I have read the recent comments with interest and felt the need to post an additional review (my 2nd).
I used to be a person who recommended HATW to others. In 2003 and again in 2005, we had the good fortune of bringing home our son and daughter, in processes that went very smoothly and quickly. Even though there were conversations with the Director during our 1st process that raised our eyebrows, we proceeded, thinking nothing of it at the time. We started our 2nd adoption with HATW, mainly because we saw their facilitators in Guatemala as being the strong point of the entire process. I will say, that throughout these 2 processes, our dealings with our social worker were always very positive, our questions were answered, and we had no complaints. When an adoption process goes smoothly, one tends not to ask tough questions, demand answers or do anything that may make an agency feel like they have to defend themselves. Everyone is happy. It's when you experience a challenging adoption process, that you seek answers, others who have experienced similar situations, and demand explainations and answers from the agency.
Our 3rd process was a very sad experience that could have entirely been avoided if our questions were answered honestly by HATW and it's facilitators. We say "dishonest", they will say there was a "misunderstanding". Well that "misunderstanding" led us to make the toughest decision we were ever faced with (terminating an adoption process) but one that we felt was the best for our family and especially our 2 small children.
I truely believe that even the best of agencies out there have the experience of handling very tough adoption cases and no one has a 100% satisfied clientele. However, it's how the agency handles these toughest of cases that distinguishes a good agency from a bad agency. The criticisms in the negative posts echo similarities, including lack of accountability, untruths and inaccurate information, rudeness and unprofessionalism of agency director, threats, lack of advocacy and support. To me, that is not how one handles a tough case. After we halted our 3rd attempt to adopt through HATW, we switched agencies. It was a very significant financial loss(we could have proceeded with a new adoption with HATW at no additional cost), but one we felt was necessary as we no longer trusted the agency or it's facilitators in Guatemala. We were fortunate to find a new agency - one that showed us that professionalism, honesty, transparency, integrity and a willingness to answer the "uncomfortable" questions of adoption exist in other agencies.
Take your time to find such an agency. It will be worth it, whether you have the good fortune of experiencing a "smooth" adoption process or one riddled with roadblocks and challenges.
My husband and I used Hands Across the Water to adopt a child from Guatemala. As was said in an earlier comment on HATW, what people write are their experiences, so you will likely find good stories and bad ones. Before we chose HATW we even talked to a former client of theirs who was happy with their service. Unfortunately our experience was not a positive one.
We were pleased with the help we received in the initial steps required before receiving our referral, as HATW did a nice job in leading us through the homestudy and other paperwork. The social worker who did our homestudy was polite, organized and overall helpful. Throughout the adoption, we would say they were adequate in communicating, sometimes responding to our questions within a day or so, while other times we had to ask three or four times before receiving an answer.
Where we feel HATW was unsatisfactory was on the side of things that occured in Guatemala. Obviously they cannot be held responsible for difficulties related to the Guatemalan government, but they should be held accountable for who they choose to work with in a foreign country. After many months of receiving updates that just didn't add up and began to conflict with each other, we hired ASG to monitor our case. Immediately we learned that we were being lied to about timetables, finding out that we had not been submitted to PGN when HATW had told us months before we had. It was absolutely impossible to discuss these issues with the Director-she became very defensive and verbally abusive. To this day we are still amazed at the treatment we received from the person we were paying to help us complete the adoption.
One thing we learned when we traveled to pick up our child (and have since found out from others who have used HATW) is that our facilitator has had many problems for many years and yet the Director of HATW has chosen to work with him for many years. She has made a conscious decision to work with a facilitator she knows is borderline unethical and definitely incompetent. The Director's lack of judgement and treatment of her clients is something you should definitely consider if you are thinking about using HATW.
There is one last piece of information that we thought was interesting. When we were in Guatemala picking up our child we met a Guatemalan woman who helps adoptive parents with paperwork, transportation, etc. When we told her some of the difficulties we went through because of our agency and facilitator, she asked us who we were using. When we told her, she said she was very familiar with both our facilitator and HATW. She had worked with a number of families who had difficulties using this combination, and she said our story was very similar to others she had heard.
Hands Across The Water is nightmare of an agency. I don't think they know how to ANYTHING right, including follow ups, phone calls, counseling services, etc. They are just a nightmare and to even begin to tell my story will take a very long time. To begin with, I feel very ripped off by this agency. We wanted a domestic adoption, you would have sworn we wanted a child from Mars or Venus. We got NO response, month after month. And every other month, we got a new worker who didn't know us. The rub is that they expected us to do the child search and send them the information. They did not send any information regarding children that was in the least bit helpful. When we found children we were interested in, we had to send them the information. They constantly sent us excel sheets with kids names on them, but no contact information, such as agency, agency contact person, not even a web site to look at the child for pities sake. Just the name, number on a sheet of paper. We got an age too if we were lucky. I had to continously stay on every new worker to please look for us.
I am angry that I gave them $5,000.00 of our hard earned money to do nothing but deceive us. I also feel bitter at how we were treated. We had the worst time with the Domestic Program supervisor and her sidekick. Sorry, there's no other way to put it. We finally did get somewhere and that's when that part of the nightmare began. Needless to say, we're $5,000.00 short with no child in sight, and of course, our homestudy expired (how convienant). Their handling of the child we were given was a nightmare. This agency should be shut down for many, many reasons. I will post more when I have more time. In the meantime, as one person told me about this agency, RUN, DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS AGENCY, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN. They are a nightmare. Thank you to this site for providing an outlet. I have been very, very frustrated with not being able to talk about what happend with this agency.
I concur with what has already been posted about the agency director: she is inept, undiplomatic, rude, unprofessional, and incapable of holding the facilitators she uses accountable.
I lived in Guatemala for 4.5 months while waiting for my son's adoption to complete. I gained extensive first-hand experience with the facilitators who were known as the best she worked with at the time. One of them literally threatened me while I and my son were in the car with him. Although my husband reported this incident to the director, we were never followed up with as far as any action taken went. In fact, we were rarely followed-up with at all.
My husband and I hired Adoption Supervisors of Guatemala in our desperation as the adoption progressed into its fourteenth month. Because of ASGI knew three weeks before my agency director that my case was finished, and several days before our facilitators gave us the same information. I was told by our agency, on the day that I went (with the same facilitator who threatened me) to get my son's passport, that there was no news about whether our case was finished because the head facilitator was in another country. I saw and spoke to this woman in the parking lot of the agency that day. Someone was lying.
We were told lies and partial truths throughout our adoption process. Although we were told that our facilitators went daily to check on all cases, ASG found within two days of investigating that our case was literally lost in someone's desk. Had ASG not found this person and our file we would have waited indefinitely to bring our son home.
The agency director ridiculed us when we took steps to make sure we were legally in the country after the 90-day visit expired, telling us that neither she nor her travel agent had ever heard that people from the US need to apply for renewal to stay in the country past 90 days. When I emailed her the page out of the Lonely Planet Guatemala Guidebook that explained this, I got neither an apology nor an acknowledgement that the information had been received.
I can back up every assertion I have made with emails I have saved between myself and Hands Across the Water.
Our case was handled with gross ineptitude, complete disregard for the NASW code of ethics, and stunning dishonesty. Whether the dishonesty was primarily the fault of the facilitators in Guatemala or the director's own is irrelevant, given the director's outright refusal to hold the people she contracts with accountable. I can not stress enough the importance of staying away from this agency.
A book could be written about the lies, poor communication, and bad treatment that came from working with HATW. My adoption was completed, but myself and others that have used this agency will tell you if your case has any difficulties, the director WILL NOT stand up for you. She is very rude and unprofessional, and as stated by another reviewer, she absolutely cannot communicate effectively with her facilitators in the foreign countries. One of her staff even told me the reason my adoption was taking so long was because unlike the other facilitator they used, my facilitator would not give bribes. Of course this is not reason my case was taking so long to complete - it was because my facilitator was incompetent and unable to complete work in a timely manner.
The updates I received from HATW during the adoption process were often inaccurate, and HATW was completely ineffective at providing important documents, most specifically, medical records that absolutely should have been provided at the time of referral. Thankfully, my child is healthy, but these documents that I eventually received through another avenue late in the adoption process should have been provided at the referral.
Just a note for those considering using HATW. In the beginning of my process, I felt very comfortable with HATW, even the director. They were effective and helpful in guiding me through the paperwork required, homestudy, etc. Just beware because although these early stages went well, if there are problems, the director will turn on you instantly. There are good agencies out there. Spend the time researching so that you don't end up in the mess myself and others have experienced with this agency.
Ask this agency director any "tough" questions and she'll get defensive and make you feel wrong for asking. "We've been there -now we're here for you" is their motto. They will not be there for you if your case hits any snags. Again they make you feel like you are over reacting and they have done no wrong. Director has no ability to stand up to facilitators in foreign countries. They will leave you hanging. They make you pay for 3 post placement visits that they claim are required by the state. Not true. Paid $250 per each for the report to sit in their office files.
-------- Our overall experience ----------------
Our family had an overall positive and successful adoption experience with HATW. When we started on our adoption journey with HATW we were looking for an international adoption, little did we know that we would end up going through a domestic adoption by meeting and being selected by the wonderful birthmother of our adopted angel. Our adoption journey seemed at times like an emotional rollercoaster ride however, our social worker did a good job in educating us on both the international and domestic adoption processes. We quickly learned that we needed to "Resist Magical Thinking" throughout our adoption and try to abide by the following Murphy's Law of Adoption:
1- Murphy's first law of Adoption:
"The most difficult experiences happen to the nicest people"
2- Murphy's second law of Adoption:
"Favorable odds never apply to decent people"
3- Murphy's third law of Adoption:
"You are good and decent people, so you are absolutely scheduled to have an unbelievably taxing foray into the world of adoption"
4- Murphy's fourth law of Adoption:
"New and unforeseeable obstacles to adoption are being invented every hour"
Our faith also taught us that we needed to put the fate of our odoption in a Higher Being and enjoy our adoption journey wherever it might end up taking us.
----- Our experience with our social worker -------------
In the beginning, we did experience a couple of turnovers in the social workers that were handling our adoption. However, each of the social workers that were later assigned to our case kept weekly contacts with us in order to get an update on where we stood in our adoption paperwork and inquire if we needed any help. Our social worker often responded to our email inquiries on the same day. She also responded to a couple of emergency weekend telephone calls we had. I must say that our social workers was sometimes "too" frank with us and did not convey the answer we "wanted" to hear as the adoptive family. However, she was very honest right from the start and she never mislead us throughout the process.
----- Our experience with the staff -------------
The staff was courteous and generally responded to our inquiries within a couple of days.
We very much appreciated the fact that a member of the staff tactfully and proactively recommended and helped us in applying to sources of funding for our adoption.
----- Our experience with the director -------------
We had a brief and limited experience with the director. She came across professionally and performed according to her title as a 'director'.
----- Our experience with the paperwork -------------
We did experience a minor "glitch" in the filing of our initial paperwork and a brief delay in our final adoption hearing. However, it is my understanding that this was due to the particularity of our adoption.
This agency lies, cheats, and gives false information. Do NOT sign on with them or give them money.
Midway through our home study, our HAtW facilitator announced that she wanted both my wife and me to take a psych test before she'd proceed with our international adoption, but she wouldn't tell us what kind of test, who could administer it, or what her reasons for requiring it were. At last I ordered her in no uncertain terms to tell me those reasons, and she said that our religion (our RELIGION!) was "a concern."
She also said it was in our medical records that eight years earlier, my wife had been diagnosed as bipolar by a physician who saw her once. (My wife isn't and has never been bipolar.) We tracked down the the doctor in question, but he refused to answer questions or even take calls about the diagnosis. He wouldn't even say why he gave this diagnosis in the first place. (We had no idea this diagnosis was in her records!) But our facilitator was freaking about it.
It took over a week to extract this information from our facilitator, and then it took another week for her to get back with us about what psych test she wanted and a list of psychiatrists who could administer it. When we called them, however, all of them seemed mystified--none of them administered the kind of test in question. In the end, we found a psychologist ourselves. All told, this little side jaunt took about two and a half months and cost us over $400. The psych test came back with perfectly normal results.
Our facilitator also gave us a stunning amount of incorrect information about adopting from Ukraine. She freaked when we said we were thinking of bringing our birth son and my mother along on the trip, saying that they'd have to stay in the apartment or hotel every moment and never, ever go outside because the Ukrainian authorities think bringing family shows favortism toward the birth child. We later learned that many families bring birth children and grandparents with them to Ukraine.
Our facilitator also said we had to have signed, apostilled birth certificates, but we later learned that Ukraine doesn't require them. (Getting them cost us over $100.)
And it keeps going. The facilitator told us that after the adoption, it was "a requirement" to have two follow-up visits from a social worker (to the tune of $400), but when I dug a little deeper, I discovered that neither Michian nor Ukraine requires them. I finally cornered her and asked point-blank whose requirement it was, and she reluctantly admitted it was HAtW's requirement, no one else's. I declined the follow-ups.
Once we finished the home study, we took it and fled to an agency based in Chicago, and we were amazed at the difference. Our adoption went perfectly after we switched away from Hands Across the Water. DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE.
There's a lawsuit pending against them, incidentally.
I am honestly dumbfounded by the negative reviews of this agency. The director helped me with much needed advice free of charge in order for my family to complete our first adoption which was done independently and was not easy. When the time came to complete the homestudy, the social worker was realistic, knowledgable, and efficient. We also used the agency's domestic waiting child program and were thrilled at the professionalism and preparation and support we received throughout the process which was rife with red-tape and potential pitfalls not connected to our agency. The staff was realistic about the ups and downs we would face and went "above and beyond" for my child and my family, advocating for us and our children at every turn, even when we were impatient or irritated with the process.
I adopted from Guatemala and I had a great experience with HATW. Everytime that I had a question I was able to call up my case worker directly. She was able to answer all of my questions and if she did not know the answer she got back with me as soon as possible. I was kept up to date on the status of my adoption and of there was not any knew information I was still contacted and advised that things were status quo. I would recommend this agency to anyone interested in a foreign adoption.
This agency has been very deceptive about wait times, cannot accomplish even the most basic tasks in a reasonable amount of time, does not know the requirements of each country, and is very slow to respond to emails. I have nothing positive to say about this agency.
My wife and I adopted a beautiful little girl from Guatemala in January of 2008. We were both very impressed with the agency from the beginning. It was always very easy to contact all the people that were connected to our adoption when we had any questions. Since it was our first adoption, I have no idea what it would be like going through another agency, but I personally would recommend HATW to my own family and friends. I'm not going to sugar coat anything, but for the most part, our experience was great. There are definitely obstacles to deal with during the process, but they were always there to help us get through everything.
I will admit that the timing issues with everything was a little confusing, but then again, most of the waiting for various items had nothing to do with HATW not doing there job. They could only tell you how to go about the process. Most of the paperwork delays were due to the courts and government systems HATW has no control over.
The process was exciting, lengthy, and aggravating at times, but the people at HATW were always on our side. Yes, we were able to bring home the most beautiful little girl in the world, and that makes all the difference. If we were unable to adopt a baby for any reason, I could probably come up with some reasons to speak negatively about the agency, but I would be wrong. I, like most people in the world would try to find any reason to blame others, especially the agency I was dealing with. I would recommend HATW for adoption.
I used Hands several years ago to adopt my two children. They were very clear about what steps I needed to take throughout the process. My dossier was accepted by the courts without having to make any changes or get new documents. Once we were home I knew exactly how to get new birth certificates, SS#, passports, COC, etc. All because Hands provided me with the information and was willing to walk me through it step by step. I've had to explain how to do all of this to so many other families who went with agencies that abandoned them after they were home with their kids. Hands was also great about connecting me with the resources I needed when my youngest child starting having problems. Compared to other families I've talked to I feel much more knowledgable about the process before and after the adoption because of Hands. No, they couldn't promiss me a "perfect" child in record time, but they did help me adopt the two children that were "perfect" for me. I will say that they are blunt about the facts and won't sugarcoat a situation, which I prefer. I would definitely recommend them!
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Reviews
Experience with the good, the bad and the ugly of HATW
I have read the recent comments with interest and felt the need to post an additional review (my 2nd).
I used to be a person who recommended HATW to others. In 2003 and again in 2005, we had the good fortune of bringing home our son and daughter, in processes that went very smoothly and quickly. Even though there were conversations with the Director during our 1st process that raised our eyebrows, we proceeded, thinking nothing of it at the time. We started our 2nd adoption with HATW, mainly because we saw their facilitators in Guatemala as being the strong point of the entire process. I will say, that throughout these 2 processes, our dealings with our social worker were always very positive, our questions were answered, and we had no complaints. When an adoption process goes smoothly, one tends not to ask tough questions, demand answers or do anything that may make an agency feel like they have to defend themselves. Everyone is happy. It's when you experience a challenging adoption process, that you seek answers, others who have experienced similar situations, and demand explainations and answers from the agency.
Our 3rd process was a very sad experience that could have entirely been avoided if our questions were answered honestly by HATW and it's facilitators. We say "dishonest", they will say there was a "misunderstanding". Well that "misunderstanding" led us to make the toughest decision we were ever faced with (terminating an adoption process) but one that we felt was the best for our family and especially our 2 small children.
I truely believe that even the best of agencies out there have the experience of handling very tough adoption cases and no one has a 100% satisfied clientele. However, it's how the agency handles these toughest of cases that distinguishes a good agency from a bad agency. The criticisms in the negative posts echo similarities, including lack of accountability, untruths and inaccurate information, rudeness and unprofessionalism of agency director, threats, lack of advocacy and support. To me, that is not how one handles a tough case. After we halted our 3rd attempt to adopt through HATW, we switched agencies. It was a very significant financial loss(we could have proceeded with a new adoption with HATW at no additional cost), but one we felt was necessary as we no longer trusted the agency or it's facilitators in Guatemala. We were fortunate to find a new agency - one that showed us that professionalism, honesty, transparency, integrity and a willingness to answer the "uncomfortable" questions of adoption exist in other agencies.
Take your time to find such an agency. It will be worth it, whether you have the good fortune of experiencing a "smooth" adoption process or one riddled with roadblocks and challenges.
Lilian
Our negative experience
My husband and I used Hands Across the Water to adopt a child from Guatemala. As was said in an earlier comment on HATW, what people write are their experiences, so you will likely find good stories and bad ones. Before we chose HATW we even talked to a former client of theirs who was happy with their service. Unfortunately our experience was not a positive one.
We were pleased with the help we received in the initial steps required before receiving our referral, as HATW did a nice job in leading us through the homestudy and other paperwork. The social worker who did our homestudy was polite, organized and overall helpful. Throughout the adoption, we would say they were adequate in communicating, sometimes responding to our questions within a day or so, while other times we had to ask three or four times before receiving an answer.
Where we feel HATW was unsatisfactory was on the side of things that occured in Guatemala. Obviously they cannot be held responsible for difficulties related to the Guatemalan government, but they should be held accountable for who they choose to work with in a foreign country. After many months of receiving updates that just didn't add up and began to conflict with each other, we hired ASG to monitor our case. Immediately we learned that we were being lied to about timetables, finding out that we had not been submitted to PGN when HATW had told us months before we had. It was absolutely impossible to discuss these issues with the Director-she became very defensive and verbally abusive. To this day we are still amazed at the treatment we received from the person we were paying to help us complete the adoption.
One thing we learned when we traveled to pick up our child (and have since found out from others who have used HATW) is that our facilitator has had many problems for many years and yet the Director of HATW has chosen to work with him for many years. She has made a conscious decision to work with a facilitator she knows is borderline unethical and definitely incompetent. The Director's lack of judgement and treatment of her clients is something you should definitely consider if you are thinking about using HATW.
There is one last piece of information that we thought was interesting. When we were in Guatemala picking up our child we met a Guatemalan woman who helps adoptive parents with paperwork, transportation, etc. When we told her some of the difficulties we went through because of our agency and facilitator, she asked us who we were using. When we told her, she said she was very familiar with both our facilitator and HATW. She had worked with a number of families who had difficulties using this combination, and she said our story was very similar to others she had heard.
Hands Across The Water Nightmare
Hands Across The Water is nightmare of an agency. I don't think they know how to ANYTHING right, including follow ups, phone calls, counseling services, etc. They are just a nightmare and to even begin to tell my story will take a very long time. To begin with, I feel very ripped off by this agency. We wanted a domestic adoption, you would have sworn we wanted a child from Mars or Venus. We got NO response, month after month. And every other month, we got a new worker who didn't know us. The rub is that they expected us to do the child search and send them the information. They did not send any information regarding children that was in the least bit helpful. When we found children we were interested in, we had to send them the information. They constantly sent us excel sheets with kids names on them, but no contact information, such as agency, agency contact person, not even a web site to look at the child for pities sake. Just the name, number on a sheet of paper. We got an age too if we were lucky. I had to continously stay on every new worker to please look for us.
I am angry that I gave them $5,000.00 of our hard earned money to do nothing but deceive us. I also feel bitter at how we were treated. We had the worst time with the Domestic Program supervisor and her sidekick. Sorry, there's no other way to put it. We finally did get somewhere and that's when that part of the nightmare began. Needless to say, we're $5,000.00 short with no child in sight, and of course, our homestudy expired (how convienant). Their handling of the child we were given was a nightmare. This agency should be shut down for many, many reasons. I will post more when I have more time. In the meantime, as one person told me about this agency, RUN, DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS AGENCY, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN. They are a nightmare. Thank you to this site for providing an outlet. I have been very, very frustrated with not being able to talk about what happend with this agency.
Do Not Use this Agency
I concur with what has already been posted about the agency director: she is inept, undiplomatic, rude, unprofessional, and incapable of holding the facilitators she uses accountable.
I lived in Guatemala for 4.5 months while waiting for my son's adoption to complete. I gained extensive first-hand experience with the facilitators who were known as the best she worked with at the time. One of them literally threatened me while I and my son were in the car with him. Although my husband reported this incident to the director, we were never followed up with as far as any action taken went. In fact, we were rarely followed-up with at all.
My husband and I hired Adoption Supervisors of Guatemala in our desperation as the adoption progressed into its fourteenth month. Because of ASGI knew three weeks before my agency director that my case was finished, and several days before our facilitators gave us the same information. I was told by our agency, on the day that I went (with the same facilitator who threatened me) to get my son's passport, that there was no news about whether our case was finished because the head facilitator was in another country. I saw and spoke to this woman in the parking lot of the agency that day. Someone was lying.
We were told lies and partial truths throughout our adoption process. Although we were told that our facilitators went daily to check on all cases, ASG found within two days of investigating that our case was literally lost in someone's desk. Had ASG not found this person and our file we would have waited indefinitely to bring our son home.
The agency director ridiculed us when we took steps to make sure we were legally in the country after the 90-day visit expired, telling us that neither she nor her travel agent had ever heard that people from the US need to apply for renewal to stay in the country past 90 days. When I emailed her the page out of the Lonely Planet Guatemala Guidebook that explained this, I got neither an apology nor an acknowledgement that the information had been received.
I can back up every assertion I have made with emails I have saved between myself and Hands Across the Water.
Our case was handled with gross ineptitude, complete disregard for the NASW code of ethics, and stunning dishonesty. Whether the dishonesty was primarily the fault of the facilitators in Guatemala or the director's own is irrelevant, given the director's outright refusal to hold the people she contracts with accountable. I can not stress enough the importance of staying away from this agency.
Director is rude and unprofessional
A book could be written about the lies, poor communication, and bad treatment that came from working with HATW. My adoption was completed, but myself and others that have used this agency will tell you if your case has any difficulties, the director WILL NOT stand up for you. She is very rude and unprofessional, and as stated by another reviewer, she absolutely cannot communicate effectively with her facilitators in the foreign countries. One of her staff even told me the reason my adoption was taking so long was because unlike the other facilitator they used, my facilitator would not give bribes. Of course this is not reason my case was taking so long to complete - it was because my facilitator was incompetent and unable to complete work in a timely manner.
The updates I received from HATW during the adoption process were often inaccurate, and HATW was completely ineffective at providing important documents, most specifically, medical records that absolutely should have been provided at the time of referral. Thankfully, my child is healthy, but these documents that I eventually received through another avenue late in the adoption process should have been provided at the referral.
Just a note for those considering using HATW. In the beginning of my process, I felt very comfortable with HATW, even the director. They were effective and helpful in guiding me through the paperwork required, homestudy, etc. Just beware because although these early stages went well, if there are problems, the director will turn on you instantly. There are good agencies out there. Spend the time researching so that you don't end up in the mess myself and others have experienced with this agency.
Keep on searching - stay away from this one
Ask this agency director any "tough" questions and she'll get defensive and make you feel wrong for asking. "We've been there -now we're here for you" is their motto. They will not be there for you if your case hits any snags. Again they make you feel like you are over reacting and they have done no wrong. Director has no ability to stand up to facilitators in foreign countries. They will leave you hanging. They make you pay for 3 post placement visits that they claim are required by the state. Not true. Paid $250 per each for the report to sit in their office files.
Happy HATW Family
-------- Our overall experience ----------------
Our family had an overall positive and successful adoption experience with HATW. When we started on our adoption journey with HATW we were looking for an international adoption, little did we know that we would end up going through a domestic adoption by meeting and being selected by the wonderful birthmother of our adopted angel. Our adoption journey seemed at times like an emotional rollercoaster ride however, our social worker did a good job in educating us on both the international and domestic adoption processes. We quickly learned that we needed to "Resist Magical Thinking" throughout our adoption and try to abide by the following Murphy's Law of Adoption:
1- Murphy's first law of Adoption:
"The most difficult experiences happen to the nicest people"
2- Murphy's second law of Adoption:
"Favorable odds never apply to decent people"
3- Murphy's third law of Adoption:
"You are good and decent people, so you are absolutely scheduled to have an unbelievably taxing foray into the world of adoption"
4- Murphy's fourth law of Adoption:
"New and unforeseeable obstacles to adoption are being invented every hour"
Our faith also taught us that we needed to put the fate of our odoption in a Higher Being and enjoy our adoption journey wherever it might end up taking us.
----- Our experience with our social worker -------------
In the beginning, we did experience a couple of turnovers in the social workers that were handling our adoption. However, each of the social workers that were later assigned to our case kept weekly contacts with us in order to get an update on where we stood in our adoption paperwork and inquire if we needed any help. Our social worker often responded to our email inquiries on the same day. She also responded to a couple of emergency weekend telephone calls we had. I must say that our social workers was sometimes "too" frank with us and did not convey the answer we "wanted" to hear as the adoptive family. However, she was very honest right from the start and she never mislead us throughout the process.
----- Our experience with the staff -------------
The staff was courteous and generally responded to our inquiries within a couple of days.
We very much appreciated the fact that a member of the staff tactfully and proactively recommended and helped us in applying to sources of funding for our adoption.
----- Our experience with the director -------------
We had a brief and limited experience with the director. She came across professionally and performed according to her title as a 'director'.
----- Our experience with the paperwork -------------
We did experience a minor "glitch" in the filing of our initial paperwork and a brief delay in our final adoption hearing. However, it is my understanding that this was due to the particularity of our adoption.
WARNING! AVOID THIS AGENCY!
DO NOT USE HANDS ACROSS THE WATER!
This agency lies, cheats, and gives false information. Do NOT sign on with them or give them money.
Midway through our home study, our HAtW facilitator announced that she wanted both my wife and me to take a psych test before she'd proceed with our international adoption, but she wouldn't tell us what kind of test, who could administer it, or what her reasons for requiring it were. At last I ordered her in no uncertain terms to tell me those reasons, and she said that our religion (our RELIGION!) was "a concern."
She also said it was in our medical records that eight years earlier, my wife had been diagnosed as bipolar by a physician who saw her once. (My wife isn't and has never been bipolar.) We tracked down the the doctor in question, but he refused to answer questions or even take calls about the diagnosis. He wouldn't even say why he gave this diagnosis in the first place. (We had no idea this diagnosis was in her records!) But our facilitator was freaking about it.
It took over a week to extract this information from our facilitator, and then it took another week for her to get back with us about what psych test she wanted and a list of psychiatrists who could administer it. When we called them, however, all of them seemed mystified--none of them administered the kind of test in question. In the end, we found a psychologist ourselves. All told, this little side jaunt took about two and a half months and cost us over $400. The psych test came back with perfectly normal results.
Our facilitator also gave us a stunning amount of incorrect information about adopting from Ukraine. She freaked when we said we were thinking of bringing our birth son and my mother along on the trip, saying that they'd have to stay in the apartment or hotel every moment and never, ever go outside because the Ukrainian authorities think bringing family shows favortism toward the birth child. We later learned that many families bring birth children and grandparents with them to Ukraine.
Our facilitator also said we had to have signed, apostilled birth certificates, but we later learned that Ukraine doesn't require them. (Getting them cost us over $100.)
And it keeps going. The facilitator told us that after the adoption, it was "a requirement" to have two follow-up visits from a social worker (to the tune of $400), but when I dug a little deeper, I discovered that neither Michian nor Ukraine requires them. I finally cornered her and asked point-blank whose requirement it was, and she reluctantly admitted it was HAtW's requirement, no one else's. I declined the follow-ups.
Once we finished the home study, we took it and fled to an agency based in Chicago, and we were amazed at the difference. Our adoption went perfectly after we switched away from Hands Across the Water. DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE.
There's a lawsuit pending against them, incidentally.
I've posted my adoption journal at http://www.sff.net/people/spiziks/ if you want more details.
Hands Across the Water was great!
I am honestly dumbfounded by the negative reviews of this agency. The director helped me with much needed advice free of charge in order for my family to complete our first adoption which was done independently and was not easy. When the time came to complete the homestudy, the social worker was realistic, knowledgable, and efficient. We also used the agency's domestic waiting child program and were thrilled at the professionalism and preparation and support we received throughout the process which was rife with red-tape and potential pitfalls not connected to our agency. The staff was realistic about the ups and downs we would face and went "above and beyond" for my child and my family, advocating for us and our children at every turn, even when we were impatient or irritated with the process.
This agency was wonderful
I adopted from Guatemala and I had a great experience with HATW. Everytime that I had a question I was able to call up my case worker directly. She was able to answer all of my questions and if she did not know the answer she got back with me as soon as possible. I was kept up to date on the status of my adoption and of there was not any knew information I was still contacted and advised that things were status quo. I would recommend this agency to anyone interested in a foreign adoption.
This agency has been very
This agency has been very deceptive about wait times, cannot accomplish even the most basic tasks in a reasonable amount of time, does not know the requirements of each country, and is very slow to respond to emails. I have nothing positive to say about this agency.
Hands Across The Water was wonderful throughout our adoption pro
My wife and I adopted a beautiful little girl from Guatemala in January of 2008. We were both very impressed with the agency from the beginning. It was always very easy to contact all the people that were connected to our adoption when we had any questions. Since it was our first adoption, I have no idea what it would be like going through another agency, but I personally would recommend HATW to my own family and friends. I'm not going to sugar coat anything, but for the most part, our experience was great. There are definitely obstacles to deal with during the process, but they were always there to help us get through everything.
I will admit that the timing issues with everything was a little confusing, but then again, most of the waiting for various items had nothing to do with HATW not doing there job. They could only tell you how to go about the process. Most of the paperwork delays were due to the courts and government systems HATW has no control over.
The process was exciting, lengthy, and aggravating at times, but the people at HATW were always on our side. Yes, we were able to bring home the most beautiful little girl in the world, and that makes all the difference. If we were unable to adopt a baby for any reason, I could probably come up with some reasons to speak negatively about the agency, but I would be wrong. I, like most people in the world would try to find any reason to blame others, especially the agency I was dealing with. I would recommend HATW for adoption.
I would recommend Hands Across The Water
I used Hands several years ago to adopt my two children. They were very clear about what steps I needed to take throughout the process. My dossier was accepted by the courts without having to make any changes or get new documents. Once we were home I knew exactly how to get new birth certificates, SS#, passports, COC, etc. All because Hands provided me with the information and was willing to walk me through it step by step. I've had to explain how to do all of this to so many other families who went with agencies that abandoned them after they were home with their kids. Hands was also great about connecting me with the resources I needed when my youngest child starting having problems. Compared to other families I've talked to I feel much more knowledgable about the process before and after the adoption because of Hands. No, they couldn't promiss me a "perfect" child in record time, but they did help me adopt the two children that were "perfect" for me. I will say that they are blunt about the facts and won't sugarcoat a situation, which I prefer. I would definitely recommend them!