I had never planned to post comments in public about my experience adopting a child through Commonwealth several years ago, but yesterday I received a letter from the agency encouraging me to log on to this and another website to post positive comments to counter ones posted by clients who "did not have a blessed experience." Well, the very fact that they would send such a letter to us given that we emphatically did not have a "blessed experience" with them should tell you what you need to know about the difference between their rhetoric of caring about children and the reality that this agency has a long history of treating adoptive children and their parents unethically--as least if our experience is any indication. They care nothing about the day-to-day post-adoptive realities of their clients down the road--otherwise, why would they send us such a letter? Moreover, I fully agree with the postings of clients who say that CAI would like to silence or discredit those of us who have had bad experiences--either recently or in the past. A truly good agency does not need to send out letters asking former clients to write nice things about them on the internet.
I would have to write a book to really explain all the nuances of why our adoption experience was so bad, and some of the issues are way more critical than others. The in-country associate was horrible, Marina Mayhew's husband got involved and gave us erroneous information about country requirements, there was a lack of follow-up support and information regarding how to handle post-placement reports, you name it. Most significantly in speaking to the overall ethics of the agency, though, is this: Commonwealth had, or should have had, reason to suspect that our daughter was born with neurological damage, but they presented her to us as a healthy infant.
I myself perceived from my brief encounters with her in the orphanage that she had neurological "soft signs," but the in-country associate refused to take me to the orphanage for more than a few minutes at a time every few days, and he never gave me a chance to speak with the pediatrician on staff. By the end of about two weeks, I figured out from talking with some German adoptive parents that I could have been spending up to four hours a day at the orphanage visiting with our daughter and talking with staff, but by that point it was time to return to the States to wait until the paperwork could be processed and we could return to bring our daughter home. So I barely saw our daughter on my whole first visit, and the degree of stress I was under about the reasons I wasn't being taken to see her (was the in--country associate too lazy to take me? was he trying to prevent me from finding out more about her background and health condition?) is evidenced by the upwards of $700 in international phone charges I ran up due to calling my partner repeatedly to try to figure out what to do. Even to this day it is not entirely clear to me what was really going on, but my best guess is that CAI hired an unethical in-country associate and that once things went wrong, their only focus was on protecting themselves legally. We never had any intention of bringing a lawsuit; we just wanted the truth about why the experience was so horrible: what did the associate know about our child's background and health status? why wouldn't he take me to visit our daughter while I was in the country? what did CAI know about the situation? This questions will be with me for as long as I live, as will my feelings of anger and betrayal at being manipulated and lied to.
For obvious reasons this is a hard thing to talk about in public. We love our daughter dearly and recognize that there are no guarantees when it comes to becoming a parent--either via adoption or via childbirth. We are not angry that our child has disabilities (significant ones that will prevent her from living independently); to risk invoking a cliche, she is a vibrant, lovely child who has enriched our lives immeasurably. What we're angry about is that Commonwealth lied to us and that Commonwealth has never (again, presumably for legal reasons) acknowledged that it failed to fulfill fundamental obligations such as seeking out all available information on the child we were assigned, sharing that information with us, and so on. In the first few years after we completed the adoption, we tried to maintain a civil correspondence with the agency, but in more recent years I have decided to cut off contact. The memories of being left alone for days at a time in a hotel room when I could have been with our child, the anxiety of perceiving that she very likely had disabilities but not being given access to basic medical information that was known at the time, such as the fact that she was born via C-section (suggestive of a difficult birth scenario), and so on--all that lingers with me even today.
I'm sure there are people out there who would want to be sanctimonious and dismiss me as someone who was looking for a "perfect" child. That's not the case. We are adoptive parents "by choice," and when our daughter was two we adopted another child from the same country, albeit using a different agency. We love both our children as they are. The issue is one of ethics and honesty: Commonwealth at the time was vastly more concerned about creating a "niche" for itself as an agency working in this particular country than with the welfare of the adoptive children. After all, any respectable agency that really cared about a child such as ours, one that had a reasonable possibility of having special needs, would have wanted to talk straightforwardly with the prospective adoptive family so as to try to make sure they were committed to raising a child with special needs. Let me stress: Had CAI had no reason to suspect that she would have disabilities, that would have been a different story. But we found out later that the orphanage staff had devised a special set of "exercises" to improve our child's muscle tone from the time she was an infant. The staff knew something was wrong, we think the in-country associate knew or had good reason to suspect, and if CAI didn't know, it clearly should have. We were the ones kept in the dark.
Obviously not all CAI country programs are alike, and much time has passed since the fiasco of our bad adoption experience, but when I noticed some of the comments from people posting about their recent bad experiences, it reminded me of what had happened to us. I am writing to convey my support for those of you who had bad experiences, as I have lived for years now with the pressure to stay silent. I feel that I am somehow betraying my child in posting this comment; yet it would also be a betrayal to remain silent, since it was CAI that originally betrayed her by treating her as an item of market-based exchange rather than trying to assess her real needs and to determine if we were a family that had the capacity to meet them. I like to think we've done a pretty good job--goodness knows we are trying our best--but we have spent years and years of our lives bouncing from doctor to doctor, seeking out different types of therapy, doing battle with our insurance company over claims denied, working with teachers to try to devise appropriate educational opportunities, etc. Had CAI simply given us the medical background we very likely would have gone through with the adoption anyway, but it would have made a world of difference to have gone in armed with more information: we might have had a better idea what specialists to seek out, we might have sought out some specialists sooner than we did, etc.
By the way, we adopted our second child in 2001 via World Child International. It was a wonderful experience. I'm still in contact with folks from World Child, and we send them money every year for their in-country programs. There's no way I would ever send CAI money, as I have never received any concrete information from them regarding what they do with it. I'm sure that many, many good people have worked for CAI over the years. But those of us who had bad experiences are not just "cranks." We're real human beings. My partner and I will spend the rest of our lives caring for (and planning for the care of) our disabled child, a child we adopted through CAI. Imagine if you were in our shoes, and the only time CAI ever contacted you post-adoption was to ask you to provide a fairy-tale story of a perfect adoption with a happily-ever-after ending. I am posting this comment in honor of my daughter, a beautiful child who deserved to be treated with more respect than CAI showed her. In many ways we do feel that our lives have a happily-ever-after ending, but it's despite CAI, not because of them.
Wow!!! Am I ever so happy I found this site. Let me just start by saying I have been dealing with Commonwealth Adoptions since September of 2007. I was introduce to this agency by relatives of mine that have adopted previously and once again recently with this agancy. Their experience however, had turned out so much better then mine.
Currently, I am presuing a lawsuite against this agency. As others have stated they are out for the money not the concerns of the prespective adoptive parents or the good of the adoptive child.
We adopted two older children from Colombia with Commonwealth in late 2003. We used Commonwealth because they came so highly recommended by friends who used the Russian program. When they told us that they were better taken care of in travel and safety issues than any of the others they were adopting with at the same time, we decided to use Commonwealth. And we were not disappointed. They took a lot of care in helping us through the referral process, the paperwork, and the travel. They were professional and above board the entire process. Our phone calls were returned, our questions were answered, and everything was completed in a timely fashion. We were sent reams of paper giving us details about our children. We had no surprises. The children are as they were reported to us. It is fun now to go back and read what is in their referral and see how their little personalities are just the same.
Our children, now 14 and 9, are well-adjusted, well-behaved, and a delight to our family. I can't imagine life without them. They are so dear to us and I am so grateful to Commonwealth for the part they played in completing our family. IF we could afford it, I would adopt again and, of course, I would use Commonwealth.
If you want to call it a partnership, in case with Commonwealth, it's a very unfair partnership. One partner (parents) should do all the paperwork, come with a lot of money and be patient and do not ask any questions. Other partner (agency) has no obligation or responsibilities, have all the rights and no liabilities. Totally agree with other comment about CAI trying really hard to silent unhappy clients - we personally were "reminded" a few times already that we should not be saying nothing negative about them.
Adoption is a very emotionally trying process. There is anticipation, excitement, disappointment, prolonged waiting, and in the end, if you choose to endure the ups and downs, you will have a loving, beautiful child for the rest of your life. Commonwealth Adoption International is a great facilitator. They are an agency that works with you to move you through the process of adoption. The requirements of international adoption is decided by two countries and not an agency. They helped educate and prepare us. They provided much needed support and always responded to every email, telephone call, and were more than gracious. Their motto is "change is the nature of adoption". There are many changes you will endure. We encourage you to be strong and select an agency that will be an advocate for you. We found this in Commonwealth Adoptions. Our little girl arrived just one month ago. The agency prepared us completely for travel and had all of the papers ready. There was no "re do " or more requests at the embassy. We truly feel very thankful for all the agency did for us. We know we made the right choice. Our little one's presence proves it! Good Luck to anyone considering adoption. Remember that it is a partnership not a service that you are entering. You will succeed in the end-patience and perseverance!!!
Commonwealth is very poorly run-there is NO support for waiting parents, none at all. You will be ignored for weeks at a time with no news. And unless you PUSH for something to be done, nothing will be done for weeks. I understand, they are going through hard times financially and let some people go, but my fee did not get lower because of very bad service!!!!
I do not even want to start about their in-country associates. Commonwealth employs coordinators overseas that are not ethical (and neither are they). I love how they try to say that the unexpected changes are all out of their control, due to circumstances overseas, part of the international adoption process, etc. This is mostly BS. Most of the other agencies working in the same countries and same regions in a specific country don't have the problems they do. This is just how they do business. They sound nice when you contact them at first, promise you what you want to hear, collect your money, and then the problems begin!!!!
I do no understand why they act like they are doing every family a huge favor and we all should be thankful to them for what they do. Nobody would even move a finger in that agency without receiving a payment first. It is very simple: family is paying a big bucks for a service (not a purchase of a child) and agency providing it. For a $30,000 it should be a good service.
Did anyone tried to ask about their humanitarian aid or “foreign country projects”? I did - no one was able to give me any specifics, just a general “Commonwealth participate in a lot of projects around the world”. That’s great – give me some details. When I mentioned that we are still waiting for an answer, respond was not pretty!!! All the staff on their website about humanitarian aid is 2-3 years old – nothing current. But director is taking luxury vacations a few times a year regularly.
Let me assure you – you would not be so happy with any of Commonwealth program today. In fact they do not have many left since they were denied Hague accreditation 3 times.
Their director has very unique meaning to words like honesty, integrity, responsibility, professionalism. It’s like we are talking different languages. All she cares is money. Agency, who sends letters asking for rave reviews and begging money, has very serious issues.
We used Commonwealth in 2005/2006 for the adoption of our 11 month old month from Astana Kazakstan.
We were happy with the US and in country staff, especially the in country staff which is what matters most. Our in country staff insulated us from a lot of the pains that pothers families had. They also hkept our costs down as we paid 1/3 for the in country living expenses than others we talked to.
Prior to signing they provided a book of people's stories so we could get a feel fro the different countries and some of the expected frustrations. While we were putting our dossier together we had lots of questions and they responded to emails quickly to help us get everyting together.
Most delays we ran in to were country related and not agency related...like when Kaz changed the dossier requirements and really cut down on pre-travel referrals.
When looking for an agency, look for comments for your specific country since relationsips for each country are developed independently. The in-country staff is also important since they are the ones who navigate the process and help you live in a foreign country. some agencies might be awesome for one country and poor in another.
We were very happy in 2006 with commonwealth and their adoption program.
We received the referral for our wonderful baby boy in May 2006 and had him home on Thanksgiving Day. (We visited once in August) We received pictures and a medical report every month. All my calls and emails were always returned promptly. I would not hesitate to use them again.
I think it is great to see such a variety in the reviews, but it is important for new prospective parents to separate out past information from new 2008 information.
CAI has been denied Hague Accreditation (twice), it took two years to get Russian Accreditation, and it appears they have become much more about the business of adoption in addition to being very strict about how they communicate with adoptive parents. On the other hand International Adoption is taking a lot longer these days and is much more stressful than it ever was. When I inquired with many other agencies and parents of those agencies that were double accredited with Hague and Russia, they did not seem to have the wait time or issues that CAI had.
My hope would be that CAI will take the reviews from this site and improve their business. Get back to providing open communication to prospective parents and excellent customer service.
Adoption agency shoppers, take heed and look at all the facts to weigh your decision. I had a good experience back in the 2002/2003, but when I went back in 2007/2008 and it was not the same agency.
I'm so sad to hear the bad reviews that have been posted about CAI. I worked with them through from January 1st of 2007 and picked up my daugher in December of 2007. I can't say enough great things about their support, knowledge and efficiency. I'm surprised, to say the least, about the negative reviews that have been posted.
Adopting is a scary venture, and we all know that there are glitches and obstacles throughout the process. My experience with CAI was superb, and they helped me through every glitch and obstacle that was thrown our way. I have contacted them again, and when my program re-opens -- I will be adopting through them again. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
I feel for the other families and couples that have had issues arrise through the adoption process and I feel confident that CAI will work as hard as they can to help resolve the issues. My thoughts are with every family that is working to bring their child home.
We were stuck in Las Vegas with a newborn and had 2 agencies trying to take advantage of our situation. Virginia Frank, lawyer for Adoption Choices of Colorado, tried to extort $6000 from us for legal services we did not need; AnnaMarie, director of A Child's Dream, had tried to take our daughter away from us because we questioned extra costs added to our bill. Our consultant connected us with Vi Pierce who responded immediately with factual information regarding our needs to complete the adoption. Dee Harwick, their social worker, is one of the best social workers we've associated with.
Our son came home 6 1/2 months after our referral in the Guatemalan program. Things were not always easy due to changes in the adoption process in Guatemala. I was very frustrated many times with Commonwealth and their case managers. Now that are adoption has been finalized, I realize that many times I was frustrated with the system and not necessarily Commonwealth or its staff. The problems were really beyond their control. I am so grateful that they helped us to bring our son home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We adopted our son thru CAI’s Colombia program back in 2006. Needless to say, our experience was amazing. Really… I could go on and on about how fabulous Commonwealth was. They were timely in their responses, their staff was always friendly/caring, and our adoption even was completed in less time than they told us. Since then, in all the follow up CAI events we’ve attended, they’ve continued to be like family to us.
With all that said, I am stunned at all of the remarks being posted and am saddened that so many families are having a rough time with their current adoptions. We signed a contract in March of this year to begin our second adoption thru CAI and were thrown for a loop when we received news that they did not receive their Hague accreditation for Colombia. Now that we have paid about $5,000 in fees, we too are concerned with the ramifications. With all of the follow up calls we have placed we HAVE received responses in a timely manner. Mind you, these are “problem calls” and all of them have been returned in a time frame that we deem acceptable. I can even go a step further and say that in each conversation we’ve had, the CAI staff have been compassionate, agreeable and sympathetic. I can’t speak for all CAI employees (obviously as noted by the postings) but for the most part, I think these people are good, kind hearted individuals. They see my son and they love him… and I love that they were a part in bringing him home to us.
I really hope and pray that your individual situations are resolved… and I do hope that CAI will be able to survive these rough times and turn them into growing experiences. We understand how important it is for you to have full trust in your agency. Know that for us, both then and now, we continue to trust CAI and believe at the end of the day, they have our best interests at heart.
I wish all the people adopted back in 2003, 2004, and 2005 would post their reviews then - not now. It seems like Commonwealth really went down the hill in a last year or so. I visited their website and carefully reed announcements about Hague accreditation. I also reed explanations and I am really concern about integrity and moral of this agency. See for your self:
From PCR
1. This was a clear oversight/misunderstanding on their part. They believe our CEO (Marina Mayhew) is the chairman of the board for CAII and that is not correct. The chairman of the board is James Sellers. Marina is not on the board at all. We have a policy that states our board members and officers are not compensated and that is true - they made a mistake here.
2. There was a conflict in one of our policies with our contract regarding fees. We simply need to augment our policy to reflect make them consistent.
3. Budget - they noticed an inconsistency in the budget regarding compensation - but that is because some of our staff has agreed to change their compensation as of the past 60 days. We are unsure why this was sufficient to deny us nevertheless we will send a narrative explaining that is the case.
4. There is a complete misreading/misinterpretation of a section of our contract. We are bewildered by this response and will clarify its intent and reword the contract so that intent is interpreted appropriately.
5. COA is saying that we have not notified them about closing our Colorado office. We, indeed did notify them on February 27, 2008. We still have our license and are operating currently to complete current home study families and thus had not notified them of the closure because we are, in fact, still operating.
After years of trying to get pregnant, we began researching adoption agencies in 2003. Commonwealth was at the top of our list when it came to how quickly they returned our phone calls, how professional and helpful they were, what they could offer, how upfront and honest they were. Everything they told us was true...the time frame (actually it was a little shorter), the cost, etc. Originally we signed with Colombia after talking with Raul but then we switched to Guatemala, a decision that was entirely God's plan. Commonwealth was helpful to us before signing (they answered a million of my questions), during the switch of countries, during the process, and afterwards. Even still, they've been so helpful to us-we were just on the phone with Hayley last week regarding adoptions from Taiwan. Probably the best part of our experience was with our WONDERFUL case worker, Susana. She knew EVERYTHING down to each detail of our process and answered every single question I had! I agree with the poster who said they she made them feel like her only client. Even the night we were packing to leave for Guatemala the next morning -I had a question at 12:30 a.m. and e-mailed her. She called me right back! We've dealt with other agencies and they did not call us back as quickly as Commonwealth has. Our stay in Guatemala was more than we could have ever asked for. Our coordinator was FANTASTIC! He walked us through each step of the process, making us feel comfortable and making sure we were safe. We have THE BEST little daughter in the whole world! While waiting to bring her home, we received monthly updates on her (medical reports and pictures) and even a video. She was well cared for and came to us smiling. She is still smiling and the joy of our lives. We don't know when we will do this again-I want a house full!! Thank you Commonwealth!!!!
We brought home our twins from Guatemala on July 7, 2005. Noah and Madison are our little Guatemalan Blessings!! Our experience was EXCELLENT from the time we contacted them all the way to the time we were welcomed home!! Raul in the Tampa office is very patient and answered all the questions that we had for him. Our case mananger, Susana Huaman, was down to Earth and kept us informed with all the information that was coming from Guatemala about our twins. Susana was never too busy to answer our questions and even checked-in with us to see how we were doing during the process. We can not say enough about how awesome the Tampa office staff was to us!!!After our adoption, Haley was wonderful with her communication with us too! Commonwealth does not stop communication with you after your child is home. We attend picnics and other special events that they provide for the families that have adopted. We look forward to these events to see other happy families that adopted with Commonwealth and thank Commonwealth for ALL they did to help us find our forever family!!
I am totally agreed with Fantastic4:
"Beware of this agency! Read their contract and have a lawyer read it. They even have a section in the contract stating if you post negative reviews on the internet they can sue you for up to $5000 per incident while you are under contract with them. Have you ever heard of such a thing. Its AMERICA...land of the FREE.
FREE SPEECH!!!"
For the person who signed contract and adopted back in 2004 (BogotaMami) – we are adopting with them NOW and contract we signed NOW, has a section about consequences for posting negative reviews. One time when I got extremely frustrated with our case manager, I said something like: we have a few friends who are considering international adoption and I will sure let all of them know how unprofessional and unmoral your agency is. And her reply was: if you do that, according to the contract, we will sue you. So, it is OK for the president to send letters asking for a rave reviews, but not OK for unhappy clients to share their experiences!!!!!!!!????????????
If I sound uncertain it's because I have a difficult time judging what I don't know. As I said, I can only give my opinion on the people that I DID and DO come into contact with at CAI...and those particular people are wonderful, helpful, and professional. Obviously, as a whole CAI is not going through the best of times right now and I hope they pull through it.
There are a lot of variables in adoption and especially international adoption. Our 2nd adoption may or may not go through, based on those variables.
"I am glad that you have friends at the agency, I am thinking that will come in handy"...I'm not sure if you are trying to infer anything here but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I hope that you don't give up on your quest to complete your family and that the rest of your journey is a smooth one.
Another thing that I would like to add....on 7/7/08 Fantastic4 posted the following comment
"Beware of this agency! Read their contract and have a lawyer read it. They even have a section in the contract stating if you post negative reviews on the internet they can sue you for up to $5000 per incident while you are under contract with them. Have you ever heard of such a thing. Its AMERICA...land of the FREE.
FREE SPEECH!!!"
I have just read every word of my current contract and the contract that I signed in 2004 and there is NOTHING AT ALL that says ANYTHING along these lines. There is however a section that says that CAI can terminate the contract if a Family is ABUSIVE to CAI employees or makes derogatory or disparaging remarks about the CHILD or child's country of origin...I agree with CAI 100% on this one!!!
We adopted our first child through CAI 3 years ago and are in the process of adopting another.
I feel for those of you who have had less than stellar experiences, because truly the adoption process is gut-wrenching (at best). You really need to have someone that you trust to stand beside you and help you negotiate the maze.
That having been said, I can't give my opinion on ALL of the employees at CAI, because I have only worked with a few. Those that I HAVE worked with have my utmost trust and respect. I have become friends with some of them over the years and I know that they truly have my family's best interest at heart. I don't believe that these select few are "all about the money". I've seen the joy in their faces when they met my daughter for the first time...I don't believe you can fake that.
However, I do have to wonder about an organization who sends out a letter soliciting funds. This action leads me to believe they are in deep financial trouble and that there is a chance that there will be no "staff" to complete our adoption when/if the time comes. Hopefully, CAI can turn it around because there really are some good people within their organization and I personally know of many happy families that CAI has helped to create.
I know how these kind Non-Profit companies operate: if they have any profit at the end of the year, next year director's salary goes up. Commonwealth take every single penny families have, while director has extravagant vacations and travel.
This is from Commonwealth website:
July 2, 2008
It is with great frustration and sadness that we inform you that COA has upheld the denial for Hague accreditation.
Could anyone please tell more about letter from president? Do they actually ask people to post rave reviews on this site???? Their athics were always questionable.
We are currently in a process (or should I say nightmare) of adopting a child with Commonwealth. We are getting really close to filing a law suit aginst them. Maybe that's way we did not get any letters?
I'm posting this in response to CAI's form letter urging families to post rave reviews to this website.
It makes me sad to NOT recommend the agency that helped us adopted our wonderful son from Guatemala. Our adoption was finally completed in 9/07, 2.5 years from our first interaction with CAI. We began in the Russia program. Despite CAI's insistance that the accreditation may not even slow us down (in 5/06), we swapped countries to Guatemala. We lost a lot in fees paid, but at least we were able to find our wonderful son.
I won't mention all the details, in summary CAI missed many deadlines due to unacceptable reasons. For example, medical updates and pictures were months late because their case manager was busy. We were 4 months behind in updates when we traveled to Guatemala. We went with three sizes of clothes because we had no idea what size our son was. When it came close to time to travel, CAI dropped the ball on an olympic scale. Because CAI wasn't communicating well with me, my friends on guatadopt helped me obtain the number of the lab (dna results) company. The lab helped me track my dna test to Guatamala and USE. I told CAI exactly when the notice of my pink would be available at USE. They insisted it wasn't. I knew it was there and I contacted my Congressman and USE, pleading to know the appointment date. No one answered. Then CAI finally called me, 12 hour before the appointment saying "oops, it was there". I missed my appointment. CAI was quite ambivalent and told me to find a way to contract USE directly and ask for another one. My ace case manager told me to read the fine print on the pdf of the expired pink she sent me, that would tell me how to contact USE. Gee, for almost 30K, I'd expect some more help. CAI also insisted that it wasn't their fault that I missed my appointment. I'm getting upset just remembering about it. FLEE!!!!
I absolutely love this agency. We used them for our two Colombia adoptions in 2002 and 2004 and have recently signed up to adopt again from Taiwan this time. Their in-country staff in Colombia is nothing short of AMAZING. For this adoption, they have been responsive and helpful.
Isn't it great that all these wonderful reviews are appearing on this website all of the sudden. The President sent out form letters asking former clients to send a donation, become a board member, write wonderful reviews about the agency, or become a family mentor. She states that the donations are to help off-set costs for current families in process of adopting and also for Commonwealth to continue with humantarian aid. Yet she will not do the right thing by refunding some of the money paid to her agency by clients who realize that the agency is not performing the same as it did prior to 2006. In my opinion she got a donation from me for $5,000.
Thanks to commonwealth, we have an adorable, loving, healthy son. We started the process in January, 2007 and traveled to get our son in October 2007. Never once did the agency ask for addition fees that were not stated in the contract we signed. Our case worker was very up front with the possible downfalls of international adoptions. At times we did not want to know all the negative information, but commonwealth kept us very informed about our individual case and the progression of the hague.
Commonwealth provided us with monthly updates--we cherished the pictures and medical reports we received. Because of these updates, we felt connected to our son.
Our in-country escorts were wonderful--prepared, friendly, and helpful. Overall we had a great experience with commonwealth.
All of the happy families who adopted with Commonwealth back in 2003, 2004, 2005…
Please understand – they are NOT what they used to be then. NOW they are money hungry, unprofessional, ignorant, “don’t care” attitude bunch. And all of it coming from the top – director. Most experienced (and highest paid) case managers are gone due to downsizing. When our case worker was gone, we receive e-mail from director stating that our new case manager is very experienced in a country we are adopting from and one of the best. When new manager called to introduce herself, I asked her about her background and she admitted that she has no idea what is adoption process looks like in that country, but will learn more in a coming months. Director never replied to our e-mail.
I absolutely love Commonwealth Adoptions International Inc. My experiences with this company were great. I asked about 50 to 70 questions in the beginning of my investigation into international adoptions. Hayley (Tampa FL office) was there to answer every one of my questions and was extremely informative and knowlegeable. As I began my process, we had Susana as our Caseworker and I absolutely loved her. In fact we still keep in contact to this day, sharing pictures of the kids. She treats you as though you are her only client, even though I know she had hundreds. I never once had a bad experience with anyone that I talked to at Commonweath. I feel that even though they were a little more expensive than some others, they reflected that price in their professional way of business. I interviewed multiple agencies before I chose Commonwealth and I chose them because they took the time to answer my questions and sent me an extensive and informative booklet with all the information I needed about all of the countries they deal with. I used them for both of my adoptions from Guatemala in 2004 and 2006. If I were to adopt again, I would most certainly use them. I have already referred them to 3 of my friends. Thanks to all of you at Commonwealth for making my life so much fuller and happier now that you helped me complete my family w/ 2 beautiful, healthy children.
I feel very badly when I see the negative comments about Commonwealth. We adopted our daughter in 2004 and had a very positive experience. We initally chose Columbia, but we were informed that a Guatemalan program had just begun. We were the fourth family on the list and were told a referral might take some time. One week later, there was our daughter's face on our computer screen. We had some communication problems since our case was switched from PA to FL offices. Our case worker was involved in several other adoptions at the same time but she was usually fairly prompt at returning calls and e-mails. She was bombarded with clients very quickly and didn't always have the staff to help her. She always came through when we really needed her and spent a lot of time on the phone with u
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Reviews
Do Not Trust This Agency
I had never planned to post comments in public about my experience adopting a child through Commonwealth several years ago, but yesterday I received a letter from the agency encouraging me to log on to this and another website to post positive comments to counter ones posted by clients who "did not have a blessed experience." Well, the very fact that they would send such a letter to us given that we emphatically did not have a "blessed experience" with them should tell you what you need to know about the difference between their rhetoric of caring about children and the reality that this agency has a long history of treating adoptive children and their parents unethically--as least if our experience is any indication. They care nothing about the day-to-day post-adoptive realities of their clients down the road--otherwise, why would they send us such a letter? Moreover, I fully agree with the postings of clients who say that CAI would like to silence or discredit those of us who have had bad experiences--either recently or in the past. A truly good agency does not need to send out letters asking former clients to write nice things about them on the internet.
I would have to write a book to really explain all the nuances of why our adoption experience was so bad, and some of the issues are way more critical than others. The in-country associate was horrible, Marina Mayhew's husband got involved and gave us erroneous information about country requirements, there was a lack of follow-up support and information regarding how to handle post-placement reports, you name it. Most significantly in speaking to the overall ethics of the agency, though, is this: Commonwealth had, or should have had, reason to suspect that our daughter was born with neurological damage, but they presented her to us as a healthy infant.
I myself perceived from my brief encounters with her in the orphanage that she had neurological "soft signs," but the in-country associate refused to take me to the orphanage for more than a few minutes at a time every few days, and he never gave me a chance to speak with the pediatrician on staff. By the end of about two weeks, I figured out from talking with some German adoptive parents that I could have been spending up to four hours a day at the orphanage visiting with our daughter and talking with staff, but by that point it was time to return to the States to wait until the paperwork could be processed and we could return to bring our daughter home. So I barely saw our daughter on my whole first visit, and the degree of stress I was under about the reasons I wasn't being taken to see her (was the in--country associate too lazy to take me? was he trying to prevent me from finding out more about her background and health condition?) is evidenced by the upwards of $700 in international phone charges I ran up due to calling my partner repeatedly to try to figure out what to do. Even to this day it is not entirely clear to me what was really going on, but my best guess is that CAI hired an unethical in-country associate and that once things went wrong, their only focus was on protecting themselves legally. We never had any intention of bringing a lawsuit; we just wanted the truth about why the experience was so horrible: what did the associate know about our child's background and health status? why wouldn't he take me to visit our daughter while I was in the country? what did CAI know about the situation? This questions will be with me for as long as I live, as will my feelings of anger and betrayal at being manipulated and lied to.
For obvious reasons this is a hard thing to talk about in public. We love our daughter dearly and recognize that there are no guarantees when it comes to becoming a parent--either via adoption or via childbirth. We are not angry that our child has disabilities (significant ones that will prevent her from living independently); to risk invoking a cliche, she is a vibrant, lovely child who has enriched our lives immeasurably. What we're angry about is that Commonwealth lied to us and that Commonwealth has never (again, presumably for legal reasons) acknowledged that it failed to fulfill fundamental obligations such as seeking out all available information on the child we were assigned, sharing that information with us, and so on. In the first few years after we completed the adoption, we tried to maintain a civil correspondence with the agency, but in more recent years I have decided to cut off contact. The memories of being left alone for days at a time in a hotel room when I could have been with our child, the anxiety of perceiving that she very likely had disabilities but not being given access to basic medical information that was known at the time, such as the fact that she was born via C-section (suggestive of a difficult birth scenario), and so on--all that lingers with me even today.
I'm sure there are people out there who would want to be sanctimonious and dismiss me as someone who was looking for a "perfect" child. That's not the case. We are adoptive parents "by choice," and when our daughter was two we adopted another child from the same country, albeit using a different agency. We love both our children as they are. The issue is one of ethics and honesty: Commonwealth at the time was vastly more concerned about creating a "niche" for itself as an agency working in this particular country than with the welfare of the adoptive children. After all, any respectable agency that really cared about a child such as ours, one that had a reasonable possibility of having special needs, would have wanted to talk straightforwardly with the prospective adoptive family so as to try to make sure they were committed to raising a child with special needs. Let me stress: Had CAI had no reason to suspect that she would have disabilities, that would have been a different story. But we found out later that the orphanage staff had devised a special set of "exercises" to improve our child's muscle tone from the time she was an infant. The staff knew something was wrong, we think the in-country associate knew or had good reason to suspect, and if CAI didn't know, it clearly should have. We were the ones kept in the dark.
Obviously not all CAI country programs are alike, and much time has passed since the fiasco of our bad adoption experience, but when I noticed some of the comments from people posting about their recent bad experiences, it reminded me of what had happened to us. I am writing to convey my support for those of you who had bad experiences, as I have lived for years now with the pressure to stay silent. I feel that I am somehow betraying my child in posting this comment; yet it would also be a betrayal to remain silent, since it was CAI that originally betrayed her by treating her as an item of market-based exchange rather than trying to assess her real needs and to determine if we were a family that had the capacity to meet them. I like to think we've done a pretty good job--goodness knows we are trying our best--but we have spent years and years of our lives bouncing from doctor to doctor, seeking out different types of therapy, doing battle with our insurance company over claims denied, working with teachers to try to devise appropriate educational opportunities, etc. Had CAI simply given us the medical background we very likely would have gone through with the adoption anyway, but it would have made a world of difference to have gone in armed with more information: we might have had a better idea what specialists to seek out, we might have sought out some specialists sooner than we did, etc.
By the way, we adopted our second child in 2001 via World Child International. It was a wonderful experience. I'm still in contact with folks from World Child, and we send them money every year for their in-country programs. There's no way I would ever send CAI money, as I have never received any concrete information from them regarding what they do with it. I'm sure that many, many good people have worked for CAI over the years. But those of us who had bad experiences are not just "cranks." We're real human beings. My partner and I will spend the rest of our lives caring for (and planning for the care of) our disabled child, a child we adopted through CAI. Imagine if you were in our shoes, and the only time CAI ever contacted you post-adoption was to ask you to provide a fairy-tale story of a perfect adoption with a happily-ever-after ending. I am posting this comment in honor of my daughter, a beautiful child who deserved to be treated with more respect than CAI showed her. In many ways we do feel that our lives have a happily-ever-after ending, but it's despite CAI, not because of them.
Stay Clear of Commonwealth Adoptions
Wow!!! Am I ever so happy I found this site. Let me just start by saying I have been dealing with Commonwealth Adoptions since September of 2007. I was introduce to this agency by relatives of mine that have adopted previously and once again recently with this agancy. Their experience however, had turned out so much better then mine.
Currently, I am presuing a lawsuite against this agency. As others have stated they are out for the money not the concerns of the prespective adoptive parents or the good of the adoptive child.
Please beware....
Commonwealth is WONDERFUL
We adopted two older children from Colombia with Commonwealth in late 2003. We used Commonwealth because they came so highly recommended by friends who used the Russian program. When they told us that they were better taken care of in travel and safety issues than any of the others they were adopting with at the same time, we decided to use Commonwealth. And we were not disappointed. They took a lot of care in helping us through the referral process, the paperwork, and the travel. They were professional and above board the entire process. Our phone calls were returned, our questions were answered, and everything was completed in a timely fashion. We were sent reams of paper giving us details about our children. We had no surprises. The children are as they were reported to us. It is fun now to go back and read what is in their referral and see how their little personalities are just the same.
Our children, now 14 and 9, are well-adjusted, well-behaved, and a delight to our family. I can't imagine life without them. They are so dear to us and I am so grateful to Commonwealth for the part they played in completing our family. IF we could afford it, I would adopt again and, of course, I would use Commonwealth.
Not fair partnership
If you want to call it a partnership, in case with Commonwealth, it's a very unfair partnership. One partner (parents) should do all the paperwork, come with a lot of money and be patient and do not ask any questions. Other partner (agency) has no obligation or responsibilities, have all the rights and no liabilities. Totally agree with other comment about CAI trying really hard to silent unhappy clients - we personally were "reminded" a few times already that we should not be saying nothing negative about them.
Adoption is a process that requires teamwork
Adoption is a very emotionally trying process. There is anticipation, excitement, disappointment, prolonged waiting, and in the end, if you choose to endure the ups and downs, you will have a loving, beautiful child for the rest of your life. Commonwealth Adoption International is a great facilitator. They are an agency that works with you to move you through the process of adoption. The requirements of international adoption is decided by two countries and not an agency. They helped educate and prepare us. They provided much needed support and always responded to every email, telephone call, and were more than gracious. Their motto is "change is the nature of adoption". There are many changes you will endure. We encourage you to be strong and select an agency that will be an advocate for you. We found this in Commonwealth Adoptions. Our little girl arrived just one month ago. The agency prepared us completely for travel and had all of the papers ready. There was no "re do " or more requests at the embassy. We truly feel very thankful for all the agency did for us. We know we made the right choice. Our little one's presence proves it! Good Luck to anyone considering adoption. Remember that it is a partnership not a service that you are entering. You will succeed in the end-patience and perseverance!!!
Very unethical
Commonwealth is very poorly run-there is NO support for waiting parents, none at all. You will be ignored for weeks at a time with no news. And unless you PUSH for something to be done, nothing will be done for weeks. I understand, they are going through hard times financially and let some people go, but my fee did not get lower because of very bad service!!!!
I do not even want to start about their in-country associates. Commonwealth employs coordinators overseas that are not ethical (and neither are they). I love how they try to say that the unexpected changes are all out of their control, due to circumstances overseas, part of the international adoption process, etc. This is mostly BS. Most of the other agencies working in the same countries and same regions in a specific country don't have the problems they do. This is just how they do business. They sound nice when you contact them at first, promise you what you want to hear, collect your money, and then the problems begin!!!!
I do no understand why they act like they are doing every family a huge favor and we all should be thankful to them for what they do. Nobody would even move a finger in that agency without receiving a payment first. It is very simple: family is paying a big bucks for a service (not a purchase of a child) and agency providing it. For a $30,000 it should be a good service.
Did anyone tried to ask about their humanitarian aid or “foreign country projects”? I did - no one was able to give me any specifics, just a general “Commonwealth participate in a lot of projects around the world”. That’s great – give me some details. When I mentioned that we are still waiting for an answer, respond was not pretty!!! All the staff on their website about humanitarian aid is 2-3 years old – nothing current. But director is taking luxury vacations a few times a year regularly.
Not happy
Let me assure you – you would not be so happy with any of Commonwealth program today. In fact they do not have many left since they were denied Hague accreditation 3 times.
Their director has very unique meaning to words like honesty, integrity, responsibility, professionalism. It’s like we are talking different languages. All she cares is money. Agency, who sends letters asking for rave reviews and begging money, has very serious issues.
Happy with Kaz adoption in 2006
We used Commonwealth in 2005/2006 for the adoption of our 11 month old month from Astana Kazakstan.
We were happy with the US and in country staff, especially the in country staff which is what matters most. Our in country staff insulated us from a lot of the pains that pothers families had. They also hkept our costs down as we paid 1/3 for the in country living expenses than others we talked to.
Prior to signing they provided a book of people's stories so we could get a feel fro the different countries and some of the expected frustrations. While we were putting our dossier together we had lots of questions and they responded to emails quickly to help us get everyting together.
Most delays we ran in to were country related and not agency related...like when Kaz changed the dossier requirements and really cut down on pre-travel referrals.
When looking for an agency, look for comments for your specific country since relationsips for each country are developed independently. The in-country staff is also important since they are the ones who navigate the process and help you live in a foreign country. some agencies might be awesome for one country and poor in another.
We were very happy in 2006 with commonwealth and their adoption program.
I would Use Commonwealth Again
We received the referral for our wonderful baby boy in May 2006 and had him home on Thanksgiving Day. (We visited once in August) We received pictures and a medical report every month. All my calls and emails were always returned promptly. I would not hesitate to use them again.
Recent Information
I think it is great to see such a variety in the reviews, but it is important for new prospective parents to separate out past information from new 2008 information.
CAI has been denied Hague Accreditation (twice), it took two years to get Russian Accreditation, and it appears they have become much more about the business of adoption in addition to being very strict about how they communicate with adoptive parents. On the other hand International Adoption is taking a lot longer these days and is much more stressful than it ever was. When I inquired with many other agencies and parents of those agencies that were double accredited with Hague and Russia, they did not seem to have the wait time or issues that CAI had.
My hope would be that CAI will take the reviews from this site and improve their business. Get back to providing open communication to prospective parents and excellent customer service.
Adoption agency shoppers, take heed and look at all the facts to weigh your decision. I had a good experience back in the 2002/2003, but when I went back in 2007/2008 and it was not the same agency.
I loved working with CAI
I'm so sad to hear the bad reviews that have been posted about CAI. I worked with them through from January 1st of 2007 and picked up my daugher in December of 2007. I can't say enough great things about their support, knowledge and efficiency. I'm surprised, to say the least, about the negative reviews that have been posted.
Adopting is a scary venture, and we all know that there are glitches and obstacles throughout the process. My experience with CAI was superb, and they helped me through every glitch and obstacle that was thrown our way. I have contacted them again, and when my program re-opens -- I will be adopting through them again. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
I feel for the other families and couples that have had issues arrise through the adoption process and I feel confident that CAI will work as hard as they can to help resolve the issues. My thoughts are with every family that is working to bring their child home.
Saved Us
We were stuck in Las Vegas with a newborn and had 2 agencies trying to take advantage of our situation. Virginia Frank, lawyer for Adoption Choices of Colorado, tried to extort $6000 from us for legal services we did not need; AnnaMarie, director of A Child's Dream, had tried to take our daughter away from us because we questioned extra costs added to our bill. Our consultant connected us with Vi Pierce who responded immediately with factual information regarding our needs to complete the adoption. Dee Harwick, their social worker, is one of the best social workers we've associated with.
thank you for giving us our son!
Our son came home 6 1/2 months after our referral in the Guatemalan program. Things were not always easy due to changes in the adoption process in Guatemala. I was very frustrated many times with Commonwealth and their case managers. Now that are adoption has been finalized, I realize that many times I was frustrated with the system and not necessarily Commonwealth or its staff. The problems were really beyond their control. I am so grateful that they helped us to bring our son home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then and Now
We adopted our son thru CAI’s Colombia program back in 2006. Needless to say, our experience was amazing. Really… I could go on and on about how fabulous Commonwealth was. They were timely in their responses, their staff was always friendly/caring, and our adoption even was completed in less time than they told us. Since then, in all the follow up CAI events we’ve attended, they’ve continued to be like family to us.
With all that said, I am stunned at all of the remarks being posted and am saddened that so many families are having a rough time with their current adoptions. We signed a contract in March of this year to begin our second adoption thru CAI and were thrown for a loop when we received news that they did not receive their Hague accreditation for Colombia. Now that we have paid about $5,000 in fees, we too are concerned with the ramifications. With all of the follow up calls we have placed we HAVE received responses in a timely manner. Mind you, these are “problem calls” and all of them have been returned in a time frame that we deem acceptable. I can even go a step further and say that in each conversation we’ve had, the CAI staff have been compassionate, agreeable and sympathetic. I can’t speak for all CAI employees (obviously as noted by the postings) but for the most part, I think these people are good, kind hearted individuals. They see my son and they love him… and I love that they were a part in bringing him home to us.
I really hope and pray that your individual situations are resolved… and I do hope that CAI will be able to survive these rough times and turn them into growing experiences. We understand how important it is for you to have full trust in your agency. Know that for us, both then and now, we continue to trust CAI and believe at the end of the day, they have our best interests at heart.
People need current info
I wish all the people adopted back in 2003, 2004, and 2005 would post their reviews then - not now. It seems like Commonwealth really went down the hill in a last year or so. I visited their website and carefully reed announcements about Hague accreditation. I also reed explanations and I am really concern about integrity and moral of this agency. See for your self:
From PCR
1. This was a clear oversight/misunderstanding on their part. They believe our CEO (Marina Mayhew) is the chairman of the board for CAII and that is not correct. The chairman of the board is James Sellers. Marina is not on the board at all. We have a policy that states our board members and officers are not compensated and that is true - they made a mistake here.
2. There was a conflict in one of our policies with our contract regarding fees. We simply need to augment our policy to reflect make them consistent.
3. Budget - they noticed an inconsistency in the budget regarding compensation - but that is because some of our staff has agreed to change their compensation as of the past 60 days. We are unsure why this was sufficient to deny us nevertheless we will send a narrative explaining that is the case.
4. There is a complete misreading/misinterpretation of a section of our contract. We are bewildered by this response and will clarify its intent and reword the contract so that intent is interpreted appropriately.
5. COA is saying that we have not notified them about closing our Colorado office. We, indeed did notify them on February 27, 2008. We still have our license and are operating currently to complete current home study families and thus had not notified them of the closure because we are, in fact, still operating.
We had a GREAT experience!
After years of trying to get pregnant, we began researching adoption agencies in 2003. Commonwealth was at the top of our list when it came to how quickly they returned our phone calls, how professional and helpful they were, what they could offer, how upfront and honest they were. Everything they told us was true...the time frame (actually it was a little shorter), the cost, etc. Originally we signed with Colombia after talking with Raul but then we switched to Guatemala, a decision that was entirely God's plan. Commonwealth was helpful to us before signing (they answered a million of my questions), during the switch of countries, during the process, and afterwards. Even still, they've been so helpful to us-we were just on the phone with Hayley last week regarding adoptions from Taiwan. Probably the best part of our experience was with our WONDERFUL case worker, Susana. She knew EVERYTHING down to each detail of our process and answered every single question I had! I agree with the poster who said they she made them feel like her only client. Even the night we were packing to leave for Guatemala the next morning -I had a question at 12:30 a.m. and e-mailed her. She called me right back! We've dealt with other agencies and they did not call us back as quickly as Commonwealth has. Our stay in Guatemala was more than we could have ever asked for. Our coordinator was FANTASTIC! He walked us through each step of the process, making us feel comfortable and making sure we were safe. We have THE BEST little daughter in the whole world! While waiting to bring her home, we received monthly updates on her (medical reports and pictures) and even a video. She was well cared for and came to us smiling. She is still smiling and the joy of our lives. We don't know when we will do this again-I want a house full!! Thank you Commonwealth!!!!
EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE
We brought home our twins from Guatemala on July 7, 2005. Noah and Madison are our little Guatemalan Blessings!! Our experience was EXCELLENT from the time we contacted them all the way to the time we were welcomed home!! Raul in the Tampa office is very patient and answered all the questions that we had for him. Our case mananger, Susana Huaman, was down to Earth and kept us informed with all the information that was coming from Guatemala about our twins. Susana was never too busy to answer our questions and even checked-in with us to see how we were doing during the process. We can not say enough about how awesome the Tampa office staff was to us!!!After our adoption, Haley was wonderful with her communication with us too! Commonwealth does not stop communication with you after your child is home. We attend picnics and other special events that they provide for the families that have adopted. We look forward to these events to see other happy families that adopted with Commonwealth and thank Commonwealth for ALL they did to help us find our forever family!!
Response to BogotaMami
"BogotaMami",
Read your contract again.
Page 6, section 15.
Contract
I am totally agreed with Fantastic4:
"Beware of this agency! Read their contract and have a lawyer read it. They even have a section in the contract stating if you post negative reviews on the internet they can sue you for up to $5000 per incident while you are under contract with them. Have you ever heard of such a thing. Its AMERICA...land of the FREE.
FREE SPEECH!!!"
For the person who signed contract and adopted back in 2004 (BogotaMami) – we are adopting with them NOW and contract we signed NOW, has a section about consequences for posting negative reviews. One time when I got extremely frustrated with our case manager, I said something like: we have a few friends who are considering international adoption and I will sure let all of them know how unprofessional and unmoral your agency is. And her reply was: if you do that, according to the contract, we will sue you. So, it is OK for the president to send letters asking for a rave reviews, but not OK for unhappy clients to share their experiences!!!!!!!!????????????
If I sound uncertain it's
If I sound uncertain it's because I have a difficult time judging what I don't know. As I said, I can only give my opinion on the people that I DID and DO come into contact with at CAI...and those particular people are wonderful, helpful, and professional. Obviously, as a whole CAI is not going through the best of times right now and I hope they pull through it.
There are a lot of variables in adoption and especially international adoption. Our 2nd adoption may or may not go through, based on those variables.
"I am glad that you have friends at the agency, I am thinking that will come in handy"...I'm not sure if you are trying to infer anything here but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I hope that you don't give up on your quest to complete your family and that the rest of your journey is a smooth one.
Commonwealth Adoptions International
Another thing that I would like to add....on 7/7/08 Fantastic4 posted the following comment
"Beware of this agency! Read their contract and have a lawyer read it. They even have a section in the contract stating if you post negative reviews on the internet they can sue you for up to $5000 per incident while you are under contract with them. Have you ever heard of such a thing. Its AMERICA...land of the FREE.
FREE SPEECH!!!"
I have just read every word of my current contract and the contract that I signed in 2004 and there is NOTHING AT ALL that says ANYTHING along these lines. There is however a section that says that CAI can terminate the contract if a Family is ABUSIVE to CAI employees or makes derogatory or disparaging remarks about the CHILD or child's country of origin...I agree with CAI 100% on this one!!!
Commonwealth Adoptions International
We adopted our first child through CAI 3 years ago and are in the process of adopting another.
I feel for those of you who have had less than stellar experiences, because truly the adoption process is gut-wrenching (at best). You really need to have someone that you trust to stand beside you and help you negotiate the maze.
That having been said, I can't give my opinion on ALL of the employees at CAI, because I have only worked with a few. Those that I HAVE worked with have my utmost trust and respect. I have become friends with some of them over the years and I know that they truly have my family's best interest at heart. I don't believe that these select few are "all about the money". I've seen the joy in their faces when they met my daughter for the first time...I don't believe you can fake that.
However, I do have to wonder about an organization who sends out a letter soliciting funds. This action leads me to believe they are in deep financial trouble and that there is a chance that there will be no "staff" to complete our adoption when/if the time comes. Hopefully, CAI can turn it around because there really are some good people within their organization and I personally know of many happy families that CAI has helped to create.
Class Action
Maybe this is looking like a class-action you know what.....
Non-profit? Yea, sure
I know how these kind Non-Profit companies operate: if they have any profit at the end of the year, next year director's salary goes up. Commonwealth take every single penny families have, while director has extravagant vacations and travel.
Hague accreditation denied again!!!!
This is from Commonwealth website:
July 2, 2008
It is with great frustration and sadness that we inform you that COA has upheld the denial for Hague accreditation.
Letter
Could anyone please tell more about letter from president? Do they actually ask people to post rave reviews on this site???? Their athics were always questionable.
We are currently in a process (or should I say nightmare) of adopting a child with Commonwealth. We are getting really close to filing a law suit aginst them. Maybe that's way we did not get any letters?
Not so satisfied
I'm posting this in response to CAI's form letter urging families to post rave reviews to this website.
It makes me sad to NOT recommend the agency that helped us adopted our wonderful son from Guatemala. Our adoption was finally completed in 9/07, 2.5 years from our first interaction with CAI. We began in the Russia program. Despite CAI's insistance that the accreditation may not even slow us down (in 5/06), we swapped countries to Guatemala. We lost a lot in fees paid, but at least we were able to find our wonderful son.
I won't mention all the details, in summary CAI missed many deadlines due to unacceptable reasons. For example, medical updates and pictures were months late because their case manager was busy. We were 4 months behind in updates when we traveled to Guatemala. We went with three sizes of clothes because we had no idea what size our son was. When it came close to time to travel, CAI dropped the ball on an olympic scale. Because CAI wasn't communicating well with me, my friends on guatadopt helped me obtain the number of the lab (dna results) company. The lab helped me track my dna test to Guatamala and USE. I told CAI exactly when the notice of my pink would be available at USE. They insisted it wasn't. I knew it was there and I contacted my Congressman and USE, pleading to know the appointment date. No one answered. Then CAI finally called me, 12 hour before the appointment saying "oops, it was there". I missed my appointment. CAI was quite ambivalent and told me to find a way to contract USE directly and ask for another one. My ace case manager told me to read the fine print on the pdf of the expired pink she sent me, that would tell me how to contact USE. Gee, for almost 30K, I'd expect some more help. CAI also insisted that it wasn't their fault that I missed my appointment. I'm getting upset just remembering about it. FLEE!!!!
Used them/using them for THREE adoptions...
I absolutely love this agency. We used them for our two Colombia adoptions in 2002 and 2004 and have recently signed up to adopt again from Taiwan this time. Their in-country staff in Colombia is nothing short of AMAZING. For this adoption, they have been responsive and helpful.
Donations
Isn't it great that all these wonderful reviews are appearing on this website all of the sudden. The President sent out form letters asking former clients to send a donation, become a board member, write wonderful reviews about the agency, or become a family mentor. She states that the donations are to help off-set costs for current families in process of adopting and also for Commonwealth to continue with humantarian aid. Yet she will not do the right thing by refunding some of the money paid to her agency by clients who realize that the agency is not performing the same as it did prior to 2006. In my opinion she got a donation from me for $5,000.
Thank you commonwealth
Thanks to commonwealth, we have an adorable, loving, healthy son. We started the process in January, 2007 and traveled to get our son in October 2007. Never once did the agency ask for addition fees that were not stated in the contract we signed. Our case worker was very up front with the possible downfalls of international adoptions. At times we did not want to know all the negative information, but commonwealth kept us very informed about our individual case and the progression of the hague.
Commonwealth provided us with monthly updates--we cherished the pictures and medical reports we received. Because of these updates, we felt connected to our son.
Our in-country escorts were wonderful--prepared, friendly, and helpful. Overall we had a great experience with commonwealth.
Please understand-they are different now
All of the happy families who adopted with Commonwealth back in 2003, 2004, 2005…
Please understand – they are NOT what they used to be then. NOW they are money hungry, unprofessional, ignorant, “don’t care” attitude bunch. And all of it coming from the top – director. Most experienced (and highest paid) case managers are gone due to downsizing. When our case worker was gone, we receive e-mail from director stating that our new case manager is very experienced in a country we are adopting from and one of the best. When new manager called to introduce herself, I asked her about her background and she admitted that she has no idea what is adoption process looks like in that country, but will learn more in a coming months. Director never replied to our e-mail.
Excellent Experience. I used them twice and would do it again!!
I absolutely love Commonwealth Adoptions International Inc. My experiences with this company were great. I asked about 50 to 70 questions in the beginning of my investigation into international adoptions. Hayley (Tampa FL office) was there to answer every one of my questions and was extremely informative and knowlegeable. As I began my process, we had Susana as our Caseworker and I absolutely loved her. In fact we still keep in contact to this day, sharing pictures of the kids. She treats you as though you are her only client, even though I know she had hundreds. I never once had a bad experience with anyone that I talked to at Commonweath. I feel that even though they were a little more expensive than some others, they reflected that price in their professional way of business. I interviewed multiple agencies before I chose Commonwealth and I chose them because they took the time to answer my questions and sent me an extensive and informative booklet with all the information I needed about all of the countries they deal with. I used them for both of my adoptions from Guatemala in 2004 and 2006. If I were to adopt again, I would most certainly use them. I have already referred them to 3 of my friends. Thanks to all of you at Commonwealth for making my life so much fuller and happier now that you helped me complete my family w/ 2 beautiful, healthy children.
adoption with commonwealth
I feel very badly when I see the negative comments about Commonwealth. We adopted our daughter in 2004 and had a very positive experience. We initally chose Columbia, but we were informed that a Guatemalan program had just begun. We were the fourth family on the list and were told a referral might take some time. One week later, there was our daughter's face on our computer screen. We had some communication problems since our case was switched from PA to FL offices. Our case worker was involved in several other adoptions at the same time but she was usually fairly prompt at returning calls and e-mails. She was bombarded with clients very quickly and didn't always have the staff to help her. She always came through when we really needed her and spent a lot of time on the phone with u