information to an "adoption lawyer" and they do everything the services in Europe do. In the states, companies set up "adoptions" but charge 30k-40k just in "fees". It has turned into such a business for these companies to take money from parents, and THAT is really disgusting. Adoption lawyers tend to be much much much more professional, and much more thorough. They aren't quick, they can take up to 6 months to go through every piece of information on the parents. I'm not saying going online is the way to go or that the person doing so is right, but things are done so much different here. The connection between a birth mother and the adoptive parents can happen anywhere- a gas station, a church, online, a hospital, or yes, a very expensive service. Please keep in mind, these "services" in the states are not thorough like you would think. They process every adoption they can get, and most of them are way too overloaded for the number they have. This is another reason I call it a business. Now I know she didn't ask for parents to make themselves available, as is usually the norm, but she did say she didn't know what to do. I can't blame a person for following the norm and offering herself as an option. No one said the birth mother had to take her up on it, no one said she had to even respond. She came onto a world-wide forum, and asked for options. She was given several. Please remember, world wide doesn't make everyones answer acceptable, but I do expect a much more tolerant and understanding admin of world-wide customs, norms and ideas.