I have been pondering if I was going to share my thoughts about the agency we used for Emma's adoption, and I came to the conclusion that if I don't other families will suffer from it, and some already are.
Just like with Mia's, we had a lot of hurdles which may or may not have been related to the agency itself (some definitely were), but this time things were really ridiculous, and I feel like sharing. Of course I won't say their name, but I have lots to say about their professionalism and people skills. In their defense, this being our second adoption, made me a lot more paperwork and travel savvy, and allowed me compare with our previous experience. To a first-timer, they may look ok.
I will always be grateful to them for bringing Emma home, but I have to mention that some of their employees are absolutely incompetent, and this is shared by other adoptive families who have used them.
I am not afraid to tell you that we paid about $7,000 in agency fees, and even though it is not about the money, I expected more from them. More support when I needed to talk to them during the wait, more assistance as far as the paperwork was concerned, a simple answer to a question, etc...Also, I am still not sure where some of the money went, especially as far as travel is concerned, because we received little or no assistance in country, were told where to stay, and had to share our guides with three families from another agency.
In the end it all worked out, however, and we know it is not the case, if we were to adopt again, we wouldn't use them.
Maybe I am a bit demanding, but when I give thousands of dollars out of my savings, I expect some decent assistance.
It is all over now, and I won't bring this up again, however (this is my favorite word...) it makes me sad to see families being put through hell by this agency. The road is hard enough and it is like having a bad OB-GYN when you are pregnant. Not good.
Love to all,
Laura
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9 comments:
Laura thanks for your comments. People need to hear the negative as well, and it is sad that our agency won't post anything but glowing (naive??) reviews to their official group. Thanks for all the information and support with our own experiences with this agency.
Ditto!! Thanks for sharing you words here. I have HUGE problems with censorship. Besides connecting us with Jackson, which I will be forever grateful - they were so incompetent regarding the paperwork. Really, where did that $7K go = I have no idea. I would like to hope back to the orphanages - perhaps that makes me sleep better at night.
Hugs!
T.
Wow, we had a completely different experience. Very very positive.
Yes, I have to chime in with Brooklyn Mama and say that, while I don't doubt your word, and I'm sorry your experience wasn't everything you wanted, our experience with this agency was great. That I actually moved from a much bigger, well known agency to this program, and was relieved to be handled with so much more personal care. I felt like I really knew the women who ran the agency by the time we were through with all of this. We had great guides in China, felt that the waiting process and paperwork were totally manageable, and if we adopt again, I would go with them, and most especially with the X*ing*F*u program, in a heartbeat.
Some people right now love the agency, too. They also get their phone calls returned, have the Director's private cell phone number, etc. I bet THAT has something to do with the different impression!!Or if you never had cause to call them with a problem, then you wouldn't notice anything lacking in the response.
As for us, we've had plenty of times when we've NEEDED a response from our Agency and can't get it. Emails and phone calls routinely go unanswered. Our LOA is apparently lost and we can't even get through to anyone to find out where it is or what happened to it. This is par for the course for OUR interaction with this agency.
WHY do some people get great treatment and some are just completely left on their own? I have no idea. I just know we are not one of those "lucky" families. I would never recommend this agency to someone hoping that THEY might be one of the "lucky" ones. There is just too much at stake.
We have never once felt like a priority for this agency, from their snails-pace in getting us our information packet (should have paid attention to the red flag there!!!) to the 5-7 days to get an answer on the simplest dossier question (I actually received answers from our previous dossier consultant faster which were more knowledgeable - and I wasn't even paying HER) to the 8 weeks it took our dossier to get logged in (agency claimed that 16 days were CCAA delay but refused to provide any tracking information to back that up) to the now five days that we've been waiting for our LOA to make it to California from New York so we can sign it. And we still don't know where it is!
About 90% of our phone calls and at least 70% of emails have gone unanswered (100% for both for my husband, who has had it with the Agency at this point). No one ever answers the "office" phone.
I sure hope we travel with a family who has a direct way to reach this agency, because God help us if we have a problem in China and need assistance!!!
Kate
Kate, the LOA is lost!???!!??!! Are you serious?? Remember what happened to ours.....but it was found no problem, just a few days later, after it had made it to the house in GA, and back up to Cape Cod where it should have gone in the first place. Did they give you a tracking number for the express mail package?
Laura
I managed to track down our LOA. It took over 14 hours to finally get the USPS tracking number for the package from the agency. With any other mail service, I could have had it searched based on our mailing address, but not the USPS! When I FINALLY got the tracking number, I was able to initiate an offical inquiry into its whereabouts and USPS located it in only 31 minutes. It somehow got mixed in with regular mail. And according to the date on the LOA it came in the same batch as everyone else's who got theirs on Thursday last week.
So the LOA is on its way back to the agency as we speak along with our last check. I asked for a promise that it would be sent back tomorrow, the same day they received it and received assurance from Nancy but nothing from Pam (who would have to be the one to send it). I asked that they give us a tracking number showing the LOA heading back to China before they cashed their check, which I think was reasonable given the circumstances. I got a response from Pam that didn't even acknowledge my request for a tracking number but rather said we need to schedule a conference call with them. Tom is going to call them tomorrow because I really don't think I can handle it without saying something I really regret.
Tom did the talking with the agency today, too. Nancy actually offered to refund all our money, and I might have even have considered it given my current state of frustration. He did ask if there was ANY way to get our child's file transferred to another agency, but of course there isn't, so we are stuck with them to get him home.
I can't wait until this is over.
Hi:
can you privately email me. I just signed with them and I've researched them and yours in the only family with a bad experience. How were they in China?
Judy
judyr908@yahoo.com
http://r2chinadumplings.blogspot.com
Judy,
You are with Heritage Adoption Servies, not Homeland (I think??). From everything I've heard, Heritage is GREAT. I don't think you have anything to worry about...
Kate
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