Adoption Agency Ratings

Our family used AWAA for an Ethiopian adoption. Their Ethiopia program had problems. It seems like they are fixing these problems, but the way senior leadership handled problems makes me believe if there are issues in your adoption, you could be in trouble with AWAA as your representative. When problems came up in our adoption there major lapses in communication - it was a very bad time. AWAA also played the "blame game" and were dishonest about the problems for months. They told us it was the Ethiopian government for months when, in truth, they neglected to do something in country, which resulted in the problems. A change of staff did bring about some more honesty, but the damage was already done. Senior leadership did not apologize for this, by the way. In my career field, the buck stops at the top and leadership is held accountable for mistakes made further down the line. It was very disheartening that America World tried to shift blame and wouldn't own up to their mistakes honestly. The whole situation lacked integrity.

AWAA had allowed the program to grow beyond their ability to manage it and had some other major issues (staffing, communication, in-country problems which could have been prevented with proper planning and management). The program was in crisis, I think. The current staff really seem to be on top of stuff and I imagine other families will have a much better go of it. Unfortunately, I can't give them a good rating based on OUR experience. Our experience was POOR in some critical areas.

Everyone at AWAA seems very nice, but sometimes their words are not followed by action. When they made mistakes in the past, appropriate action was not taken to compensate for it even if apologies were given. They also seemed to do a lot of ducking & weaving to avoid answering the tough questions. I didn't feel like they were looking out for us when things got tough. This is the key reason why I can't recommend them. Although they seem to be fantastic when things go well, they fail when the going gets tough.

Despite all of this, I don't think it would be fair to give them a "poor" rating. There were some good points in our experience. The agency has excellent staff in Ethiopia. Their transitional home is very good (though could use some improvement to bring it more closely to American standards of care). Our time there went very well, but some families have had major issues as the agency does not properly prepare you for travel. Their packets are often disorganized and confusing with contradicting information. Some families have not had all the documentation they've needed when they traveled, which resulted in problems with their US Embassy appointments. AWAA had told them all the wrong thing. We were only okay because we had read through the State Dept. info ourselves and followed what we read there. I think the agency should, if not advise, at least not lead families astray. All of the admin staff stateside are great. Very professional, courteous and warm. I also think the current Ethiopia case managers are top notch. Senior leadership say all the right words, but they don't walk the talk. Nor do they act as if they should be held accountable for mistakes made lower down the food chain. If they aren't accountable, then who is? In our case, it appeared no one was held accountable.

Be VERY CAREFUL in trusting this agency. I know we would not use them again in the future because of the problems we had. Nor would I recommend them to a friend. They also seem expensive since the families do all of the paperwork themselves except for the stuff in Ethiopia. Even in the post-placement they shift all of the photocopying and legwork to families. They spend a lot of money on fancy marketing materials and are currently trying to open programs in a number of other countries. A huge part of our problems came from them allowing their Ethiopia program to grow beyond their ability to manage it. They were too ambitious. That's a problem with upper level management. I would imagine you'd see the same issues with other "new" programs because they don't seem to have good business plans/models for this type of situation. I also didn't appreciate being hit up for donations while we were in the midst of an expensive, international adoption so that they could expand their operations while they were so thoroughly mishandling their current operations.

I know many families felt betrayed and lied to. We were very sad with how some things turned out. I can't recommend them based on our experience (and that of many others). But, a lot of people have had a good experience with them. I hate to give them a bad review because there are many things I like about AWAA, but I feel it is the right thing to do. They fell very short with our adoption, but I think they have offered better service to most of the other families in their Ethiopia program.

They could be an amazing agency, but they need to get organized and work on their accountability issues. I would be ashamed if I had worked for a company that treated anyone the way they treated us. Solid plans to ensure safe growth would go a long way, as would honestly owning up to mistakes that are made and trying to make good on them. They also need to be careful in setting their aims too high without the proper foundations in place.

Could have been amazing...sadly they were not.

I would like to add, we were one of the first families involved in the program; however we were NOT a pilot family. We did not sign on to be a pilot family and went in with the expectation that America World had their act together. We were led to believe the program was new, but that everything was established. The difficulties in our adoption were a DIRECT RESULT of AWAA's mistakes and the fact that their program was not, in fact, established. The problems DID NOT have anything to do with the "variables/normal impediments" that sometimes arise in international adoption.

It is my understanding that AWAA's pilot families receive reduced fees, as they must endure the growing pains. Naturally, such a discount makes great sense. After all, why should a family pay full fees when the service they will receive may be below the standard other families will receive once the program is established? We were treated like a pilot family, but we paid full fees. The "bumps" that came along the way were a direct result of mistakes made by AWAA. As we were not a pilot family, we paid full fees despite the fact that the program was not established and AWAA was not offering the level of service they offer to other families. They slighted our family, as well as a handful of other families.

We received "pilot family problems" at "full service" price. And, yes, it bothers me. Obviously. AWAA seems to us to be very driven by their bottom line - which was not serving orphans and families, but the mighty dollar and the prestige of having a large agency with programs in many countries. If they cared about our family, they would have done the right thing and refunded part of our fees considering the poor service we received.

I also feel I must add, we have received zero support from America World in our post placement phase of the adoption. The only time we hear from them is when they want our post placement reports. I don't feel like they care about our family. They also take a long time in refunding the post-placement deposit. We have turned everything in weeks earlier than our deadline, yet they are very slow to return our money to us.

I love them. i agree Amy and linekar are the best, but we also loved our family coordinators both times. They were always quick to answer questions and help out whenever needed. There is sometimes transition from one person to another but with their programs growing their staff gets moved around often. However everyone is extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and kind

While our adoptions happened some time ago, we loved them and would definitely use them again. I loved having a family coordinator and I felt they kept us very informed. Their definite strength is their travel. Everything always went smoothly (China). I traveled with another family to help with their adoption after ours and it was then that I realized how truly pampered AWAA families are.

We used them for a China adoption. They can get the job done. A very large agency but can be quite controlling through the process. They were the most expensive out of the five agencies we've used for an international adoption (all China adoptions).