[amouton]

Thougt we had an agency picked. They have been doing adoptions for a long time, just not in Guatemala, they tell me when I question why there were no stories of it on thier site. They said they have families waiting to travel but no pick-ups yet. Should I be worried about using them? I know thier has to be firsts before the company will have a reputation in that country but I'm not sure I want to one of them. We are starting the process close to the end of the year and I'm interested to hear what agencies the Texan's are using. Also what have your homestudy, referall, and referall to baby home times been? PM me if you can't give your info. on this post. I'm new to this whole chat thing, not sure what you can and can't do.

Thanks,
Amber

P.S. Wondering how you all are posting your process at the bottom?

[nina03]

I'm not from Texas, but I thought I would chime in here! I would be very careful choosing an agency based upon its location. You don't need an agency in your state. In my opinion, you will be much better off chosing an agency based upon reputation, experience in completing Guatemala adoptions and "average" age of children at homecoming. For me, the most important aspect of choosing an agency is their experience with Guatemalan adoptions. The process is so hard, a lot of how quickly (or slowly) you case progresses will be determined based upon your agency (and attorney) selection.

I'm sure others will chime in here, too. Just my opinion, but I would keep looking for an agency with more experience! Good luck-

Nina

[wvamom]

I agree. We did not use a WV agency, and there really wasn't a problem. I may know which agency you were talking about--I spoke to one that sounded very similar, in Texas. Nothing against the agency, but my concern was, if the agency had not yet completed a Guatemala adoption, how would I have the confidence that they knew what they were doing? They may have done a lot of adoptions from other countries, but Guatemala has its own ins and outs.

In my case, I had thought that the agency might turn out to be a great one in a couple of years, once they had done a few adoptions, but at the time I didn't want to be a "guinea pig," so we went with a different agency.

Carolyn

[Sandy Harboe]

I agree also. I do live in Texas but chose an agency outside of Texas, but we did use an Homestudy agency located here.

[amouton]

I get what you all are saying. How did you decide?

Amber

[CGM]

Amber ~ we also are in TX and chose an agency outside of Tx...granted the agency we chose had a great reputation ~ but has since gone downhill...we were lucky to bring our son home in November. I am PM'ing you with a few suggestions!
C~

[okstategrads]

I live in Texas and have pm'd you..

[wannahave3]

We are not in Texas but are using a Texas agency that we love! I'll PM you.