Our experience was so miserable from start to finish. Before we even realized our adoption would end in failure, we had decided we would not adopt a second child because of how unpleasant this agency was to work with. We've subsequently learned that the whole adoption community isn't like ACD, and adoption agencies actually can be nice to adoptive parents. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to adopt with one of the nice ones.
In the mean time, we just want to prevent other adoptive parents from having to go through the same experiences we did. One of the worst things about working with ACD was being treated so rudely while having to bite our tongue as much as possible for fear they would disrupt the adopton if we said anything wrong. As our adoption was starting to fail, they confronted me on my probably less than kind behavior toward them. When I apologized and tried explaining I was under a bit of stress but had been expecting better service (after they made us wait 2 extra hours at the hospital the night our girl was discharged so they could go out to dinner, had us fly to town 2 weeks earlier than needed before the baby was born, and refused to help when our ICPC process got hung up, resulting in us being out of town for a total of 5 weeks--not to mention all the other rude, confusing, or untrue statements they made to us along the way), they told me I couldn't talk to them about stress until I had a baby ripped out of my arms. Since our adoption ended in failure three months after our girl was born, I guess I now qualify to talk to them about stress...although I hope I never have to.
We were told to disregard negative posts about this agency, and now are trying to prevent others from making the same mistake we did. Both adoptive and birth parents need and deserve honesty, compassion, and respect from the people helping them through the adoption process.Somewhere along the way, this agency has lost sight of these basic human needs, as the people at this agency provide anything but these qualities.
We hope and pray that there is another agency out there that can help us fulfill our dream of adoption. We are just starting to work with the regulators to help us recover from our losses with this agency, and want to warn others to avoid them lest your heart be broken too. Please send us a private message if you would like your voice to be heard with the regulators, are willing to provide character witness against them, or would simply like to learn of a few simple mistakes and pitfalls to avoid.
I totally agree with the above posts. When I saw this rating website, I immediately looked them up. That is exactly how I found them. It was our first experience in adoption, and it nearly turned into my last. After some research I found they are the exception, rather than the rule. Oops, I have to give them a star... oh well, I didn't waste much money on them.
Is there a way to rate them in negative stars?
Unethical, corrupt, incompetent, rude are just some of the adjectives that come to mind. I can't imagine a worse agency to use. In the end our adoption was successful despite them. The only positive thing i can say is that the lawyer they had us use (Carol Rainey) seemed ok.
They need to be shut down, i wish we had been warned of these con artists.
The communication lines at ACD are horrible. We had the worst time getting hold of anybody to get our questions answered. We finally made contact with AnnaMarie and were treated like criminals for simply trying to clarify our responsibilities. She actually threatened to give our daughter to another couple after we had held her in our arms! I have never been treated so poorly. And the pricing is all "ala carte" .... the basic fee for ACD is comparable to other agencies, but ACD adds all basic costs in addition to the fee where other agencies include most costs as part of the fee. These people are in the business for the money, not for the children. I should add that their social worker Susan was very helpful, although she did not get support from the head office to handle our case when she had to take a couple of days off - leaving us stranded in Las Vegas for an extra 5 days.
I can't even bring myself to give them any type of rating. They placed our oldest son with us. While I am grateful for that, that is about all. Their social worker dropped him off at our motel, we signed papers, she asked for the clothes back that he had on (so he came to us in a blanket and diaper) and that is the last we saw of her. The only phone calls that we received were from AnnaMarie wanting to know where her check was! At the time of our finalization (up until then we had heard nothing from her) we were contacted and she tried to tell us our finalization was illegal! Claiming we had not summited all the necessary paperwork. We also lost any money that was put in trust for possible counseling and they claimed it had been used to off set additional costs. Needless to say, they really need to be put out of business. I make sure to spread the word whenever the topic of adoption comes up.
They are legally "selling" babies -meaning that they allow birthmothers to extort families for astronomical amounts of money right before the baby is due. They need to be put out of business. Never ever use these horrible people
I find it hard to believe that the positive postings about this agency are posted by people unrelated to this agency--unless there is a branch somewhere in the country with completely different workers. We did not imagine our experience at all...we were treated rudely and unprofessionally every step of the way, and we watched everyone around us treated equally as poorly as well. We initially vowed to never adopt again (before there became a problem with our adoption), because we never wanted to be treated this way again.
If you really have had a positive experience with this agency, great. But for others out there, we just want to warn you to prepare yourself for unpleasant treatment. As my adoption was failing, I was told I could not talk to this agency about stress since I had never had a baby ripped out of my arms (apparently, I only qualified to talk about stress once I experienced the actual pain a month later). The day our baby was returned after 3 months in our care, they tried to offer us another baby (before the transfer even occurred). And finally, when our baby girl was a few minutes late for the transfer, they left threats on our answering machine to call the FBI.
You'd think we were making this up, but we are not. We haven't even mentioned all the negative things we heard this agency say about both birth parents thorughout our failed adoption process. Adoptive parents, please be aware. If you are callous and don't mind poor quality treatment (including being accused of missing paperwork you have already provided, being given wrong advice, and being insulted throughout the adoption process), go ahead and use this agency. By the goodness of God, not this agency, you might end up with a wonderful baby despite the way this agency has treated so many of the rest of us. If there is a good office out there, by all means, please share where it is. If you say it's in Poulsbo, then I find it hard to believe it's true. We had anything but a pleasant experience with them (with anyone other than their attorney, Carol Rainey), and would have felt the same way whether or not our adoption went through. We cannot believe how different we have subsequently found other agencies to be.
I have adopted from ACD and have referred many clients to them and will continue to do so. It seems to me that some of you are very negative and not seeing the full picture. If someone at the agency does not worry about handling the funds then there will no more adoption. The agency has to pay the attorney's, social workers, and all fee's to the particular providers. If they do not have the money in their account how are they supposed to pay the professionals? Sounds like common sense to me. Please always remember there are two sides to a story and we have only heard yours. You all sound so angry when you should be grateful. Most of you sound like your are very bitter and your lashing out at the agency. If only we lived in a prefect world, but we don't. I can't see this agency and any of their employees that I work with being mean sprited. They were more than kind to us and everyone else I have referred so why not look deep into your hearts and try to remember the truth about your adoption. Also, as far as communication I (we) have always been able to get a hold of someone at the agency.. I Love ACD and very very grateful for my child and will go back to adopt another. Tabitha
Yes all these comments are negative and it has nothing to do with the adoptions not going the way we want. You talk about focusing on the children, that is what ACD should be doing? We are focusing on the children, afterall that is why we are adopting. The common theme in most of these posts is that ACD is more concerned about the money than about dotting all their i's and crossing all their t's. They have used funds designated for one thing to offset other things. They can't even keep track of who their own employees are! I'm glad that your 2 adoptions went well, I'm also thankful that my 1 adoption was eventually finalized. But if you truely read all these posts then you would know that was not always the case. My hope and the hopes of several other people unfortunate enough to have gotten involved with ACD hope that we can keep some other families from having to go through what we did. You make us sound like a bunch of little kids throwing a temper tantrum. Wish it was that simple. You should take note that you are one to a whole list of others.
I have a question regarding the funds you say were misused...when you are matched, I know they give you an expense ESTIMATE. Sometimes things were more then first ESTIMATED. Did you stop to think that rather then going to you for more money, they used the money that was in your trust account already? Also after two years, I got a full accounting on both my adoptions and was able to see where the funds were paid. Most agency's don't even do that. I have friends that have gone through other agency's and they never even see where the fee's are spent other then an initial estimate. There has to be a reason Anamarie called you regarding finalization, not just to be mean. I know my attorney had to write a letter requesting any documents she needed. When they received my post placement reports, they audited my file and I had to send them a couple of documents. Once I got them what they needed, they sent my attorney the documents and their agency consent. That is protocol for all adoptions. I don't know where your adoption took place, but some of the states they are in have more then one person working on cases. Did they ask you who your social worker was and you took that as they didn't know who their employee's are? I think you are right, some of you do sound like your throwing a temper tantrum, but like I said it's just an observation....
I have had two extremely successful adoptions with A Child's Dream. While I understand that not every adoption is successful, I cannot help but notice almost all of you who have posted negative things, had successful adoptions and are able to hold your child. It seems to me a lot of you hold grudges, because it didn't go the way you wanted it to. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes when this agency is working on your behalf to make sure the adoption goes through. I think instead of just tearing an agency apart we should really focus on the children and the fact is, if they were not part of the process we would not have the children we do.
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Reviews
We will do everything we can
Our experience was so miserable from start to finish. Before we even realized our adoption would end in failure, we had decided we would not adopt a second child because of how unpleasant this agency was to work with. We've subsequently learned that the whole adoption community isn't like ACD, and adoption agencies actually can be nice to adoptive parents. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to adopt with one of the nice ones.
In the mean time, we just want to prevent other adoptive parents from having to go through the same experiences we did. One of the worst things about working with ACD was being treated so rudely while having to bite our tongue as much as possible for fear they would disrupt the adopton if we said anything wrong. As our adoption was starting to fail, they confronted me on my probably less than kind behavior toward them. When I apologized and tried explaining I was under a bit of stress but had been expecting better service (after they made us wait 2 extra hours at the hospital the night our girl was discharged so they could go out to dinner, had us fly to town 2 weeks earlier than needed before the baby was born, and refused to help when our ICPC process got hung up, resulting in us being out of town for a total of 5 weeks--not to mention all the other rude, confusing, or untrue statements they made to us along the way), they told me I couldn't talk to them about stress until I had a baby ripped out of my arms. Since our adoption ended in failure three months after our girl was born, I guess I now qualify to talk to them about stress...although I hope I never have to.
A Parent's Nightmare--Please Don't Use Them
We were told to disregard negative posts about this agency, and now are trying to prevent others from making the same mistake we did. Both adoptive and birth parents need and deserve honesty, compassion, and respect from the people helping them through the adoption process.Somewhere along the way, this agency has lost sight of these basic human needs, as the people at this agency provide anything but these qualities.
We hope and pray that there is another agency out there that can help us fulfill our dream of adoption. We are just starting to work with the regulators to help us recover from our losses with this agency, and want to warn others to avoid them lest your heart be broken too. Please send us a private message if you would like your voice to be heard with the regulators, are willing to provide character witness against them, or would simply like to learn of a few simple mistakes and pitfalls to avoid.
my worst nightmare
I totally agree with the above posts. When I saw this rating website, I immediately looked them up. That is exactly how I found them. It was our first experience in adoption, and it nearly turned into my last. After some research I found they are the exception, rather than the rule. Oops, I have to give them a star... oh well, I didn't waste much money on them.
A Parent's Nightmare
Is there a way to rate them in negative stars?
Unethical, corrupt, incompetent, rude are just some of the adjectives that come to mind. I can't imagine a worse agency to use. In the end our adoption was successful despite them. The only positive thing i can say is that the lawyer they had us use (Carol Rainey) seemed ok.
They need to be shut down, i wish we had been warned of these con artists.
Not for Children
The communication lines at ACD are horrible. We had the worst time getting hold of anybody to get our questions answered. We finally made contact with AnnaMarie and were treated like criminals for simply trying to clarify our responsibilities. She actually threatened to give our daughter to another couple after we had held her in our arms! I have never been treated so poorly. And the pricing is all "ala carte" .... the basic fee for ACD is comparable to other agencies, but ACD adds all basic costs in addition to the fee where other agencies include most costs as part of the fee. These people are in the business for the money, not for the children. I should add that their social worker Susan was very helpful, although she did not get support from the head office to handle our case when she had to take a couple of days off - leaving us stranded in Las Vegas for an extra 5 days.
A Child's Dream is anything but
I can't even bring myself to give them any type of rating. They placed our oldest son with us. While I am grateful for that, that is about all. Their social worker dropped him off at our motel, we signed papers, she asked for the clothes back that he had on (so he came to us in a blanket and diaper) and that is the last we saw of her. The only phone calls that we received were from AnnaMarie wanting to know where her check was! At the time of our finalization (up until then we had heard nothing from her) we were contacted and she tried to tell us our finalization was illegal! Claiming we had not summited all the necessary paperwork. We also lost any money that was put in trust for possible counseling and they claimed it had been used to off set additional costs. Needless to say, they really need to be put out of business. I make sure to spread the word whenever the topic of adoption comes up.
They are legally "selling"
They are legally "selling" babies -meaning that they allow birthmothers to extort families for astronomical amounts of money right before the baby is due. They need to be put out of business. Never ever use these horrible people
This agency is unethical and
This agency is unethical and terrible. Words cannot express how bad this agency is. Please, never, ever, ever consider using this agency.
Are the positive Postings Real or Plants?
I find it hard to believe that the positive postings about this agency are posted by people unrelated to this agency--unless there is a branch somewhere in the country with completely different workers. We did not imagine our experience at all...we were treated rudely and unprofessionally every step of the way, and we watched everyone around us treated equally as poorly as well. We initially vowed to never adopt again (before there became a problem with our adoption), because we never wanted to be treated this way again.
If you really have had a positive experience with this agency, great. But for others out there, we just want to warn you to prepare yourself for unpleasant treatment. As my adoption was failing, I was told I could not talk to this agency about stress since I had never had a baby ripped out of my arms (apparently, I only qualified to talk about stress once I experienced the actual pain a month later). The day our baby was returned after 3 months in our care, they tried to offer us another baby (before the transfer even occurred). And finally, when our baby girl was a few minutes late for the transfer, they left threats on our answering machine to call the FBI.
You'd think we were making this up, but we are not. We haven't even mentioned all the negative things we heard this agency say about both birth parents thorughout our failed adoption process. Adoptive parents, please be aware. If you are callous and don't mind poor quality treatment (including being accused of missing paperwork you have already provided, being given wrong advice, and being insulted throughout the adoption process), go ahead and use this agency. By the goodness of God, not this agency, you might end up with a wonderful baby despite the way this agency has treated so many of the rest of us. If there is a good office out there, by all means, please share where it is. If you say it's in Poulsbo, then I find it hard to believe it's true. We had anything but a pleasant experience with them (with anyone other than their attorney, Carol Rainey), and would have felt the same way whether or not our adoption went through. We cannot believe how different we have subsequently found other agencies to be.
Successful
I have adopted from ACD and have referred many clients to them and will continue to do so. It seems to me that some of you are very negative and not seeing the full picture. If someone at the agency does not worry about handling the funds then there will no more adoption. The agency has to pay the attorney's, social workers, and all fee's to the particular providers. If they do not have the money in their account how are they supposed to pay the professionals? Sounds like common sense to me. Please always remember there are two sides to a story and we have only heard yours. You all sound so angry when you should be grateful. Most of you sound like your are very bitter and your lashing out at the agency. If only we lived in a prefect world, but we don't. I can't see this agency and any of their employees that I work with being mean sprited. They were more than kind to us and everyone else I have referred so why not look deep into your hearts and try to remember the truth about your adoption. Also, as far as communication I (we) have always been able to get a hold of someone at the agency.. I Love ACD and very very grateful for my child and will go back to adopt another. Tabitha
Are you truely observing?
Yes all these comments are negative and it has nothing to do with the adoptions not going the way we want. You talk about focusing on the children, that is what ACD should be doing? We are focusing on the children, afterall that is why we are adopting. The common theme in most of these posts is that ACD is more concerned about the money than about dotting all their i's and crossing all their t's. They have used funds designated for one thing to offset other things. They can't even keep track of who their own employees are! I'm glad that your 2 adoptions went well, I'm also thankful that my 1 adoption was eventually finalized. But if you truely read all these posts then you would know that was not always the case. My hope and the hopes of several other people unfortunate enough to have gotten involved with ACD hope that we can keep some other families from having to go through what we did. You make us sound like a bunch of little kids throwing a temper tantrum. Wish it was that simple. You should take note that you are one to a whole list of others.
More then an observation
I have a question regarding the funds you say were misused...when you are matched, I know they give you an expense ESTIMATE. Sometimes things were more then first ESTIMATED. Did you stop to think that rather then going to you for more money, they used the money that was in your trust account already? Also after two years, I got a full accounting on both my adoptions and was able to see where the funds were paid. Most agency's don't even do that. I have friends that have gone through other agency's and they never even see where the fee's are spent other then an initial estimate. There has to be a reason Anamarie called you regarding finalization, not just to be mean. I know my attorney had to write a letter requesting any documents she needed. When they received my post placement reports, they audited my file and I had to send them a couple of documents. Once I got them what they needed, they sent my attorney the documents and their agency consent. That is protocol for all adoptions. I don't know where your adoption took place, but some of the states they are in have more then one person working on cases. Did they ask you who your social worker was and you took that as they didn't know who their employee's are? I think you are right, some of you do sound like your throwing a temper tantrum, but like I said it's just an observation....
Just an observation
I have had two extremely successful adoptions with A Child's Dream. While I understand that not every adoption is successful, I cannot help but notice almost all of you who have posted negative things, had successful adoptions and are able to hold your child. It seems to me a lot of you hold grudges, because it didn't go the way you wanted it to. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes when this agency is working on your behalf to make sure the adoption goes through. I think instead of just tearing an agency apart we should really focus on the children and the fact is, if they were not part of the process we would not have the children we do.