Adoption Agency Ratings

We adopted domestically with them. Our experience was good, but not great. Mostly, the homestudy took a long time to be done compared to other places, and getting a copy of it was actually pretty hard. Communication was ok during/after placement, but the main issue was the last of communication during the wait - no idea if our profile was being shown, or how many situations actually fit our choices... no feedback on how long we could expect to wait considering our preferences... we basically didn't hear from the agency for months.
Another con is the lack of information/counseling for transracial adoptions, and the high fees (including a high upfront fee).
We did like the ethics of the agency though - good counseling for birthmothers, not letting them ask for huge living expenses, and being able to say upfront how much we were comfortable to pay - it's why we went with them in the first place, we didn't want to lose a lot of money if we ended up having a failed match.
So a good experience overall, although I would shop around more for another adoption.

This agency is all about the money. They want to clean out your pockets!

Take a look at the salaries! Maxine Chalker earns well over a quarter of a million dollars a year! I looked into it when I saw the high fees and the nickle and diming that goes on. I think they have premium prices and not premium staff! I think they need to put the money where the service starts, with the social workers. . They want to pay a social worker less than a pizza delivery person!!!!

Check out GUIDSTAR.com and go to form 990. Salaries are there and this doesn't account for profit sharing and bonuses! How is this considered a non-profit?????

I think that the COA is on to their antics and unprofessionalism.

Tobie,

In my post, I am not validating nor dismissing yours or other's experiences with AFTH. However, your inference that I am not an adoptive parent is an incorrect assumption. I am an adoptive parent (x2), an adult adoptee and an MSW. I DO know what adoptive parents are experiencing.....I have traveled that road and traveled it hard.

There are a lot of different offices in AFTH in a few different states. Some of the social workers are really good and their hearts are in the right place. Some of the social workers should not be doing this type of work. There is good and bad everywhere. No one is going to be pleased all the time with every experience.

But I DO hear what you are saying. If you had a bad experience and poor support that was TRULY the fault of the social worker on your case or the agency itself, I feel for you. The experience of adoption is difficult enough without dealing with the incompetencies of the 'professionals'. In my experience, many times a lot of the issues were with the countries themselves or even the adoptive parents. I'm not saying that was or is true in your case. I'm saying that I saw plenty of it. I also saw amazing adoptive couples that were on the ball and worked as a team. I also worked with wonderful offices within AFTH and other offices that did their jobs at a minimum standard.

You are correct in saying that a lack of communication and empathy in adoption is deplorable. That is why I entered this field after the adoptions of our two children. I wanted to make a difference. Hopefully I have.

As far as remaining anonymous, if your adoptions are complete, post placement is complete, you have nothing to worry about as far as retaliation goes. Heck, people speak out even before placements occur and the adoptions still go through. For the agency to legally retaliate against you, they would have to have some solid documentation and in my opinion, they do not want to risk a lawsuit.

Melissa

Earlier in the year they sent us to the Ukraine (former Soviet Union) to adopt. Someone from AFTH in the Ukraine read e-mail messages (not addressed to them) that we had sent to the AFTH offices in the US. Our in-country "team" gave out our private apartment phone number to a third party with whom we weren't doing business. We got a threatening phone call in the middle of the night from an angry intimidating Russian/Ukrainian man who said that we could consider our adoption terminated and that we would be forced to leave the next morning. When Maxine Chalker and Terry Petrone were asked about it, they basically had no comment (for legal reasons I suppose). Two other American families we knew got the same threatening phone call that night. It's incredible that AFTH is still in business.

Name Withheld for Privacy Reasons

DENIED HAGUE ACCREDITATION!!! My husband and I used this adoption agency for our Guatemalan adoption and endured close to 20 months of sheer hell from the inept social workers there! I am so relieved to see that this horrendous agency has been denied the ability to continue international adoptions in Hague countries. Our process was un-necessarily long and communcation was non-existant. My heart goes out to those families who are in-process while in the midst of this mess and I hope that they are able to complete their adoptions with out further disruption. Thank God the COA recognized a bad organization!

I have not adopted through this agency, nor would I. The feedback above which is mostly negative sums up all I have heard. Maxine Chalker and her staff seem to be into big promotion, and I nearly gagged when they used Angelina Jolie's one adoption as an opportunity to blow out a press release trumpeting "Angelina Jolie Chose Adoptions From The Heart to Handle Vietnamese Adoption".

Because the agency is in a relatively affluent Philadelphia suburb (according to the Realty Institute, $155,187 is the average household income) there's a bit of snob appeal. It works like an English accent does on Americans, implying professionalism and education. At the end of the day, it doesn't seem AFTH is all that special.

This is not the only board that shows people dissatisfied with Adoptions from the Heart. We talked to a few family friends who had used them several years ago, so we thought this would be a good agency for our China adoption. Not TRUE! If I can give negative rating here, I would. There is no interactions with them after we send our application to China. I sometimes have to educate my SW on the China adoption process that I learned online. The only good thing I can say is that my SW at least calls me back whenever I ask her a question, even though she usually doesn't have the answer. Recently, we asked them about our application status in China, since everyone else from other agencies (CCAI and USAA) with similar application date were referred. They said that they couldn't reach their counterpart in China (Gracewood,) so I have to contact Gracewood directly. Well, if they couldn't reach Gracewood, who works for them, how do they think that Gracewood would reply to my e-mails? What am I paying them for, then?

Plus, their fees are higher than other highly rated agency. If you are considering China adoption, check out CCAI and USAA instead.

What a disaster this agency is!!! We used AFTH, (the Cherry Hill NJ office) for our most recent adoption and I was appalled at the way that the staff there treat adoptive parents. They were not remotely helpful or supportive and at times were downright threatening. Our social worker was CLUELESS on the adoption process and would often say "you know...I usually do domestic adoption so I don't know the answer to that"!!!! Well, I am paying you over thirty thousand dollars to know!! The process for us was sheer hell and the lack of emotional and logistical support was really disheartening. The communication was non-existant and the little information that they did give us was pure "fluff". Our child is home now (no thanks to them) and I continue to be disappointed by our social workers behavior even in postplacement meetings she continues to be unprofessional and difficult to work with. For anyone looking for an agency please run the other way...there are good agencies out there and trust me (and the many other families that have posted here) this is not one of them!
Jill

After doing a lot of research my husband and I chose this adoption agency for our Guatemalan adoption. What a disaster!! The staff (with the exception of a few kind secretaries) was HORRENDOUS! There was absolutely NO emotional and logistical support throughout our 15 mo. adoption. From referral to pick up was just one mess after another. The legal updates were scant at best and we had to practically beg for them! I even received an email once that if I persisted in questioning them about the status of our case they would pull our homestudy!! Nice huh! Our case was in and out of PGN for close to eight monthes and when I would call to speak to my social worker she did not have any idea what the steps in a Guatemalan adoption even were!! I was constantly educating her! To be honest too many bad experienced happened to even write them all here. Our child is finally home now and I continue to be SHOCKED at the lack of competence and accountability that I encounter from this staff. So for those of you looking to find a caring, competent and compassionate agency to complete your adoption please...look elsewhere! Our only blessing is that our child is home now, but I can assure you AFTH has little to do with that!

I can't believe the negative comments about AFTH. I don't know which state that all of you are from. We are in the process of adopting from Guatemala for the second time with AFTH and I fell it has been a positive experience both times. Everyone that we have had contact with from the receptionist to our social workers has been very understanding of how stressful adopting can be on a family. They have not always have the answers to the questions we have asked, especially because of the changes going on in Guatemala but as soon as they know the answers they let us know. The fees were spelled out for us in the paperwork and we never were asked for any additional fees that were not outlined in the paperwork. They where and are on top of needed paperwork that is required for adopting from Guatemala even with the changes that are occuring sometimes daily. I am sorry that most of you are not in agreement with me . However I would recommend AFTH to anyone due to my experiences with them. I don't know if this agency varies from state to state but my experience with them from pa. has been a positive one and the only reason I didn"t give them a rating of awesome is because we have not completed the second adoption. If I was just rating on the first adoption the rating would be 5 stars

We had a very long and drawn out adoption from Guatemala, with no true extenuating circumstances. (Referral to home 17 months). AFTH was very hard to work with and showed very little empathy. They were great about getting us paper ready. Other than that... use someone else for an adoption from Guatemala.

This agency should be called Adoptions from the HeartLESS. They have no business being involved with adoptions from Guatemala. They used a facilitator who they had problems with in the past and represented her as an attorney to me. My case was NOT handled by an attorney. I was lied to over and over. I finally hired outside attorneys in Guatemala to make sure the adoption was legitimate and get it back on track. When I demanded to visit, I was relieved to find a healthy, happy baby, which I give all credit to a loving foster mom. I was then sent a phony medical report. My son could not have seen their doctor while he was with me in the hotel when I visited! When I picked up my son, the facilitator tried to extort money from me outside the US Embassy. The agency defended the corrupt facilitator and treated me horribly. I missed many months with my child because their facilitator was corrupt with the money and the agency didn't visit Guatemala and check on the children and didn't require paperwork to prove the status of the adoption at any time, especially when the case was supposedly out of PGN. This is an agency to be weeded out in order to clean up adoptions from Guatemala. I wouldn't want anyone to experience the heartache I did in order to get my superboy home. He is the blessing of my life.

My husband and I just completed an adoption from Guatemala with AFTH. They did give updates but they were less detailed then we would have liked. They were a bit unorganized and we would have liked a little more support. With that said, all the BIG things were done right. The adoption went quickly and smoothly as possible. Our daughter was well taken care of and Foster Family was wonderful. Lawyer was professional and staff was friendly and capable.