[votemom]

the recent "what would you change" thread prompts this question:

has your agency followed up on how YOU and YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN are doing after you bring them home?

if your main agency does the PPR's, they would obviously have this info. but what if a different agency writes the PPR's?

do you get phone calls checking in at all?

[kretzklan]

My agency does do our ppr's...so yes, they know. But, one lady from the Denver office called me a lot at first. I knew I could call her with any issue and she would call me back. They also send out letters when you first return home with a mentor (another adoptive parent that has been doing it awhile) that you can call anytime. This mentor has checked in with me from time to time! I know I'm very lucky...

[catmele]

No nothing except to tell us when the Post-placement reports are due... this is our 2nd adoption with them also. Luckily we do not have many issues with our kids but I wonder what happens with the families who need some extra support

[MamaChinch]

My agency followed with a few phone calls shortly after we arrived home and also offered tha I could call with any questions. They helped me with some paperwork issues about 6 months after coming home, but I am in pretty close contact with a few people from the agency and they also have "checked up" on us.
I have a different home study agency, but I have been teaching some classes for them , so I am also in contact with them, and they love seeing Delaney when we drop by the office! The social worker who did our last PPR has called to follow up since the visit (but I also see her). It was realyl nice, about one month after Delaney was potty trained we had a picnic and it was there she found out, she then called about a month afetr to see how it was going. I have been very blessed with knowing these folks!

[jennamom]

Nope. I think we received one call from the agency owner's mother. We had only been home 2-3 days. I barely remember the call. The only other communication was a postcard reminder to schedule our 6mo PPR. My husband just commented on this very thing the other night. He thought it odd that the agency didn't call more. I guess we really haven't needed them. They are one of the BIG agencies. All along there was little chit/chat and more of a big corporate, your a # feel.

[angelkisses0102]

LOL! My no longer in business agency did nothing other that the PPR's. I would say that the true measure of a good and ethical agency would be how they treat you after you and your child are home. If they are really in it for the kids, you'll hear from them and they will offer support...if they are in it just for the business...you will hear nothing.

[justmp]

I'm pretty sure that we used the same agency that jennamom used because we, too, only received one phone from the owner's mom about a week after we'd been home and we were on the phone for all of 2 minutes, and we never heard from them again except to remind us that we needed to do post placements.

I don't think we've ever had follow up initiated by the agency we used for DS's adoption.

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Yes, our agency caseworker called us 2-3 times in the first 6 weeks home to check how we were doing. Now we get an e-mail every once in a while. (Our homestudy agency is different).

[beckyww]

Our social worker and I email each other often. She gets our blog updates. Our agency gives us the form to fill out ahead of time so if she has any specific questions, she can ask. Our first annual PP visit last fall was a lot of fun because we didn't have to spend much time on "catch-up" per se...more just happy visiting. I expect this year's to be similar.

We also get a lot of emails from our agency - still belong to their user board - still get direct mail and paper invitations.

I've no doubt if I called or pinged them, they would respond quickly. Fortunately, I've only had to do that twice since we've been home, and that was early-on for some translation service.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

[ddahl]

We also received a call from agency owners mother but I must say it was not brief at all. She asked detailed questions and we gave her feedback and she seemed to be very interested.

6 months later we received a call from the owners sister to talk about another immediate referral and she asked how we were doing and showed a genuine concern and caring.

I do participate frequently in prospective parent meetings so I think our communication level is different. I do know that I can always call them if I need anything but I have contacted our social worker that they recommended on a few occasions and he was fabulous.

Overall though I think once you are home, you are the parents and nobody is checking in. Just like regular parents.

[Ebadge90]

I must agree with Angelkisses. My wife and I have talked about this many times. Our agency has sent us a letter to remind us to call the social worker to do the post placement. No contact at all other than that. And we had problems with the agency changing plans on us while were in Russia.
Shortly after returning home we wrote a long letter to the agency telling them in no uncertain terms that we thought they were in it for the money, and not, as they professed, for the children. And just to prove our point, they never responded to that letter, nor have we heard from them since.

[MamaChinch]

catmele: No nothing except to tell us when the Post-placement reports are due... this is our 2nd adoption with them also. Luckily we do not have many issues with our kids but I wonder what happens with the families who need some extra support.

Interesting Cathy since we have the same agency! I know of some families who have needed some post adoption support and they have helped.

[GCS]

We do our Post Placements with our agency and they have a local branch so we see our SW who is employeed by them at events, etc.

I was surprised by how little our SW knew about PI kids. I went so far as to offer some resources to her and the office if people were calling with issues post adoption. When I never heard back from them I thought maybe we were one of the few families with issues.

Our last PP was in November. I got a number of call from both the local and HQ offices trying to get more info because they are putting resources together for families who come home and are struggling. They were especially interested in SID info. So things have changed with them in 3 years.

[mommyto4]

We had a different homestudy agency than our adoption agency. Our homestudy social worker was wonderful and extrmemely knowledgable about adjustment/attachment issues. She was readily available if we needed her. Our agency I beleive would have been there for us if we needed them, but most of our contact once home was with our homestudy agency.

[momraine]

Nope one call was it and then one asking about post placement.