[kaypauld]

My husband and I are just starting the international adoption process. We live in MN and already attended an informational meeting with one reputable and well-known place and may proceed with them. We are, however, interested in countries that they do not work with, i.e. Kazakhstan, and are very unsure of how to "know" if other agencies, local or otherwise, are trustworthy and reputable. Are there any government websites that give more information regarding adoption agencies, including positives and negatives? Also, if anyone can PM me with an agency they've had a good or bad experience with? Any and all information will be greatly appreciated!

[karla-k]

one good way to find out about agencies is to find the yahoo group for the country you are interested in and ask the members which agencies they are using. agency discussions on here are very limited, so if you want real opinions and experiences you'll have to go somewhere else.

Karla

[ready4family]

We also live in MN and have just started. I did a lot of research using the Yahoo groups. There is one entitled Adoption Agency Research that has a lot of people and info.
Let me know how it works out for you and which agency you choose.

[TBFrank]

Please be careful when making judgements about agencies based of forum poster's opinions. You may have seen some of the posts reacting to the reports from Vietnam - many only concerned about fastracking and completing adoptions - when they really should be ceasing all all efforts and taking no risks of being involved with the terrible things that have been going on. Don't go near any agency that promises fast turnarounds, promotes a sense of entitlement, and doesn't thoroughly check, double-check, and re-check both the child's circumstances, and the adoptive parents (i.e. you), to ensure the adoption is in the genuine best interests of everybody ... the child, the birth parents, and you.

[kaypauld]

Thank you and I agree whole-heartedly. I know this is going to be a lengthy and cumbersome process but also that there are good reasons for that. I've really narrowed down my searches to only 3 agencies in MN- all licensed and with good reputations. All the rest came back with no license, not operating, weren't listed with the Attorney General at all, or reported too much spending towards their program. I'm trying to catch all the red flags because I don't want this to be fast and easy as much as I want it to be done by the book and correctly.

I appreciate your feedback,
Kay