We had a TERRIBLE experience with CWA. Every detail we were told was a lie, and they are very unprofessional! They are rude and lack communication. When we tried to communicate with them, they were rude and cut us off. When we then reported them to BBB, they tried to have all our children removed from our home! They will do anything to over power and scare the families they are dealing with, IF you contridict or question them in ANY way.
I STRONGLY question their ethics!!
I would be very careful. They are connected with AMREX bankruptcy. They endorse the new SAM software that is the son who of the man who started AMREX. The son claims to not have connections with father-but the bankruptcy court says they live together. It is the same AMREX software product-just updated. AMREX left tons of would be parents in the cold-so why would a "so called" Christian agency do business with them, pubically support them and help keep supporting these adoption scammers? I would ask if they are also using JAIN adopt to facilitate their adoptions?
I have used CWA and will never use them again unless I see a major change in them. They hide behind scripture to act in unethical ways and then slam people who dare to question them by saying things like, "the devil is against all the good we are doing." They refuse to take ownership for mistakes, and readily lie rather than fess up to even honest mistakes. And they don't want families to find out the truth about their adopted children's pasts. The regularly lie and say that certain laws prevent them from giving out information about birth families, when the truth is they either don't want to be bothered with adoptive families asking questions, or they have serious things to hide. They make up "laws" to suit their needs. And, they often treat clients condescendingly. Plus, they ask you to sign away your right to go to court when you sign on with them. Surely that alone should set off warning bells!
I also find it interesting when people have these "fantastic" experiences with them and they often post before their adoptions are finalized. Of course, if you adopt a baby, how would you ever know the truth about her past? If I were going to choose an agency, I'd interview people who have adopted older kids through the agency and ask if truth came to light later that didn't match what they were first told.
I'm sure some people do have great experiences, but I know of people who had problems, and were hung out to dry, then lies are told publically to make the people who were wronged look like they made a mistake, not CWA.
Also, I would want to know why a Christian agency has so many negative posts on adoption boards? Most Christians stay away from "getting into it" against "fellow" christians. There must be something there for people to be willing to post personal stories in public places. Check the BBB, check with other families. There are some ethical agencies out there, but my personal experience showed me that CWA is not one of them.
Poor communication. The program coordinator never responded to emails and was slow at returning phone calls. As long as you have no issues, CWA may be the great, wonderful, warm, caring people you mention. However, if you ask too many questions, it is not a great, wonderful, warm, and fabulous experience.
As someone who wanted to adopt from Guatemala, they stopped me from starting my paperwork SIX MONTHS before the actual shutdown occurred. That meant I am now delayed indefinitely or permanently depending on who you ask. They took SIX WEEKS to tell me that they didn't want to start my paperwork AND have not yet refunded my money.
We were very disappointed with CWA's lack of awareness about requirements for adoption from Kazakhstan. They led us to believe that if one of us was a US Citizen we were okay to adopt from there. I came to find out from another adoption community dedicated to Az-Kaz that both had to be US citizens. Apparently other agencies were aware of this and people working with many other agencies already knew this and alerted me. I was able to verify that by talking to the Kaz. Council Gen. within 3 days, whereas our CWA case worker kept giving us the runaround for weeks! We were so disappointed we decided to not work with CWA any more. We are very happy with our two children adopted internationally WITHOUT CWA's help~
CWA has persistently prvided us with either no communication or
blatantly misleading information. For example, they knowingly did not inform us of new adoption age restrictions in the Ukraine and then, when brought to their attention, their Ukraine caseworker devised a very questionable scheme in order for us to circumvent this. Recently, they have also advised us that we may be unable to adopt "from all provinces" in Russia due to a > 10 year old misdemeanor although they have NEVER even reviewed our homestudy or explanation of this event. Apparently, after taking our initial"non-refundable" fee of $2500, they have completely lost interest and are now refusing to answer all calls or e-mails. They clearly only care about the money.
Interesting that all of the "glowing" reviews only came after the negative reviews were posted. Although we were in the Russia program and had problems in country its how we were treated by the US staff that makes us livid. I thought we were the only ones threatened but it seems that Brad experienced the same thing. What's a Christian agency doing threatening you because you report their bad service. I'm sure if nothing goes wrong they are fine but look out if there is a problem. It's your problem and they will not only leave you hanging they will run as fast as they can and tell everyone else it's your fault. Look out PAPs!
Okay Mark. Guess what. Since your "adoption agency" allows our ethical, above-board and non-profit adoption agency BUILDING BLOCKS to use YOUR CHINESE PROGRAM to umbrella under, guess what. Since you have all the answers about the money laundering crew of Zasyatkin & Zasyatkin, WE'VE GOT A FEW MORE QUESTIONS.
You see Mark, we've been down a while clocking Amrex. And, well, I just know that you've been to our website. If not, educate yourself: www.bewareofbbas.org
For your information, this exchange will be up on our website later - we are in the midst of updating it. With a separate page for all of the Amrex millionaires.
Where is Sergey Zasyatkin living now if he's not living with Dmitriy?
How can a son, who worked at Amrex and whose resume claims to have worked at other Amrex companies, NOT have ties with his father? Do you know Dmitriy personally?
Did you know Dmitriy's name is listed on the WHOIS search for JAIN's URL?
Oh, and Mark, you really gotta let Denise Hubbard & Richard J. Marco, Jr. NOT have your agency's name on their website for their China program. That was just a really stupid error on their part. We've seen it, and it will be noted.
The people working in the Guatemala program were extreamly over worked - though they tried there best. Emails and phone messages were returned immediatley before we received our referral but not after. They promised us we would be parents and bring home a child, and that did happened with the first adoption. (The attorney and foster family were wonderful and even though there were a few bumps in the road everything turned out okay).
The second adoption didn't have a happy ending. The birth mother changed her mind shortly after the baby was born. We had a difficult time getting information from CWA. It was heartbraking for us but we also understood the pain the birth mother was suffering. CWA was not very caring and compassinate to us once we suffered this loss. It was pure business. We were offered if we wanted to get on a list for another referral. We wanted our money back but never got it. Plus they immediatly blocked our internet access to there site which we paid for. They did not play nice.
All in all we have a wonderful, healthy, happy child and we are very greatful for that, However when things go wrong praying isn't the entire solution - you really need to think and use the brain the good Lord gave you.
Adoptions are very emotional and require much patience. CWA could use a lot of improvement when adoptions turn sour.
We have two children through international adoption and we used CWA to bring them both home. Our caseworkers (two different countries) were both very responsive and seemed to truly care about our concerns and our children. We highly recommend CWA to anyone and will definitely use them again in the future! It's too bad all those negative comments came first :(
We arrived home from Ethiopia with our son 3 weeks ago. The team was nothing but helpful. Emails and voicemails were returned with in 24 hours. Everything in country was perfect. We have even received help from an Amharic speaking case worker when we had a few problems understanding our son. This is our second adoption and if we decide to adopt again we wouldn't hesitate to use CWA.
I truly do not understand all these negative comments! CWA has been a delight to work with, and we would not even consider using another agency for a future adoption. We are almost done with the process to adopt four older children thru' CWA's Waiting Child Program. We plan to travel sometime in July (Lord willing) to bring our new sons home. We have not had any troubles at all with CWA, and in fact have found them to be honest and above-board in all their dealings.
I have nothing bad to say about CWA. I don't quite understand the others' bad comments. From the very beginning, CWA has been very quick to answer all my questions. I have emailed and called and dealt with several different people. No one has treated me any less that I expected. In fact when comparing them with other agencies, they were quicker to reply and more or in some cases just as friendly as others. I am super happy with them, their knowledge of the adoption process, and their care for my family's adoption. I would highly recommend them.
I am shocked to read the above negative comments about CWA, as our experience with them in the Guatemala program was very positive. We received constant communication and far more information about our child's birth family than we ever expected. I have highly recommended them to many friends, and they have had great experiences as well. In addition, our child has had some on-going adoption related trauma issues, and their follow-up care with us has been great.
We love Christian World Adoption! This is our third adoption (first two from China, this one from Ethiopia), but only our first with CWA. Assuming we adopt again, we plan to use this agency -- we'd be idiots to go with anyone else! Our case workers have been so kind and helpful, not at all like the hostile, officious people we've dealt with in the past. CWA comes with our very highest recommendation.
I think CWA is the greatest and had a wonderful experience with them. I adopted from China and CWA's China team is outstanding! With a LID of 09-05, I got caught up in the great slow down and the case managers were open and honest during my entire wait. When asked specific questions, they would answer honestly even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. If they didn't know the answer, they immediately said they didn't know what would happen. They kept the communication lines completely open and always responded to any question no matter how trivial.
In China, CWA takes complete and total care of their families. I never had to worry about a thing. Even when there were problems, the CWA staff took care of it all.
My sister used a different agency when she adopted her son from Korea. We have compared the two and I have found that CWA is the best. If I adopt again I will only use CWA. If my sis adopts again, she might not use her original agency. I think a true indicator of a great agency is if their clients will only use them again. The agency my sis used is a good agency however CWA is a great agency.
We are in the midst of our 2nd adoption, first with CWA. The difference between the two agencies is amazing and CWA is the best.
First, the planner they give adoptive families is an incredible resource. I have only had one or two small questions that I could not find answers to in this resource.
Second, the weekly communication from your case manager deals with what is happening in the world of adoptions that week -- for example, they deal directly with "rumors" that are flying around, doing their best to address them with facts. Our other agency also sent out a weekly update, but you could tell they were sent out by a formula (for example, in week of 40 our wait, we received information about our "upcoming referral" -- even though we were no where near referral at that point in time, obviously week 40 made sense in prior years for referral information).
Third, email or phone questions are answered promptly --- in many cases in minutes!
I have been so impressed with CWA. I would recommend them to everyone who is considering adoption. I have yet to travel, but I understand that their travel guides are the best out there.
Oh, and there is a wonderful client forum board that is the most encouraging and supportive group of people I've met. Excellent agency, highly recommended!
First class, very caring, extremely ethical, wonderfully supportive during travel; adopting through CWA you will gain a whole new family of people that care about you.
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Reviews
HORRID AGENCY!!!
We had a TERRIBLE experience with CWA. Every detail we were told was a lie, and they are very unprofessional! They are rude and lack communication. When we tried to communicate with them, they were rude and cut us off. When we then reported them to BBB, they tried to have all our children removed from our home! They will do anything to over power and scare the families they are dealing with, IF you contridict or question them in ANY way.
I STRONGLY question their ethics!!
CWA supports new AMREX software
I would be very careful. They are connected with AMREX bankruptcy. They endorse the new SAM software that is the son who of the man who started AMREX. The son claims to not have connections with father-but the bankruptcy court says they live together. It is the same AMREX software product-just updated. AMREX left tons of would be parents in the cold-so why would a "so called" Christian agency do business with them, pubically support them and help keep supporting these adoption scammers? I would ask if they are also using JAIN adopt to facilitate their adoptions?
Here are some links:
http://softwareforadoptionmanagement.com/Testimonials.aspx
http://softwareforadoptionmanagement.com/What_Drives_Us.aspx
http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/14125
Beware!!!
CWA, Christian World Adoption, unethical
I have used CWA and will never use them again unless I see a major change in them. They hide behind scripture to act in unethical ways and then slam people who dare to question them by saying things like, "the devil is against all the good we are doing." They refuse to take ownership for mistakes, and readily lie rather than fess up to even honest mistakes. And they don't want families to find out the truth about their adopted children's pasts. The regularly lie and say that certain laws prevent them from giving out information about birth families, when the truth is they either don't want to be bothered with adoptive families asking questions, or they have serious things to hide. They make up "laws" to suit their needs. And, they often treat clients condescendingly. Plus, they ask you to sign away your right to go to court when you sign on with them. Surely that alone should set off warning bells!
I also find it interesting when people have these "fantastic" experiences with them and they often post before their adoptions are finalized. Of course, if you adopt a baby, how would you ever know the truth about her past? If I were going to choose an agency, I'd interview people who have adopted older kids through the agency and ask if truth came to light later that didn't match what they were first told.
I'm sure some people do have great experiences, but I know of people who had problems, and were hung out to dry, then lies are told publically to make the people who were wronged look like they made a mistake, not CWA.
Also, I would want to know why a Christian agency has so many negative posts on adoption boards? Most Christians stay away from "getting into it" against "fellow" christians. There must be something there for people to be willing to post personal stories in public places. Check the BBB, check with other families. There are some ethical agencies out there, but my personal experience showed me that CWA is not one of them.
NOT a great agency
Poor communication. The program coordinator never responded to emails and was slow at returning phone calls. As long as you have no issues, CWA may be the great, wonderful, warm, caring people you mention. However, if you ask too many questions, it is not a great, wonderful, warm, and fabulous experience.
As someone who wanted to adopt from Guatemala, they stopped me from starting my paperwork SIX MONTHS before the actual shutdown occurred. That meant I am now delayed indefinitely or permanently depending on who you ask. They took SIX WEEKS to tell me that they didn't want to start my paperwork AND have not yet refunded my money.
ethiopian adoption
Horrible communication, very manipulative and threatening. Not very Christlike and do NOT live up to their name!
Find another agency!!
Disappointed!
We were very disappointed with CWA's lack of awareness about requirements for adoption from Kazakhstan. They led us to believe that if one of us was a US Citizen we were okay to adopt from there. I came to find out from another adoption community dedicated to Az-Kaz that both had to be US citizens. Apparently other agencies were aware of this and people working with many other agencies already knew this and alerted me. I was able to verify that by talking to the Kaz. Council Gen. within 3 days, whereas our CWA case worker kept giving us the runaround for weeks! We were so disappointed we decided to not work with CWA any more. We are very happy with our two children adopted internationally WITHOUT CWA's help~
WISH I'D NEVER HEARD OF CWA!
CWA has persistently prvided us with either no communication or
blatantly misleading information. For example, they knowingly did not inform us of new adoption age restrictions in the Ukraine and then, when brought to their attention, their Ukraine caseworker devised a very questionable scheme in order for us to circumvent this. Recently, they have also advised us that we may be unable to adopt "from all provinces" in Russia due to a > 10 year old misdemeanor although they have NEVER even reviewed our homestudy or explanation of this event. Apparently, after taking our initial"non-refundable" fee of $2500, they have completely lost interest and are now refusing to answer all calls or e-mails. They clearly only care about the money.
CWA Review
Interesting that all of the "glowing" reviews only came after the negative reviews were posted. Although we were in the Russia program and had problems in country its how we were treated by the US staff that makes us livid. I thought we were the only ones threatened but it seems that Brad experienced the same thing. What's a Christian agency doing threatening you because you report their bad service. I'm sure if nothing goes wrong they are fine but look out if there is a problem. It's your problem and they will not only leave you hanging they will run as fast as they can and tell everyone else it's your fault. Look out PAPs!
Facts Will Be Straight
Okay Mark. Guess what. Since your "adoption agency" allows our ethical, above-board and non-profit adoption agency BUILDING BLOCKS to use YOUR CHINESE PROGRAM to umbrella under, guess what. Since you have all the answers about the money laundering crew of Zasyatkin & Zasyatkin, WE'VE GOT A FEW MORE QUESTIONS.
You see Mark, we've been down a while clocking Amrex. And, well, I just know that you've been to our website. If not, educate yourself: www.bewareofbbas.org
For your information, this exchange will be up on our website later - we are in the midst of updating it. With a separate page for all of the Amrex millionaires.
Where is Sergey Zasyatkin living now if he's not living with Dmitriy?
How can a son, who worked at Amrex and whose resume claims to have worked at other Amrex companies, NOT have ties with his father? Do you know Dmitriy personally?
Did you know Dmitriy's name is listed on the WHOIS search for JAIN's URL?
Oh, and Mark, you really gotta let Denise Hubbard & Richard J. Marco, Jr. NOT have your agency's name on their website for their China program. That was just a really stupid error on their part. We've seen it, and it will be noted.
Room for improvement
The people working in the Guatemala program were extreamly over worked - though they tried there best. Emails and phone messages were returned immediatley before we received our referral but not after. They promised us we would be parents and bring home a child, and that did happened with the first adoption. (The attorney and foster family were wonderful and even though there were a few bumps in the road everything turned out okay).
The second adoption didn't have a happy ending. The birth mother changed her mind shortly after the baby was born. We had a difficult time getting information from CWA. It was heartbraking for us but we also understood the pain the birth mother was suffering. CWA was not very caring and compassinate to us once we suffered this loss. It was pure business. We were offered if we wanted to get on a list for another referral. We wanted our money back but never got it. Plus they immediatly blocked our internet access to there site which we paid for. They did not play nice.
All in all we have a wonderful, healthy, happy child and we are very greatful for that, However when things go wrong praying isn't the entire solution - you really need to think and use the brain the good Lord gave you.
Adoptions are very emotional and require much patience. CWA could use a lot of improvement when adoptions turn sour.
Our experiences could not have been better!
We have two children through international adoption and we used CWA to bring them both home. Our caseworkers (two different countries) were both very responsive and seemed to truly care about our concerns and our children. We highly recommend CWA to anyone and will definitely use them again in the future! It's too bad all those negative comments came first :(
We love CWA
We arrived home from Ethiopia with our son 3 weeks ago. The team was nothing but helpful. Emails and voicemails were returned with in 24 hours. Everything in country was perfect. We have even received help from an Amharic speaking case worker when we had a few problems understanding our son. This is our second adoption and if we decide to adopt again we wouldn't hesitate to use CWA.
CWA is a wonderful agency!
I truly do not understand all these negative comments! CWA has been a delight to work with, and we would not even consider using another agency for a future adoption. We are almost done with the process to adopt four older children thru' CWA's Waiting Child Program. We plan to travel sometime in July (Lord willing) to bring our new sons home. We have not had any troubles at all with CWA, and in fact have found them to be honest and above-board in all their dealings.
So far, so good
I have nothing bad to say about CWA. I don't quite understand the others' bad comments. From the very beginning, CWA has been very quick to answer all my questions. I have emailed and called and dealt with several different people. No one has treated me any less that I expected. In fact when comparing them with other agencies, they were quicker to reply and more or in some cases just as friendly as others. I am super happy with them, their knowledge of the adoption process, and their care for my family's adoption. I would highly recommend them.
Can you give more detail on
Can you give more detail on your situation, country you wanted to adopt from and is your adoption complete?
excellent communication
I am shocked to read the above negative comments about CWA, as our experience with them in the Guatemala program was very positive. We received constant communication and far more information about our child's birth family than we ever expected. I have highly recommended them to many friends, and they have had great experiences as well. In addition, our child has had some on-going adoption related trauma issues, and their follow-up care with us has been great.
We love CWA!
We love Christian World Adoption! This is our third adoption (first two from China, this one from Ethiopia), but only our first with CWA. Assuming we adopt again, we plan to use this agency -- we'd be idiots to go with anyone else! Our case workers have been so kind and helpful, not at all like the hostile, officious people we've dealt with in the past. CWA comes with our very highest recommendation.
Very Happy
We are in the final stages of our 1st adoption and have been more than happy. Their communication is excellent and I absolutely love their "planner".
CWA Review
I think CWA is the greatest and had a wonderful experience with them. I adopted from China and CWA's China team is outstanding! With a LID of 09-05, I got caught up in the great slow down and the case managers were open and honest during my entire wait. When asked specific questions, they would answer honestly even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. If they didn't know the answer, they immediately said they didn't know what would happen. They kept the communication lines completely open and always responded to any question no matter how trivial.
In China, CWA takes complete and total care of their families. I never had to worry about a thing. Even when there were problems, the CWA staff took care of it all.
My sister used a different agency when she adopted her son from Korea. We have compared the two and I have found that CWA is the best. If I adopt again I will only use CWA. If my sis adopts again, she might not use her original agency. I think a true indicator of a great agency is if their clients will only use them again. The agency my sis used is a good agency however CWA is a great agency.
Great agency
I love their communication, support and help during this long wait. I also started a concurrent adoption with them, they are wonderful.
Christian World Adoption
We are in the midst of our 2nd adoption, first with CWA. The difference between the two agencies is amazing and CWA is the best.
First, the planner they give adoptive families is an incredible resource. I have only had one or two small questions that I could not find answers to in this resource.
Second, the weekly communication from your case manager deals with what is happening in the world of adoptions that week -- for example, they deal directly with "rumors" that are flying around, doing their best to address them with facts. Our other agency also sent out a weekly update, but you could tell they were sent out by a formula (for example, in week of 40 our wait, we received information about our "upcoming referral" -- even though we were no where near referral at that point in time, obviously week 40 made sense in prior years for referral information).
Third, email or phone questions are answered promptly --- in many cases in minutes!
I have been so impressed with CWA. I would recommend them to everyone who is considering adoption. I have yet to travel, but I understand that their travel guides are the best out there.
Oh, and there is a wonderful client forum board that is the most encouraging and supportive group of people I've met. Excellent agency, highly recommended!
First class, very caring,
First class, very caring, extremely ethical, wonderfully supportive during travel; adopting through CWA you will gain a whole new family of people that care about you.