[srusse24]

We will be HS approved as of next week. We have already begun working with an agency, but are hearing of very long wait times. We used this agency for our previous adoption and were chosen within weeks of our profile being out, but have now talked with couples waiting almost a year.

We are toying with the idea of signing with another agency as well, just to "get out there" as much as we can. Nothing lost, so why not?

I'm not sure of whether or not I should tell the other agency director. Last adoption, we brought up to her that we were signing with a referral agency as well as with her and she asked that we give her 3 months and if no match, then to sign with the referral agency. I don't know why, but I don't want to offend her or seem desperate or overly anxious.

What do you think?

[michellef1]

We had an agency and attny with our first adoption. We are waiting to adopt again, this time we added another agency to the mix.
The first agency and attny are small and local, the 2nd agency is big and national. We only waited 7 weeks for DS2 (first adoption) so 6 months has felt like forever this time. Everyone knows about everyone, and just asked they be notified if and when we match so they don't contiue to show our profile.

[loveajax]

Our agency (which had few placements) encouraged us to look for other agencies/facilitators (out of state). Is there anything in their contract that says you cannot do this? If not, I think I would do it and just tell them (I don't know why they demand this "loyalty" ....kind of annoying because obviously they have no way of predicting how long you may wait!). Good luck to you!

[Fran27]

I would definitely let them know... you don't want them to break your contract if you get matched with another agency and it falls through...

[missywojo]

This has been on my to-do list to look up the logistics of signing with multiples. I kind of thought you would have to pay the initial application fee with each agency, but I am not sure. I am very curious to read others' responses on this thread.

[mandirenee]

srusse - We were signed with your same agency both times and both times they knew we were signed with another agency. She just asked that we tell her if we got a match with the other agency. Both our matches were with the other agencies, so we just gave her a call.

Good luck!

[JustCourtney]

Wouldn't you have to tell the first agency in order to get your home study sent to the second one? I would want to tell them anyway, just to keep everyone on the same page. After all, you expect them to act honestly and in good faith, so shouldn't you? Who knows - maybe it will give them an extra incentive to try and keep your business?

Oh, and a wait time of a year when you have already adopted really isn't that long. We were told 2-3 years without a child. As you know, in domestic adoption timeframes are arbitrary when the eparents pick.

Best of luck!

[Gwen72]

We were signed with two agencies at once. We told both agencies that we were working with the other one too. They both just asked that we let them know about any matches through the other agency as soon as possible. Good Luck and I hope you have a short wait!