[berry-girl]

My husband and I are having a hard time selecting an agency. We have a few front-runners we're considering, but it seems no matter how many good things we hear about any one of them we also hear at least one really negative story too. Is that just the nature of international adoption? That being said, if you love (or hate!) your agency, please pm me with details. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Julie...very confused prospective adoptive parent!

[Devora]

Welcome! Yes, it's very hard to choose an agency. We actually didn't look at very many because we were very impressed with one and went with them. A couple of things that helped us:

1. Make a list of what your priorities are. Then take your top couple of priorities and rank agencies based just on those things. This can help make a few frontrunners emerge. When comparing between agencies, keep those priorities in mind. For instance, although we wanted an agency that worked fairly quickly, our bigger priority was working with an agency that took a humanitarian approach to their work and that fosters relationships with birthfamilies. So although some agencies had quicker track records than ours, we went with ours because they were better on the humanitarian and birthfamily issues.

2. When talking with people who say they had a bad experience with the agency, ask them what their expectations were and which expectations the agency failed to meet. Sometimes bad experiences are due to the fact that it was a bad match between what the parents were looking for and what the agency provides. But if you don't have the same expectations, then the agency may be fine for you. For example, if it was a #1 priority to someone that they received photos and videos of their child on a monthly basis, they would probably say bad things about our agency. (We have received 4 sets of photos over 5 months, but not on a regular schedule.) But for us it's been fine. (Sure, I would like more, but that's not high on our priority list.)

3. If you haven't already, definitely check out the list of questions and recommended answers for choosing an agency on guatefam.org . It's a great resource!!

No matter how much due diligence you do, in the end it is a leap of faith.

Best wishes,
Devora

[iammonikasmom]

We used a small agency for all 3 of our adoptions and having just completed our last one, have nothing but good things to say. Choosing an agency is very very hard, just realize that some of the smaller less mentioned agencies can also do a great job. We had one through Romania and two recently from Guat.

[Smylinatya]

LOVE LOVE LOVE...thats all I can say. I will PM you the name and if you have questions, please feel free to PM me.
Jenn

[moelladeville]

You should also check out the agency research group on Yahoo. I listed the url on another thread. Good luck,
Marjorie

[avoel]

I loved my agency too. I think I already PM'd you about it but feel free to ask. If you hear one bad experience be sure to get the details. All adoptions are different and there can always be difficult circumstances. And some great agencies can have personality conflicts with individual families. I don't think anyone can please everyone! I know with my agency some cases have made it through very fast which left others who had 5-6 month long adoptions feel like theirs took too long. I think all bad experiences should be investigated but if the positives far outweigh the bad I wouldn't discount an agency based on one bad experience. I think you have to go with a "gut" feeling sometimes too...good or bad!

[Amykk]

A lot of the difference between different families' experiences with an agency also has to do with different attorneys. Not only because some attorneys are faster, but because some of them do not give information about the case. So, families with one attorney might have a quick process and be kept "in the loop" on their process while another family might have a much slower process and may not be given vital information. I think people are more understanding of hold ups in the case if they are given truthful and accurate information and if their questions are answered. Unfortunately most agencies don't let you choose your attorney and you entrust them to make this important decision for you - the families with the bad attorney who are waiting twice as long as everyone else tend not to be so happy.

[berry-girl]

WOW! Thanks so much for the replies and PMs! I've got some leads and some great advice too. I'm so glad I found this forum!
Thanks!
Julie...less confused prospective adoptive parent!

[rfeely]

Sorry I had to jump in on this one also. We have just started looking into everything also if some of you people could start giving me some ideas of which agencies you liked and didn't like we would love it. Plus we have a local woman that we are talking with also. Everybody seems to be so nice on the forums I'm glad we finally decided to join instead of just looking. We are also planning on attending "The adoption Journey Conference" in philly in October.

Once again thank you all

[jnancynancy]

I love my agency!!! They are partnered with just one non profitt Christian agency in Guatemala and just one atty with a great rep. I get weekly updates whether there is news or not. I am encouraged to call whenever I need anything, including support.


PM me if you would like information. They are a small group and only have a minimal website, but I can get you a number to talk to someone there.

They also provided families for me to talk to who have adopted from Guatemala in the last year. They have become another source of support now.

Good luck in choosing the right agency. It is a daunting task.

Nancy

[delaware1]

Nancy-
I am so happy to hear that at least one agency gives there clients regular updates, even if there is no news. That must be so much better than having to pull teeth to get an update.
-Kathleen