Adoption Agency Ratings

I cannot believe some of the negative comments. We must not be referring to the same agency! Adopting through Christian Adoption Services has been an awesome experience. We were fortunate enough to adopt twice through them. We keep in contact with each of our children's birth mothers and they too have had a great experience through a difficult circumstance. CAS even offers a yearly retreat to birth mothers which I think is such a ministry. Money was never made to be an issue for us. They provideded services and we paid for the services. By the way, we are not rich by any means but a very blessed and happy family. CAS has not only been an adoption agency to us and all of the other many families that we've been able to get to know at the gatherings, but they truly are a ministry in every aspect!!! I would highly recommend them.

This is in response to Adoptee's post Thu, 07/24/2008 - 12:45pm and also to the negative poster.

Adoptee, you say that you have noticed that all the positive stories are being posted by one person. I'm not sure how you can make that type of assessment when all the positive comments I've seen have been posted at random times, dates, and spread out over several months. But, almost half the negative comments on here were posted during a 1 to 2 hour timeframe on 6/18/2008 and all anonymous....I think 6 out of all 13 negative comments were posted within that window. I find that highly suspicious, but you make no comment of that nor the hateful posts from someone using the account name of "jim the snake" or "doris the turtle".

As I sit here and read these negative posts, it's apparent that the person writing these negative comments could be a current or former disgruntled employee. I say that because neither I nor any regular adoptive parent would ever use abbreviations like "bm" for birth mother or "sw" for social workers. I had to read the posts a few times before I understood what the abbreviations were in reference to. These abbreviations would be used by someone that works in the adoption field. Also, it seems like the poster knows details about a lot of different cases which confirms my suspicion.

I think you're cover is now blown and I hope the agency sees this post and has an investigation to find out who you really are! I will certainly share my thoughts with them. What you are doing is very unprofessional, unethical and not the attitude of a Christian. You are not helping anyone with your negative posts and are playing with the lives of prospective adoptive parents and these helpless children who need to be placed in a good, loving Christian home. As I sit here and read these negative posts I am thinking to myself, if I saw negative comments like these several years ago when I was researching adoption agencies, I may have been scared away from using this agency and I would not have the two beautiful children I have today. We are so perfectly matched for each other that I can only believe that it was God's plan to place them with us and I can't imagine raising anyone else over these past few years. I am not here to judge anyone, only God can do that. I just hope and pray that this person looks deep inside themselves and realize how their personal vendetta will affect the lives of many innocent children and couples that cannot have children of their own. This is what I find very sad and disturbing and I hope everyone reading the review prays for this person.

I only became aware of this site when a colleague told me that they came across this site and saw the negative comments. Which person from CAS is posting all the glowing reports you ask? It's plain and simple...it's not a CAS employee but it's all the adoptive families that have used CAS and are shocked at the negative comments being posted. I am not a paid employee of CAS, but have been a two-time adoption client of CAS and have had nothing but positive experiences through my two adoptions. If and when I plan to have my third adoption, it will no doubt be through this agency. I regularly attend their annual family day picnics, their annual Christmas Parties, and one of the adoption support group's annual pool parties. I get the opportunity to interact with a lot of adoptive parents like myself as well as prospective adoptive parents that attend these events and I have not heard one single complaint from anyone with regards to CAS. These folks have had nothing but good things to say about Jim, Doris and the agency. If this agency is as bad as you claim, then there wouldn't have been anywhere near the 200 people that showed up to this year's family day picnic.

I am not saying that it's impossible for people to have negative experiences with this agency or any other agency and I'm sure there may have been. Any great company, firm or agency has had clients/customers that have had a negative experience no matter how great their customer service track record. And people have the right to share that experience. When I have an issue or complaint, I call or write the company with my complaint and allow them the opportunity to resolve the issue. If you've had an issue with the agency, then did you bring up to the attention of Jim or Doris? If the issue was not resolved to your satisfaction, you could have and should have brought it to the attention of their Board of Directors, but it’s apparent that did not happen. I myself felt a level of frustration during the adoption process, but it was out of the agency’s control and I recognized that. I still, however, voiced my frustration with Jim and he provided me with reassurance, gave me updates on the frequent phone calls to the country we were adopting from and provided me with some other options and avenues that I could take.

There is a way to provide a review that is constructive to those reading it and you have not done that. The negative comments I see are mostly those bashing the agency and making a personal attack on the directors (Jim and Doris) themselves. While many of us are sleeping at night, Jim is on the phone with various countries to gather information for those families awaiting international adoptions. I work for a financial institution and I know what it’s like to have conference calls scheduled in Asia where there’s a 12-hour time difference or Europe which is a 5-6 hour time difference. This requires me to wake up really early or stay up really late to make these calls. And if you call Asia looking to speak with someone specifically and you're told they're not available until 2pm, that means you need to call back at 2am EST. Jim does this more often than you or I can image and despite having to stay up all night, he makes himself available to you and I during the agency’s normal working hour. This is just an example of his dedication to his clients and the agency.

Our experience with CAS has been positive and NO we haven't been paid to post a positive comment here! I suspect if any comments are being fabricated, it is the negative ones.

I'm sorry I can't add to the pile of negative comments.

I am the Executive Director of a Christian maternity home program in Charlotte, NC. I have worked in this capacity for about five years and have over 10 additional years of experience in working with families in crisis through a county department of Social Services. I wanted to share my professional and personal assessment of Christian Adoption Services.

The Lord has used the ministry of CAS to change my heart regarding the issue of adoption. The adoptions that I had experienced in the past had occurred through the government operated Dept. of Social Services. Children were removed from biological families against their will, due to neglect and abuse issues. Many of these children had lived in numerous foster homes and had emotional problems due to their circumstances. These adopted children were never infants as the court system had given the biological family chance after chance to improve their situation in order to have their children returned to their care. Adoptive parents came from all kinds of backgrounds (including couples with two dads and two moms) and with all kinds of different motivations to adopt. Many of these adoptions were very challenging.

I have experienced a whole different scenario with CAS. Pregnant women are loved and nurtured as they struggle to develop the best plan for themselves and their baby for the future. The needs of the biological mother and her child are the priority. And, the adoptive families that I have met through CAS have expressed that they also have felt nurtured and cared for by the agency. Birthmoms that choose adoption are able to embrace their choice because they believe that their love for their baby has empowered them to provide the best life possible for their child. The annual birthmother's retreats are a time to celebrate the lives that the children are experiencing with their adoptive families and to celebrate the fact that the birthmothers have moved in a direction that will also assure that their own future will be more positive.

I don't want the negative impressions of a few to influence your perceptions of CAS. Those comments do not support my experience.

I can understand the desire to withhold names from comments offered through a website such as this one but- I have such confidence regarding my beliefs about this agency that I would like to provide you with the means to contact me for additional information. Feel free to check in with me via email at ddurrell10@aol.com. I do not work for CAS and do not receive any compensation from that ministry. Nor am I interested in adopting. My own two children are college age. CAS is a blessing to the ministry that I direct. I am sorry that some people have come away from their experience with CAS staff with such negative impressions and I hope that these concerns have been communicated directly with agency staff prior to voicing them through this website.

The issue of adoption is very emotionally charged. For those that have made negative statements regarding their CAS experience, I will pray that the Lord will open your heart to work through your feelings and to resolve any conflicts that you might have with the agency. We are doing an excellent study at my organization. It is called- The Peace Maker- A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. It is by Ken Sande. Christians can be so hard on each other. Is CAS perfect? No, and neither is the ministry that I am involved with. But Ephesians 4:15 tells us that "speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ". It is my desire to build up those that are seeking to accomplish God's purposes in the area of adoption. Thank you CAS for all you do for moms, babies and adoptive couples. I know that God is pleased.

I agree with the above comment. Our first adoption through them was good. When we decided to adopt again, we were treated as a cash cow to them. Given that we did not have a huge home and lots of money, we were bumped down to the bottom of the pile. We were offered a very high risk adoption. The bm had bought her baby many items, yet the agency did not see this as a red flag?! I had been sick the night before, I ended up in the ER! I was so excited to be a mom again, that we went on. I was excited about my new dd, but still not 100% myself. The directors wife, made me feel like I was this awful person for not being all excited. I was not well!! We bring baby home and withing 24 hrs, she is reclaimed by bm. The agency demanded that my husband return the baby to the closest sw's home. How nice would it have been if THEY came for her? After that, they told me that it happens & get over it....
Three months later, another baby. This time, I had bonding issues. They told us that since this was another legal risk adoption, for us to stay home until the legal risk days were over per our state. I felt like I was babysitting someone in the Witness Protection Program! I even reached out to my new sw with my concerns. Instead of offering me help, she went behind my back and made arrangements, via the agencies blessings to place the baby in another home! No help was offered. They even had the gall to suggest that my very young child stay and see them take this baby away...I had a grandparent take him for the day. Thank God he was way too young to understand what was going on!!
Would I recommend this agency? If you are comfortable with high risk adoptions and owners that treat you as money/profits and not humans with feelings, than I say best of luck to you. If you want a true Christain agency that looks out for the needs of you and all parties, then I suggest you search some where else.

I am so sorry they treated you like that. It seems many familes have had to deal with such disrespect and cruelness. I hope that you have peace and that you are able to put this behind you, though, no doubt you are scarred from this. May you and your special family be blessed!

Anyone reading this, please research CAS before you proceed! I woud hate to see more stories like this.....

Our family has adopted FOUR separate times through CAS and we have nothing but praise for this agency!
They are personable, easy to reach by phone or email and they shoot straight - no false promises! There is a low turnover at the agency so many of the same staff members who walked us through our first adoption are there to cheer us on as we welcome our fourth adopted child home. Their fees are lower than many agencies we investigated and they have a good working relationship with the foreign country from which we adopt.
I can't help but wonder if the few negative reviews here (all posted around the same time) are from one disillusioned client? There's no way to know for sure but it is my hope and prayer that three year old negative comments that seem suspiciously close together will not dissuade any family from using CAS. We can not recommend them highly enough.

Sincerely,
Nikki
Mom to Many

Just would like to give my two cents worth. This agency is wonderful and Christian in every way. They helped to answer our prayer to have a child and gave us the education needed to promote a healthy adoption for our son. We could not be more pleased with our dealings with them,. We will forever be grateful to this agency and dedicated staff. We are thankful too for their ministry to the birth families.

I think that there are good and bad things about this agency. I think yes they are disorganized, and with that they misplace things. I think yes they are under staffed. I think that they do REALLY CARE about the birth families. I think that they try to offer good things for the adoptive couples the training classes that they have been both good and disorganized at times.

Jim and Doris do still run the agency, but they are not the only ones in the agency. We worked with this amazing young social worker that runs the Rocky Mount office for CAS. After being matched with a birthmother. We contacted the director of the Rocky Mount office for updates while we waited cause we were unable to reach Doris for updates. We were less frustrated once we were able to talk to someone that REALLY cared about us. I do feel like the social workers really care deeply about the birth families and want to give these children a good home. In reality it is like they are the ones that are running the domestic program.

I found the number in the phone book. The sw was really sweet! After much discussion, I felt making an adoption plan for my daughter was the right thing.........then after the adoption, I wanted to send something to the family that adopted my daughter. I was told that they refused anything from me. After calling my sw and even calling another one from another part of the state, found out they DID want my update! CAS LIED to ME!! WHY????? They promised me so many things and I was lied to. If you are considering them as adoptive families or if you are a birth mom or birth mom to be, please consider other agencies. These people will say anything to get your baby!!!!

This agency deserves a negative comment as there is nothing positive that we have to say about them....
Christian Adoption Services should change their name as they are not Christian at all. If you EVER desire to have a child placed in your arms then CHOOSE ANOTHER AGENCY.
They try to strong arm you into taking a child of a specific race that you are not comfortable with (esp. AfricanAmerican/White) and cannot except your limitations. They make you come to meet with them after the homestudy has been completed for a "couch session" with the supervisor of the domestic program and while there you are asked to be more open to paying a mother's medical bills on top of the exorbitant fees that they already charge and to take on a special needs child and to change your race preferences to suit what they think you should adopt.
The supervisor later told us after months and months of waiting (after we pressed for the information) that our profile was not good and that things in it should be changed. We wasted so much time when the same person told us in the beginning that it was good. We feel decieved and lied to and now we are tied into them financially and can either loose big $ or stay and wait it out. I no longer wait for the phone to ring as I know that they NEVER return phone calls no matter how many times that we call. We are told to email communication and that does not work either as no one responds to that. They lost our paperwork and blamed it on everyone else and then all of a sudden MONTHS later found it. All in all our checks were cashed very fast and they were more than happy to require payment for services asap even though they offered us nothing in return for what we paid.
We feel less than a customer and not at all like the "family" that they try to portray. Only those who are inside of the program know the frustrations, anger and anxiety that go along with having your dreams crushed by choosing a bad adoption agency. RUN FROM THEM---this agency's supervisors are putting a bad name in the adoption community and they should be stopped. I am going to start contacting other families who are discontent so that this can stop. They need a whole new focus as they are not focused on the families at all but rather lining their pockets with the money that innocent people have trusted them with and then get nothing in return.

Be very careful with this agency. We were taken for a long ride and I cannot in good faith advise anyone to use them! :(

I have lost ALL parental rights to my two children.Only a year1/2 ago.My children were taken from me.I am a recovering addict and,needless to mention,I was reported and it seemed like just when I got close enough to regain custody,CSB always put more obstacles in front of me.I went to rehab,got clean,but by then,they permenatly took my children.From the beginning,the cw did not support my reinification.She assumed that,because of my past,I could not provide for my kids. Yes, I did drugs,but I never neglected my kids and they were loved by me and their father.When I would go to my visits to see them,it was like my oldest was a different child.I do beleive he was traumatized by his abrupt departure from me.So pretty much,my point is this:drug addicts can be good parents,and I beleive,in my case,taking my children from me only made things worse because they were thrown into an envirment that they had no clue was going to happen.At the end of our visits,my son looked into my eyes and spoke to me with them and he wondered why he could not come home with me.I did everything I was supposed to do to get my children back and I was too late.Even when I try to do the right thing,I still failed.
Today,I live with only their memory,pictures,
and keep them in my heart.On their b-days,I send them their gifts and for this past Christmas,I made them a scrapbook of our lives together so they will always know their REAL mommy loved them.I pray every,single night for them to get the love they so much need and deserve.
To dea with my loses and guilt,I write.I am finishing up my manuscript.I have a few publishers interested and I plan on making my point,somehow.I just want to know they are okay and I cannot get over the fact that I lost them.But,I am working on making it up to them and giving them the validation they deserve.