That Tech Pod
Welcome to That Tech Pod, a podcast co-hosted by Laura Milstein, Gabi Schulte and Kevin Albert. Each Tuesday, That Tech Pod will feature in depth discussions about data privacy, cybersecurity, eDiscovery, and tech innovations with heavy hitters in the industry. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Visit thattechpod.com for more information.
That Tech Pod
Modernizing The Adoption Process Using AI With Pairtree CEO Erin Quick
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Today on That Tech Pod, Laura and Gabi talk with Erin Quick. Erin Quick is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PairTree. With more than 20 years of global brand marketing experience, and more importantly, as a two-time adoptive mother, Erin is a leader in the movement to modernize adoption in the U.S. With an expert first-hand understanding of the challenges of the domestic private adoption industry and a drive to increase access and opportunities for all involved in the adoption process, Erin brings a wealth of knowledge and business experience to helping families navigate their unique adoption journeys.
As Chief Executive Officer at PairTree, Erin leads on areas of the business including strategy, product development and marketing. Erin is responsible for the businesses day-to-day decision making and implementing the company’s short- and long-term plans.
Previously, Erin co-founded Stoke Strategy, a Seattle-based brand strategy firm, which she led for 12 years. While there, Erin led brand initiatives for Bluetooth, Weyerhaeuser, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the University of Washington, to name a few. Erin began her marketing career at Addison in San Francisco and New York, where she worked on global branding for Domino’s Pizza, Merrill Lynch and The Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Erin is a recipient of Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40-Under-40 award and most recently, PairTree, under Erin’s leadership, was selected to participate in the 2021 TechStars Seattle Accelerator – a highly selective and successful global startup accelerator program. Erin is currently a Visionary Voices Member and Speaker with All Raise, a nonprofit on a mission to accelerate the success of female founders and funders. She is a guest lecturer on Technology Entrepreneurship at Brown University and the University of Washington.
Erin lives on Bainbridge Island with her husband and two children.
Hello and welcome to That Tech Pod where we discuss all things e-discovery, cybersecurity, data privacy, and tech innovation. I'm Laura Melstein, and I know a little bit about technology sometimes.
SPEAKER_04I am Gabby Schulte, and I am a non-tech founder and co-host of that tech pod, meaning I don't know anything about tech.
SPEAKER_05That's why we're bringing on heavy hitters from this industry to help us break down those topics. And Gabby liked to say that she's a non-tech founder because today's guest is also a non-tech founder. Today, Gabby, who are we talking to?
SPEAKER_04Today we're talking to Erin Quick. She is CEO and non-tech founder. Uh, just kidding, founder of Pear Tree. Um, Pear Tree is uh, you know, well, first a little bit more about Erin Quick. Uh, she has 20 years of global brand marketing experience, and more importantly, uh two-time adoptive mother. Erin is a leader in the movement to modernize adoption in the US, and that is where Pear Tree comes in. And Erin, thank you so much for being with us today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_04I'm happy to be here. So before we get into what exactly Pear Tree is, um, tell us a little bit about kind of like how you be how you founded this organization, uh, and maybe just a little bit, if you wouldn't mind sharing, about your own journey uh as an adoptive mother.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, the two are uh intertwined, so I can't have one without the other. Um I I did not start out thinking I was going to start a tech company that was never in my plan. Um I uh fell in love with brand marketing and and spent two decades uh working with companies to develop brand strategy, brand positioning, brand messaging, and then extend that into kind of brand brand concept, brand logo, all those the kind of the global extensions of brand. And um, I ended up running my own brand consulting firm for about 13 years, founded it with another guy and managed and grew that for about 13 years. And um, in the process of running that company, um, I hit a point where I was like, hey, I'm I'm ready to build a family. And so my husband and I tried uh to get pregnant and nothing worked. And so we were re uh referred to a fertility specialist, spent three years and way too much money in that space, uh, only to have three really tragic miscarriages. And that's when I think we were like, all right, it's time for us to look into adoption. And we had always like somewhat naively in like the dating days, we're like, oh, we'll have one and adopt one, not having any idea what that actually meant. Uh and so when we started moving into the world of adoption, we were kind of floored at the process. We were meeting people in the basement of a church, and they were saying it's going to be $60,000 in two years. And we're like, well, what? And how do you what do you use? How do we meet these people and where's the technology? Because we were coming off like high touch, high, high protocol fertility world, and then kind of fell off a cliff into this very analog old school sector of adoption. And um long story short, um, we did not use the conventional method of an adoption agency. And instead, I was like, you know what, for $60,000, I'm gonna bet on me and my marketing and technology background, and I'm gonna go out and do it myself. And so we we got approved, we're in Washington State, we got approved in Washington State to adopt, which is an incredibly paperwork process, which we can talk about in a second, because Pear Tree has modernized that. Um, and then I built an online profile and I put ourselves out on the internet. And within a month, we were in a hospital room in Michigan holding our son. And and then for me, yeah, it's it's pretty.
SPEAKER_03I I have a hard time not crying when I talk about it, but I almost I almost got a little to be honest with you, choked up. So I'm like, oh my god. Wow.
SPEAKER_05So don't don't don't take that too too much to heart though, Aaron Gabby Crazy on every episode. Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_02I'm a crier, so you and me, you and me were we could be friends. Anyhow, so then we did it three years later. Um, same thing, same process, built an online profile, and it took four months this time. But we found ourselves in a hospital room in Houston, Texas, this time holding our daughter. Um, and so the word got out. Friends of friends of friends started referring their families or their friends to us, saying, like, Aaron, teach them how you did it, using technology to do it. And so I started helping hundreds of families go through it just pro bono, and I found myself waking up more excited to do that than the brand world. Um, and so I was like, oh, okay, I think this is I think this is the universe enemy of science. That's when I sold my portion of the company and I built founded Pear Tree. And beautiful story.
SPEAKER_05Well, thanks. Like it's a really, it's a it's a really nice story. And your your topic for today's episode is very uh unique for us. We're obviously a tech podcast, so our listeners are probably like, what's happening right now? Why are we talking about adoption? But I think it's because we're in such a tech savvy world that something like adoption, you don't even think how do you do that? And and I think we come from a place where, you know, 14 years ago we didn't even have the internet. But you know, we didn't have the internet. So I think like do people just go around like snatching babies? Like sadly, yes, but for the wrong reasons. And now it's how do you get a baby? How do you do these things? And everything is kind of different. So when we were taught about EU and your company, um, somebody actually had emailed us and reached out to us and was like, you should talk to her, you should hear this. And we were like, what is this? And and um the Kevin who rents our education department looked at you guys and he was like, I think this is like tender for babies. So naturally I was like, well, that's insane. We have to figure this out. And so I'm kind of curious, how did you go from doing this to now there's an app? Like, can I swipe on babies? Can I be like, oh yeah, that one's a cute one? Like, I don't understand. Can you break it down more, Gabby? For those of you who are listening to it, I'm like, oh my god, not getting it together. But but I think it is like adoption meets tech. Tell me about it. Like, how do I how do I swipe on my body?
SPEAKER_04Disclaimer that's like no babies were harmed and like cognizant.
SPEAKER_05It's all stated out of love. Like, I might want a baby one day. So let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I'm I'll give a little bit of historical background because I think it matters in this, in this, because you you brought up a really good point that it's um the world of adoption today, the model that's used today is the same model that was used 50 years ago when there was no internet. And so for but but at the same time, there's two major things that have shifted in the world of adoption that made kind of now the exact right time to use technology to make the adoption process more efficient, more ethical, safer for everybody. And when we're talking about adoption, I think a lot of people skew towards the adoptive parent side, and that's the side I come from. But we also need to talk about the expectant mom side, um, because there's there are two stories in every adoption, and it actually creates a third with that of the adoptee. And so we'll we'll get there in a second. But I think the two major things that have changed in in the world that make now the right time to insert technology is that this is the first time in history where both sides, adopting families and expectant families, have grown up with the internet and online dating and social media. And so they're way more apt to turn to Google to figure out what to do with an unplanned pregnancy or how do I connect with an expectant mom than they are looking at the local adoption agency, taking the time to make a meeting, getting there, taking the paperwork home. Like it's it's the world has completely changed. And and um, the other kind of massive shift is that in 1970, every adoption was closed, meaning adopting family had no relationship with the birth family. And adoptee probably also didn't have any relationship with the birth family. And that has completely shifted now, so that 90% plus of adoptions are open, meaning the two families will work together in some capacity to that child forever. And that that all of the research says like that is what helps to create the healthiest and happiest, you know, psyches in adoptees, which is what we all care about. And so with those two kind of major shifts, it was like of course technology needs to be in involved in this because if families are going to be, and this is where Kevin with the kind of online dating analogy is is correct, is if these families are going to be connected forever, it means that it's exponentially more important to make a highly compatible match or connection. And the only way to do that is at scale, so that if you're an expectant mom in a small town in Georgia, via a phone, you can literally unlock the nation of adopting families and filter through based on what's most important to you. And so I'm the the online dating is a bad analogy. We actually kind of steer clear of it because we feel it's a little bit disrespectful, not a little bit, it is disrespectful kind of to the to the, you know, there's adoption starts and some sadness. No one looks like, I can't wait to place a baby for adoption. And so that the analogy, but I but in terms of what the actual experience is like on Pear Tree, it's it's similar. Families build an online profile, and expectant moms have to make the first move. They sort through the profiles based on what's important to them from personality of the adopting families to location down to zodiac sign or political affiliation. So they can and we encourage that to that that kind of specificity. And that kind of that scale and that amount of choice and control over a process if you're an expectant mom can only be done with Sarnology.
SPEAKER_04And I feel like there's there's so much baked into the adoption process. First of all, I am such a rookie at like I don't I don't know m much about it, so that's why we're so excited to have you. But I feel like there's so much shame baked into the adoption process coming from both an expected mother and uh adoptive families because of what society and if I'm wrong in this, please tell me, but like of what society kind of portrays of, you know, everyone kind of assumes, like, oh yeah, why wouldn't you be able to uh have a baby uh in a sort of biological way? Or, you know, that's just so uh baked into our societal consciousness, and then from an expectant mother, you know, giving up a baby that's such a hard decision. So I'm curious, you know, not thinking about the tech side, but did you work with like social workers or um psychologists or therapists to like come up with this whole new process of giving kind of the value back to the expectant mother? And and tell us a little bit about that process because that's so interesting to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So social workers, adoption attorneys, counselors. Um, we have a uh birth mom who's placed two children for adoption. She's full-time on our staff, and actually, she's kind of the first person that if you're an expectant mom and and you're using Pear Tree, she's the first person that we make available to two expectant moms so that they can get kind of real information on what the process is like. But yeah, I mean, speaking from personal experience, going through all of the IUIs and IVF and failed cycles and miscarriages that I went through, I call those the dark days because it was a very sad, very lonely time. And I don't realize I don't I didn't even realize it until I had my first miscarriage that it was like, whoa, I'm like part of this massive underground club that there's like no one talks about. Um, and then same thing with expectant mom. Like, no expectant mom looks forward to placing a child for adoption. It is a massive lifetime decision. And that's one of the things that I think we we put a pretty firm stake in the ground around. And again, one of the one of the things that it that technology can really help with at scale and over time is that these women are making these massive decisions. And so, one, they need to have really objective education on what the process, what what their options are, and then what the process is like, both before, during, and after. And then they need to have access to lifetime support. And that's just something that the adoption world has never been able to provide at you know, over time and at scale. So if you're an adoption agency and and you work with 10 expectant moms a year, maybe the next year, if those moms come back and say, like, hey, I need help, I'm going through a real season of sorrow right now, that or season of grief, that the agency might be able to help them, but over time they can't continue to help every expectant mom or every birth mom at that point. And so, but that's something that that you know, with the especially the rise in the last couple of years of telehealth medicine and um having those those kinds of integrations that that that Pear Tree can help with.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And oh sorry, go ahead, Laura.
SPEAKER_05That's okay. I I was just gonna say, I think even bringing to light, I mean, it's obviously having a miscarriage is a is a difficult thing. I can't imagine. I'm having to go through that three times. So I mean, that's intense. Um, but I think when we think of adoption, we think to typically um maybe an LGBTQ person, or maybe we think of somebody who can't have children, and we forget that I think it's like 10 or 20% of women have miscarriages. And it is something that I mean, I even when people have babies and then the baby's actually born and then doesn't make it, and we think about the impact of do you want to have to put yourself through nine months of trying to do that again, like things like that. And then on the other side, when you think about giving your child up, I think people look at the first thing I think people think is always like, well, was it a, you know, trigger word for everyone, but was it a rape, was it an incest, was it something like that? And then they go to, was it a teen? And I think they don't realize, I mean, um, speaking from myself, there was a person that I knew that got pregnant as an adult. And she was not ready to have a baby, but they had told her that um because when she was younger, she had gotten pregnant and miscarried that if she didn't have this baby, it would potentially affect her from having future babies, but she wasn't ready. So she wound up having the baby and giving it up for adoption. And her biggest uh struggle at that time was she knew that she wasn't ready to have a baby and she wanted one later, but she also knew she wanted to make sure the baby had a good home. And it was like a whole process of how do you find that? And I actually have no idea how she found the baby at home, but I know it did get a new home. And uh like three years later, she had a baby separate. Um, and I think it was one of the things where she was able to feel happiness knowing that she picked it, it was like, I don't know how she did it, but it was a situation where she felt like she knew that her baby was going to be taken care of and she didn't have to worry about that, knowing that she just wasn't ready. So I think we underestimate one, the reasons people adopt, two, the the reasons people um, you know, give their child to somebody. It's not always that they can't or that they have to or drugs or any of these things. And I think, you know, you're looking at even other countries, which makes me wonder with your app, is it is it US based? Are there, you know, what if I specifically want to save a child in India or something like that? How does that work? And how do you, yeah, can you tell us more about the breakdown of how do you find the people? How do we find where where's the yeah? I could just go on and this is a hard subject.
SPEAKER_02I know. This is so normal for me because there's so like we all grew up with this like after school special of what adoption means in our minds. Um, but and and it's what I had going into it. And then you get into it and you're like, what is this place? It's so different than you know, like anything Kirk or Cameron would have ever been in. Um so I think a couple of things that you brought up there. So one, so the two primary audience types on the adoptive family side that we serve are the LGBTQ population and people that are diagnosed with infertility. And I think one of those kind of shocking stats on infertility is that one in eight couples are now affected in the US. So it's and and it's only expected to rise. Um, and the the next question I usually get is like, why what's going on? And the short answer I say is plastic, but that's a different podcast. Um, but um, so those are kind of the two the two primary groups that we serve. And um, you know, a lot of people spill out. We we see a lot of families that spill out of infertility treatment unsuccessfully, just like our experience. But then the LGBTQ population as well, because adoption, again, like the model is based on a long time ago. And so a lot of the providers in the adoption world are faith-based. Um, and so they are protected under, you know, religious belief laws that allow them to just say, yes, I'll work with you or no, I won't. And so a lot of um the LGBTQ population hasn't had a path to parenting via adoption. And so that was, I think, just from an inclusivity standpoint, that was really important again for us to like build this platform where all are welcome and all if you can be approved to adopt in your state, that you have a path to parenting uh via adoption on Peer Tree. Um, and then I think the other thing that you brought up was birth moms, because I it's true, like the stigma associated, I think, and and I'm also guilty of this. I I know when we were first pursuing it, my husband was coaching basketball at our at the local high school, and I was like, well, keep your eyes out, you know, keep your eyes open in there. Like I thought we would be like a high school student. And um, the the statistic is actually birth moms are typically 24 to 36 years old, and um, they already have a child, so they can't romanticize what what parenting will be. They know how hard it is, and they know they don't have the resources to do again. It's not like a 16-year-old person, it's not um somebody that's drug addicted and homeless. Yes, of course, those situations happen too, but um the the population that we see on parentry are people that are are more concerned, similar to what like what your friend happened to with your friend, that they they just want to make sure that they find they have peace of mind in terms of the family that their child will be raised by and that they can be involved in that child's life in some capacity. Those are kind of the two majors.
SPEAKER_04That's that's uh the thing that I would like to ask you about is the sort of new way in which these relationships are forming. And because you know, in the old older thinking or older tradition, it's it's very much, you know, the lives of the adoptee and the birth mom and the adopted fa adoptive family are very separate. And it's always a a thing that uh when the uh adopted child reaches a certain age, there's always like a conversation and always maybe like a journey sometimes, some sometimes they want to seek out biological family members, sometimes they don't. Um, but you uh are saying, you know, now that's sort of being revolutionized in a sense that these families are working together. And I would love really love to know more about that process. And I guess how does the does the app sort of end at um the adoptive process only, or is it kind of continue to have these uh maintain these connections?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's such an excellent question. I want to jump on that, sorry. To just extend on Gabby's, if it doesn't end, like are there any risks to like staying in touch with the birth mom? Like, is there any liability or any of that?
SPEAKER_02These are great questions. So I think and and they speak kind of to our roadmap. So I'm gonna back up to answer your question. So on every major adoption journey for an adoptive family, you have to be educated and approved to adopt in your state, which we can talk about. Second major milestone is you have to actually connect. Adopting family has to connect with an expectant family. Third piece is you go through a legal process to finalize the adoption. And that's where most people consider it like, it's done. It's all over. And it has an adoptive mom, that was my thought until I got there. And I was like, what? Wait, this is where it actually gets hard. Um, because when you're raising a child that's been adopted, you're in there's situations, issues, concerns, questions that come up on at least a weekly basis, if not daily, not to mention, again, you know, 90% of these adoptions are open. So you're also navigating this very dynamic relationship with another family that loves your child as much as you do, um, you know, and but are probably in very different circumstances than you are. And so there's just a lot to manage. And it's everything from things like I left the hospital with our son, but he didn't have a social security number. Had I had him biologically, the hospital would have filed paperwork. But because he wasn't biologically of me, I have to now figure out with a newborn in another state how to get to the social security office. And file paperwork to do that. So there's logistic stuff, but there's things that are very meaningful. Like when you have a child, you're at the doctor all the time. And the first question the doctors ask you is, Well, what's your family history of blank? And I'm like, I don't know. You know, so how are we using technology to help these families manage medical histories? Like is there a history of heart disease that's cropping up on the birth family side that we should be aware of? Because my daughter loves bacon. You know, like how do we how do we manage that kind of stuff? And Laura, to your point, so when you have an open adoption, you contractually obligate yourself to have some level of contact. So I am legally obligated to send photos once a quarter. We do it way more. We have a very, very much more open relationship, but we're legally obligated to do that. We're legally obligated that if the family wants to come visit, that we're going to make time for it. And those are things that we decided on prior to the babies being born, um, because that was really important to them. Like they wanted, they want to come visit. Great. So depending on, you know, some we have another, we have another adoption where we send an email once a year, and that's the extent of our relationship, but it's still technically open. Um, so so the the kind of level of communication for sure fluctuates based on what the two of you decide in the beginning before the baby's even born. Um, and so there's no like liabilities necessarily that that you're susceptible to. Um and open means a variety of different things. But in terms of kind of the roadmap and the kind of the tech roadmap for Pear Tree, so what we've built is we've built the first and only online adoption approval process that maps to state requirements because I think I mentioned in the beginning, it's an incredibly heavy paperwork process, it's analog. So we're like, let's just bring that online. 90%, 95% of it can be done online and map to state requirements, make it easy for providers, make it easier for families. So we built that. Then we have the connection platform. Um, we refer, we have really strong relationships with um some of the most experienced adoption attorneys in the US in every state. And so when families do connect, then we introduce them to the attorney. And then the fourth piece, which we haven't built yet, but again, this is the piece that people don't even know they need it until they're in it, is what we call Pear Tree Family. And those are the tools and technologies to help these people maintain these relationships, maintain health histories, and hopefully eventually create materials that um based on who you are, if you're an adoptive parent, if you're an adoptee or you're you're a birth family, that you can access the support that you need in terms of live support, uh, live on-demand support, and/or asynchronous kind of educational support.
SPEAKER_05Are you allowed to be biased on your app? I know that sounds like a weird question, but what if I'm like, I have blue eyes and I want um to find a child that kind of looks like me, so I want them to have blue eyes or something? Or is that now like a fine line between like, you know, maybe there's AI in your tech and you can't have that? How does that work?
SPEAKER_02No, again, like we want, so it's on the expectant mom side is where we try to provide as many options as possible. So we collect a lot of information from our adopting families so that expectant moms can get really specific. We've had an expectant mom that said, I want a gay couple, I want one of them to be Jewish, I want the other one to be non-white. And you're like, All right.
SPEAKER_05That's like very specific. She knew what she wanted, or they or whoever knew.
SPEAKER_02That's the trend that we're seeing, though. And that's that's what we want because we want to say, like, again, like to your to your friend's point, like you want peace of mind that your child is going to be raised the way you want your child to be raised. And so, and the only way to do that is to give an expectant mom access to as much choice as she wants, and then tell her to get really specific. So we we're not allowed to be biased, but expectant moms are and encouraged to be.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Wow. That's so I love the amount of autonomy that um is given to the expectant mother side because you definitely don't you like the the stigma is a hundred percent this is something that uh it's it's almost like kind of like a punishment, right? The the the the the school or the the after school special that you talked about, in my mind is just like okay, you get to hold the child for a second and then you never see or hear or you have no idea where the child's going. Um and so it in and which is honestly just such an atrocious process. So um I this is such a cool thing that you're doing. Um I feel like we could ask you so many more questions about this, but I'm curious to know sort of um as somebody who had so much experience uh from like a brand perspective, how has it been getting this app, you know, uh out there and and for more people to know about it? Because I know several families that would be like, wow, that's awesome. I've talked about adoption or I've had a really problem, a really hard time getting pregnant, and like would think about something like that as Pear Tree as an option.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I think so. When it comes to building a brand, I felt really comfortable. When it comes to sales and marketing, I've always felt really comfortable and like building some of the value propositions. And Pear Tree makes it kind of easy for me in that respect because the conventional route, adopting families are gonna pay $60,000 plus to adopt an infant in the US. And with Pear Tree, you know, the average is around 15,000. So it's not expensive, but it's an incredible savings. And we've had families connect on Pear Tree after only being on the platform for 10 days versus, you know, the average wait time is two years. So in that respect, it does make it easy. I think for us, we wanted to get the platform to a place where we felt really good about being able to serve families across the spectrum of needs. And that's where we are now. And so 2023 is our growth year. And so that's where we're gonna be. We partner with a number of adoption attorneys, we partner with social workers, we partner with agencies. People always ask, like, aren't you a competitor to agencies? And we say, No, I mean, we'll be as collaborative as we possibly can because this this industry should not be competitive with each other. But it has been because the fees have gotten so high. Um, and so um our our goal is to, you know, to work with um the other thing that we're rolling out now is um benefits programs for employers so that employers can cover the cost. Because a lot of a lot of companies in the United States have some kind of fertility benefit, but adoption isn't necessarily included. And so in this world that we're in now today, where inclusivity is of the utmost importance, you know, making sure that your benefits fall in line with that too. So um employers are helping us get the word out as well.
SPEAKER_05I love this episode. Um it's one of our less tech heavy episodes, but it's also just an emotional topic and one that's why I like it. Yeah, it it really does intertwine the tech, though. And it's something that you you think you would think would be more known and more like of a thing. Like obviously I want to adopt I've gone this app. And so I think it's great that you guys are really coming in and changing and that you're you're making such a difference. It's it's awesome. Um, before we let you go, because as Gabby said, we could really you know steal all of your time um and leave you um with no time for for your own children. Um I did want to ask, what are the fees? So I and I'm not talking like specific cost, I'm saying when we're looking at fees associated, does it difficult to say this is not that the family has decided how much effects they want in uh is the fees we've had, you know, like maybe the birth of a hospital, and I don't mean to be ignorant, I I really don't know anything about this. Um, but but how is that determined and what does that look like? Because it that sounds like a massive difference, 60 to 15 um. So can you can you tell us a little bit about that? And then we promise we will we will let you go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I think the fees on adoption have gotten completely out of control. And when people say, like, why does it cost $60,000? I think they assume that some of that money is going to the birth family, and that's just not true because um obviously you can't quote unquote buy a baby in the United States. So every state has very strict regulations in terms of even the type of support you can give to a birth mom in terms of medical expenses or living expenses, that kind of thing. Um, but so that those fees are going kind of almost to just administrative costs because again, like a lot of agencies haven't, no pen intended, but adopted technology as part of their process. And so they know they're gonna do a lot of kind of fingers crossed. I hope we get an expectant mom that's gonna walk in the door in the next 12 to 24 months that we can pair with this family. And so that's kind of the rise of expenses have been just because the process has become so highly fragmented that um they have to charge an excessive amount because they know they're gonna have to wait for a while. So, versus a pear tree, like what we try to do is just pack incredible amounts of value into the services that families just adoptive families have to pay for. The process is always free for expectant moms, always. So it's the adoptive families that have always had to like shoulder the burden of these incredible costs. Um, and we haven't even talked about this, but you know, in 20% of the cases, an expectant mom gives birth and changes her mind, and families don't get their money back in that situation. And so it a lot of families have always felt like this is a massive gamble. And so they'll dip their toe in, learn about it, and just and run the other way. And I don't blame them because that's what that was the same way I felt. So we at Pear Tree, we try to pack value into the services that they have to get done, like their adoption approval. It's called a home study. And so it's usually a couple thousand dollars, no matter if you use agency and/or pear tree, depending on what state you live in, because the processes are slightly different. And then um, where the fees are super different is agencies have always charged a massive amount for quote unquote matching, that piece in the middle of like, what there's gonna be someone, there's we're gonna find an expected mom, and she's we're gonna pair her with you. And for Pear Tree, that's kind of the piece that we're hoping to we charge a monthly subscription fee that if you you use it as much as you use it and you cancel it whenever you're done with it. Um, you don't have to pay, you know, $30,000 for two years. You pay $75 a month and then cancel it when you're done. Um, and then we have all kinds of bundled packages to help with all the other kind of outreach stuff, like boosting them in social media, um, creating profile books that all the adoption attorneys use, and there's a number of other services too. And then bundling, one of the things that again, we put a huge stake in the ground around is education. So we've partnered with kind of the Harvard of Adoption Education, and we make that free and unlimited to all of our families because the more educated we can make these families, the better the adoption process will go for everyone.
SPEAKER_04That is uh truly, truly amazing, Erin. Thank you so much for joining us and explaining all of this to us. Um, yeah, it was it was really awesome to hear um like what you've been doing with Pear Tree. So uh thank you for coming up. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having us then. All right, everyone. So we just talked to Erin Quick. She's the CEO CEO and founder of Pear Tree, uh modernizing the adoption process using technology and apps. Uh Laura is with us as well as Kevin. Um I really can't wait to hear what you guys think about this episode. So, Kevin, how are you? Uh, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00I was really uh kind of interested in this because I I guess I was sort of you know kind of curious as to what she was going to be really talking about. I would I wasn't sure exactly how the app was gonna work. You know, was it, you know, like I said, Tinder versus, you know, for prospective parents, you know, matching up, you know, folks. And so I was curious as to sort of how the app would come into play. And I thought it was really interesting, the non-tech perspective of it, um, when she's also talking about the fact that it makes sense to kind of bring in, you know, technology people to kind of aid in it and and having the people on the way who are you know kind of part of the journey have having gone through this. Um I definitely think is interesting. I I liked it. I definitely had a lot of questions going in, and I think she answered a lot of them.
SPEAKER_05I would agree. I agree. I think it's also, you know, sometimes we look at tech as such a negative, even though it's terrible. But it's like, is TikTok really benefiting us in some ways? But in a lot of ways, it's also like, go outside, kids, like play, live a little. And I think this is one of the ways that you can't really argue the benefit of using tech in it, because it is like it is one of those things where just being able to say, I have no idea how to adopt, or I'm I'm have a child that I don't know how to find a family for, and being able to prove technology do something so wonderful. I think it's a wonderful thing. I really like what they're doing. I I think it's exciting, I think it's unique, and I think more people should be progressing the world and things that help others.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, I I really like the way that the company is sort of like destigmatizing adoption as a whole and adoption as a viable option for people to have children. Um, because like we said, you know, it is it's a it's a process that's shrouded in a lot of like societal uh negativity, um, you know, on on every sort sort of side of the coin. And so kind of giving a lot of autonomy and power back to expectant mothers and just working so hard with social workers and really trying to bring that process um into light is is a really cool thing. So um I agree with what everybody is saying. Uh everyone should check out Pear Tree if that's something that interests them and and or thinks that you know maybe a family member or friend might benefit from uh that service. Um yeah, we definitely encourage that. Um, but uh if people want to just learn more about it or learn more about us, Laura, where can they find us?
SPEAKER_05You should uh swing over to our website, www.thattechpod.com, enter your email to subscribe, check out some merchandise to get something great, look great, feel great, be great. That's you know the motto of 2023 or it should be um that and you know technology. So if you also don't feel like you have enough of us, you can check us out on social media, LinkedIn slash that tech pod, TikTok, Instagram. I I don't know what we're on, Facebook. Just you'll find us somewhere out there. But if you can't, you can always reach out to us at contact.com and we would love to hear from you. Gabby, is there anything else that our list guys can do?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you can totally go to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and give us a five star writing or review. We would love you forever. And until then, we will see you next time.