[BlissMom]

Looking back I realize that we got really blessed with our first adoption... we did NO research!!! We heard an ad on the radio, went to a seminar, had peace about it and signed up that day!

How did you pick your agency???
What questions did you ask them when you were evaluating???

[hopeful_in_Wi]

I have not yet picked the agency I'll work with but things I've been keen to know is their NGO and reaccreditation status, how many russian adoptions they have done annually in hte last 5 years, their fee schedule adn when each pmt is due (it SHOCKS me how variable fees are from group to group).

When I am ready to pick, I guess at the end of the day I'll take a leap of faith and hope it turns out OK!!

[lakimnafite]

Ha, we also did no research! I didn't even know you should do research...

I had recently returned from a spiritual retreat. I was looking on a photolisting sight, and saw a little baby boy that was just adorable and - had he been a girl - perfect for our family Shock of red hair (just the color mine was as a baby) and big blue eyes. I clicked on the link out of curiosity. I didn't want a boy, but he was just so darned cute!

The agency happened to be local, about 20 minute drive from our house! And, the name of the agency was the same as the name of the symbol at the spiritual retreat I had just returned from... So, seemed like a 'meant to be' to me.

I did talk with another agency, but I just didn't get the 'feeling' from them.

[nungesser]

DW saw an ad in a local paper and we attended their informational presentations. We also did hardly any independent research and got very lucky. I really can't believe it. About our only reseach was a colleague at work had hired them and was between trips. I found out about her accidentially and went to talk to her. She gave them the thumbs-up. She's a pretty tough customer. So if figured if the could please her, they'd be good.

[Vicki H]

Research, collect info from several agencies and speak with all of them. Attend meetings if you live near an agency.
Most importantly you need to get a good feeling, if you don't or if something doesn't feel right ,chances are they are not the agency for you.

Good luck!

[randloar]

I wish I could say we didn't do any research, and happened across the agency of our dreams........but......we didn't, I am not a planner, but a researcher and had the stacks of agency booklets to prove it!!. Well, it didn't happen to do us any good

We started out in Kaz, and researched for what seemed like FOREVER, picked our agency, one of the bigger ones that had lots of glowing referrals from people on the boards, then 2 months after signing with them they lost our dossier and would not admit to it. Over the next few months we had a lot of trouble regarding the lack of their meeting any of the estimated timeframes for paperwork processing, as well as poor communication or availability, and being very rude and unprofessional about it all, therefore.......we changed agencies...........

Point being........sometimes all the research in the world won't help you. They had a giant turnover right before we left (another reason for the move), and have really lost much of the reputation that goes with all the glowing reviews they had......oh well.

Back to your question.......as far as things we did for our research........
-called families we found through groups for references (not through the agency)
-eliminated agencies that required large fees upfront (or if all fees were nonrefundable), didn't care if they had a good reputation
-checked with families that had traveled recently to see if things were as they were told
-made a spreadsheet for the fee structure to see the real breakdown of fees (yeah, I am a serious nerd, but this helped me to really see the differences!!)
-eliminated agencies that were slow or non responsive
-made a list of questions (like the ones on the sticky at the top of this forum), and asked our top 3 agencies all the questions and compared their answers

And, Hopeful_in_Wi.....
all the agencies seem to distribute their fees in different ways, but the bottom line total may not be all that different from the next agency you are considering. And some agencies include in their fee outline some of the fees that you pay no matter what agency you go with (embassy fee, passport, visa, etc), so that could make their total look so much bigger...........just throwing that out there!! From our research there were a couple of agencies that had WAY higher fees, but most were relatively similar in the scheme of things....

[RBSVARCHER]

My infertility Dr used the agency herself and recommended the agency to us.

I didn't know enough about adoption to know what questions to ask. When we look back now - it scares us to know what we actually did, where we traveled, and was successful in bringing DS home without any incident and not knowing anything from start to finish (other than reading the documents we were signing step by step)

God was definately in our adoption from the very start!

Susan
Bham AL

[kretzklan]

In our failed adoption in 2001 - we chose an agency based on some research - to be honest I don't remember how much research we did into the agency - but we did a lot of research to choose Ukraine as the country. This time I refused to have an agency that didn't have a local office. I felt so removed from the process on time #1 because they were so far away. I called three places with a local office - got a good feeling from one and walked in with the app and check that day.

[LouLouBelle]

We went to a seminar for a local agency. We had thought we'd do a domestic adoption, but a seed was planted that night that would change our course. We had also gone to a seminar for another local charity that does domestic. We decided on Russia so applied at the first agency and went to meet their Eastern European coordinater. DH and I both walked out of there with a horrible feeling. He mentioned they "umbrella under xxx agency". It was enough to make me start researching, reading forums, and getting references. I decided my comfort was to go with an agency that directly is accredited with Russia, had overwhelming positive feedback, processed a large number of Russian adoptions, and specialized in E. European adoptions. All I can say is thank goodness for the ill feeling. The first agency no longer offers Russian adoptions.

[beckyww]

We investigated one locally....but....we ended up using an agency in a nearby city that we'd been reading about for years in a religious publication. That's where our comfort level was.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

[Ebadge90]

We were working with an agency, or at least starting to get info from one, from the complete opposite side of the coutry from our home. With the time difference, there was only a very small window in which to have contact with them, and much was done by messages left on answering machines.
We were talking to a lawyer, who is also a relative, and he said that a fellow lawyer had just completed an adoption to Russia, and gave us the agency name. After speaking to the lawyer, we decided to go with this new agency. They also happened to be a 40 minute drive from our home, so distance was not an issue.
Ultimately, they were accredited already, so a lot of the reaccreditation stuff did not concern me at all. To make a long story short, their "bed side manner" left a lot to be desired. I know that we are all in this for the end result, but to be put through heck while getting there got a little old.
The end result, our new son, made everything worthwhile. However, it would have been better to get info from the agency instead of from this website. After all, we hired the agency to assist us in this endeavor, but at times, we felt as if we going about this alone.

[DET62]

I chose my current agency based on the fact that I have several friends from my Yahoo Single Moms board who used them and were happy with their services. To me, a personal recommendation is the best.

For my daughter's adoption I used a recommended agency and they turned out to have terrible customer service. I met a lot of other parents who were also disgusted with them.

PM me if you'd like the name of either agency.

You never know - a good agency with a great sales pitch may go belly up. You never know. It takes faith and courage to go through this process.

Dee

[erickk]

First adoption because I husband worked for a church and went to the agency affiliated with that denomination--not necessarily the best approach.

Second adoption--knew we wanted to adopt from the same orphanage (or at least the same region) and went to a yahoo group for the region, got names of agencies and then called and talked to each of them. We knew that being honest and being able to communicate clearly was very important to us and based our decision more on how the conversations went as opposed to the content of the questions. Also, the agency we selected helped us find out some information BEFORE we had even signed up-out of kindness--imagine that

[Annabell]

We got advice from an adoption attorney with whom I was friendly. She named two agencies whose clients (who were also her clients) were very happy with the results. We went to a seminar for one agency and the poor woman leading the seminar was about to leave her job, appeared tired and burned out, and said, "Well, you need to know that almost all the children from Russia have fetal alcohol syndrome." (DH and I looked at each other and said "Huh?", and left without even taking an application). The other agency's seminar made us feel hopeful and secure. We chose them.

[ddlucy]

I did the internet search and called 6-7 of them, and then drew up a short list based on:

1. I asked if they were licensed in Russia - or did they subcontract the license from another group.

2. How many Russian adoptions have they completed in the last few years.

3. An outline of their fee schedule.

My short list went down to 2 - and I just fel more comfortable over the phone with the one. They turned out to be a great outfit!

Time schedule, fees, in country supprt, etc.,