I absolutely would not recommend my agency to anyone,.... ever! There are a bunch of things that we are finding out now that we wish we would have known then.
One good thing is to post your possible choices here and ask for opinions. This is a great source of information that I really wish that we would have found pre this process. It may also give you some information about the agency that the agency wishes you didn't know. Of course the references that they give you are going to be people that were completely satifisfied with their experience. Ask them how many of these references just RECENTLY finished their adoptions.
Ask them to give you a list of the past 20 (or so) adoption timelines. For instance, how long from the time the family was "paper ready" were they holding their child at home. If they hem and haw about giving that to you, that should be a flag.
Ask for a couple of the attorney's names that the agency deals with and again, post them here to see what kind of feedback you get. There are a couple that you definitely want to avoid.
Ask them about any "hidden" charges (postage, FedEx, etc..), and ask them to PUT IT IN WRITING if it isn't already addressed in their contract.
Best of luck in making a very difficult decision. Just take your time to do the research, because it can actually save you time in the end.
We wish that we had..... check out this timeline.
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03/13/05 - Began paperwork
04/13/05 - Dossier finished
05/13/05 - Homestudy completed
06/04/05 - It's a boy!!
06/13/05 - Rcvd 171H and accepted referral
10/2005 - Finally got DNA done
12/07/05 - preapproval
12/19/05 - in PGN
01/30/06 - KO (missing signature on bio mother ID)
04/18/06 - Found out that we are now waiting for a full rectification because neither the council nor registrar wants to sign ONE STUPID DOCUMENT so that we can get our son home
It's been MONTHS & WE ARE STILL WAITING........
12/04/06 - Given up... We just can't do this anymore