We used JOH for 2 domestic adoptions once in March 03 and again in July 07. We have a son and daughter both born in OR. We waited almost a year for our son in 2003 and waited less than 3 months for our daughter in 2007. We were chosen by our daughters birthmother the first one we were shown to within 3 weeks.
I can't say anything bad about JOH there were always there for you if you had a question. If the domestic coordinator didn't call you back in 24 hours she was at a delivery of another birthmother. I never had a problem with communication from either the OR office or the IL office. I agree with what "I highly recommend Journeys of the Heart" said. I feel the same way she does. I never had a problem with them losing any paperwork and I don't think the office in OR looks like a bomb went off, its an old house space is limited.
We used Journeys of the Heart in Oregon to adopt both of our boys Domestically. Our first adoption was in 2005, we first contacted Journeys in September, our homestudy was complete by mid october and we were matched a week later. We were at the birth and the mother decided to parent (as she had every right to do) it was extremely difficult for us to walk through but it was the right choice. We met with Susan (the agency director) the next day and she was extremely kind, encouraging and understanding. She asked if we would like to take a step back or if we would like to stay in the program. We chose to stay in the program and we were shown again right away and chosen, three weeks later we brought our son home. With our second adoption, they were very honest up front saying it could take longer as we already had a child, I am personally very glad they are honest and wont tell you anything to have you as a client. We started working with them again for our second adoption in May of 2007, we were officially waiting June 15th. We got a call week later on June 21st saying we had been chosen and the baby had been born that morning. If you would like to read our adoption story in full, you can read it on my blog http://foreverfamilydesigns.blogspot.com/2008/01/our-adoption-journey.ht....
As far as the people who are complaining that the agency was honest about how you look, or your family, they cannot help or change what birthmothers are looking for in a family. They do not force an expectant mother to choose a certain couple, as that would be extremely unethical. Like it or not it is how domestic adoption works. I personally know two couples who were in their late 40s and early 50s who were chosen through Journeys adoption program in the last 6 months. Both couples waited less than one month to be chosen.
My experience with Journeys was great on both adoptions, I would definitely recommend them again. Please be aware that adoption is an extremely emotional experience, it is easy to forget their are many families at the agency going through the same roller coaster of emotions. There are also birth mom's to consider. I know that if my emails or phone calls were not returned with in 24 hours it was most likely because the domestic coordinator was attending a birth or meeting with an expectant mom. I do know that they were very quick to call us when we had been chosen, our paperwork was processed quickly and that our finalization's only took around 3 months after placement. Susan has always returned my calls, my boys birth families have said they are happy with their experience with Journeys and are treated well even after placement. They have also been great for us to work with even after our adoptions have been finalized, even attending a visit with our birthfamily out of town. I would definitely recommend Journeys.
Pros: The staff are all very kind, well-meaning people who care deeply about the cause of adoption.
They have a lovely social worker who made a perfect match for us.
We had a successful domestic adoption of a healthy newborn within the timeframes and budget promised.
Cons: They are woefully understaffed, therefore communication was poor both with us as clients and within the organization itself.
They mixed up our paperwork on several occasions.
The mismanagement of our paperwork caused big delays in our finalization last year.
Recently while assisting my daughter researching adoption companies, I got a very nice review of Journeys of the Heart by an out of state family. My daughter and husband, after I gave them the feedback, contacted the agency by email and received the general information email back. Since they already were working with another company in their state and have not been impressed, they were looking to either add or even just change companies. Since they both had come from the area of Journey's states and have family there, they felt like it was 'home' and were open to visiting and an open adoption. Journey's response to the email questions was basically poor. Mainly that they would have to not be with another agency etc. however did they even try and find out the situation - just negative. After clarification by my daughter through another email, the additional response was qualified that since they were out of state and their % chance of a birth mothers selecting them (again with not even knowing about the inquiring parents) went on to tell them that they now require that out of state adoptive parents to take any and all kids (ie. drug, mental conditions, medical conditions gender and well as ethnicity) and repeated it three times in the letter. They did not take a personal note and try and contact by phone (which my daughter was trying to set up) but again just sent an email. My daughter and her husband were very open to taking any child however that just became a moot point. The family supported them in not bothering to continue trying with this company because they were so negative and felt Journey's was so busy qualifying their demands that they did not even take the opportunity to make a personal phone call or learn more about the sitatution. They were just trying to 'get rid of them'. I could not support them more in not bothering to contact this agency again and hope that everyone that is out of state not bother. Seems to me it would be easier to just discontinue your out of state program rather than to negatively communicate to adoptive parents. Journey's makes themselves look very unprofessional by having the people who are their initial contacts relate so poorly to new "customers" on such a sensitive topic .
Journeys of the Heart left us with no child, less money, and no hopes for a future child. They are unethical and incapable of following through. We were not the only families left in the lurch. They are horrendous communicators; you have to dog them for any information. We started their program in our very early 40s - my husband and I - and tried 3 of their programs, all of which collapsed. They took our money, had us complete all the training and paperwork, and were never able to come through on any of the programs they promised online, in person, and through email and phone commiunication. They are highly unethical. They were shockingly remorseless. When their third program collapsed, they simply indicated that some people had aged out (such as my husband and myself who were now in our mid/later 40s) and that there was nothing they could do about that. Yet, for several years we - and others - asked for updates, voiced our concerns when programs collapsed, when timelines went unnoticed, went they disappeared from communication for long stretches. We have one child who her whole life has been prepped for her baby (international) sister. We haven't even been able to fully share with her the news that she will have no sibling. How can we tell her that an agency misrepresented theimselves and their work and so, so, so very callously took our money but left us with nothing. No child. No hopes for another child. They are such poor communicators and have such a disorganized office that we still get emails asking for donations to needy children or blogs about David's latest trip to find children. David and his wife, the co-owners, essentially cannot maintain the relationships with their staff AND with their international agenices. They spend a lot of time flying abroad trying - totally unsuccessfully - to keep relationships running but this does not happen and those agencies drop them and then all of the families who are signed up for children from that country/agency are without a program. And this happens regardless of how many years one has waited in line for a child from that country or agency. Meanwhile, other agencies continue to place children for years and years with those same countries and with success. You will never get a sorry from this agency either. They sure impacted our lives: left a big, gaping hole.
I started out with journeys earlier in my pregnancy and wish I would of stayed. My advisor called me all the time to check on me texted me in the morning just to say goodmorning. I had told her this was a lonely pregnancy and nobody to share it with (ultrasounds, baby kicks ect.) I felt tremendous support which is important because if the bm cannot have the emotional support the adoption probably wont go through. the only problem was that they just didnt have the very many families to choose from and I was feeling worried about not finding the right family. I do not know what my over all rating would be because I changed to adoption network (worst desicion i made in my life lol) but the time i was with them they were great.
Our experience with Journeys of the Heart was wonderful. We had gone with another agency for one and one half years in a domestic program and nothing seemed to ever go right. Then, they went out of business. Our old agency offered to transfer our paperwork to another agency but after one meeting with them we felt their agenda was too harsh for us. We went with Journeys on our own and three months later our BABY CAME HOME WITH US! We always had wonderful interaction with staff especially Kimberly and Kristina. I know others might have their own experiences and views, but for us the process with Journeys was a blessing. We will probably go back early next year to complete our family with one more child.
We just adopted our daughter from their RMI program and it went off pretty well. We worked with Nancy and she was really really good about always calling us or emailing us right away if we had questions. She did state at the very beginning that they were not an agency that was going to hold our hand and walk us through it but,everytime I had a question I didn't hesitate to call or email and I always got a response back right away we never even had to wait a whole day to get it. She told us up front what to expect and how long to it would take. They send out emails to everyone in the program every month to keep everyone up to date on what number they were and how close they are to a referal. They sent out emails to notify everyone if there were changes in the way the court or RMI wanted things done. They even made our reservations for us at the hotel in the island becase of time constraints on getting there in time for court.
My only complaint I have is that they didn't sent the correct amount of Hague requirement CD to us and the paperwork that needed to go along with it. I notified them and they sent the correct ones right away and apologized. I'm sure there have been some adoptions that had some snags along the way but, they have been in business for a long time and their track record is pretty good at least with the RMI program. If a country closes as some do in the middle of an adoption they will try to find you another country to work with. We asked for a baby girl under 6 months but, as young as possible and we got a 5 week old newborn girl. Also, there are no strict timelines that some agency impose. We live in another country so getting our dossier together took quite a while because we could not just fly back to the US to get fingerprints and such they worked with us allowing us time to get everything ready and let us work with a homestudy person in this country. I really have nothing but, good to say about them at least the RMI program we went though. We would use this agency again and have told two other families who are now going through them.
We adopted our son from Guatemala through Journeys of the Heart, and had a great experience. We approached them when we had not yet determined how we would adopt - or where, once we'd settled on foreign adoption. They gave us honest and accurate information about the options to help us make the decision. We had a lot of support in visiting our son several times before he came home, beginning from when he was just 8 weeks old. They helped us find a supportive hotel, and hooked us up with a local friend who translates and helps run down documents etc. At the same time they were frank about how we were taking an emotional risk by going down before the adoption was finalized, and helped us understand how to be safe and avoid harassment as adoptive parents in Guatemala.
We were happy with their ethics, and their plain efforts to assure that the local lawyers that were necessary at that time were also ethical. while researching agencies, we read how Micronesia had had difficulties with some adoptions and suspended them until they could establish a central authority and procedure to assure ethics. Once they re-opened, of all the agencies that had operated there, it was only Journeys they trusted (at that time. - I'm sure there are more that have since passed their vetting) to shepherd adoptions to America. That impressed us.
I'm really puzzled about some of these other comments. We took their adoption training, and it was anything but 'euro-centric'. I've lived several years in other cultures, and trained volunteers at my museum in cultural sensitivity, and found their sessions respected the cultures of adopted children, and the need to stay connected with their birth cultures. A euro-centric training wouldn't have urged parents not to choose an anglo name to replace their child's first name of birth. Nor would that agency support and provide a communication forum for excellent groups like the Journeys parents of Marshall Islands children, who connect with the local Marshallese community and culture.
As far as: 'Unless you .... are young and in peak physical conditioning, look elsewhere. This agency does not want to work with you if you are older, fatter..." I was in my forties and 250lb when we approached them. No problem. They did frankly explain the requirements that each country had for foreign adoptions, including age, and were plain about the process of selection in domestic adoptions. Anyone looking for an adoption agency needs to understand that it must respect the rights of the entire adoption triad: Adopted children, adoptive parents and birth parents. Anything else would be unethical. Please don't assume that the agency is solely your representative in a negotiation with a birth mother. If you really wanted that, and all the ethical uncertainty it can lead to, you'd be posting ads in search of birth parents and retaining a lawyer to write a contract instead of investigating agencies.
Do understand, however, that David and Susan are self-confessed 'former hippies' and fairly laid-back. That doesn't mean lazy. Everyone there is hard-working, but do not stress about things they can't control ( or things for which getting control would be a wasteful allocation of resources). If you are a type-A personality, this agency might not be the one for you. They understand the nature of international adoption, how information is not always going to come as often as one might hope, how bureaucracies will confront them and you with contradictory instructions and requirements. They're used to the uncertainty and know how to endure it, but also assume that you can as well. Updates can be frustratingly sparse, but that is a function of the process as much as of the agency, and this is not an agency that will provide a lot of progress reports when nothing new has happened and only for the purpose of hand-holding.
Having said that, I never had any trouble getting in touch with them when I needed to for advice, information, or just the reassuring 'yup, nothing new. but there's nothing unusual about that, and it doesn't mean you need to worry'. In fact I had David's cell phone if I needed it and was able to call outside office hours (though I made that rare.)
In short, you'll want more than a cursory interview to get a sense of this agency's style, and to assure that it works with your personal style. If it does, I doubt you'll be disappointed. David, Susan, and their entire staff are supremely ethical, passionate and dedicated.
the test of a great agency is when things go belly-up with your adoption as ours did, will they support you even if they cannot advocate for you? This agency did not check out our birthmom, in fact, they didn't even verify that she was who she claimed to be OR that she was even pregnant. We flew out of state only to be scammed. When the "birthmom" did not show up for the scheduled "c-section" the agency in Hillsboro became MIA. The never returned our calls, the owners were always "out of the office", "just left for lunch", "in a meeting" etc... there were no apologies for their blunders, there were no offers of comfort or kindness to us in our grief, nothing but unreturned phone calls and THEN weeks later a terrible letter from David Slansky severing ties with us because we sought counsel after they wouldn't talk to us. If it hadn't been for the social worker at the hospital and the director of another agency who stepped up to the plate to help us (a long time associate of the SW at the hospital) we would have been completely lost in our grief.
We trusted this agency, they knew that our son had died, and we expected that they would perform their duties in a professional and thorough manner.
Also, if you have ever been to their office, you could see how the paperwork mix ups happen. It looks as if a bomb went off, and I thought they were remodeling, but this is what it always looks like!
If you need a reputable agency there are many: ASIA of Oregon, Heritage in Oregon, Adoption-Link in Oak Park, IL, Holt in Oregon, Open Adoption in Oregon.
This isn't the 1st time that we've had bad luck with an adoption when things didn't go as planned, but the other agency handled themselves before and after with professionalism and compassion. They also did their job at the beginning which JOA did not do.
Adoption is never a sure thing and can be a very rough road at times, you want an agency that is competent, professional, diligent, and on their game. You want an agency that will advocate for you when things go wrong.
Since our experience we have heard horror stories about JOA, and we have even met someone who sued them after 2 terrible screw-ups.
I truly love Journeys of the Heart, their staff, their policies, their ways. This is just a excellent agency through and through. They remain in constant communication with you and the birth parents. They truly care about their birth parents and adoptive parents as individuals and not as profit.
We had some good and some bad with this agency. We had a good experince with the social workers and homestudy and at placement, but a terrible situation post-placement that was very difficult to go through.
With time I am starting to heal and realize that our situation was very specific and somewhat unusual. We do know that much blame falls on the contracted social worker Journey's hired and that she is no longer working with the agency. Journey's tried to correct things after the fact, though we feel that they sould have been more aware of the situation before it became a crisis. Unfortunately, I think we just entered the agency at the wrong time, before they were actually prepared to handle an adoption in our state, and our baby came so suddenly that the agency was left in a lurch. Our only wish is that they had been honest with us from the start and told us that they were not prepared for our adoption and that we should continue forward as an independent adoption, which we could have easily done.
I assume that Journeys learned from the mistakes made on our adoption and with time have made themselves more aware of adoption law in our state. I do believe that the staff has the capability of making good matches and supporting birthfamilies. I respect Susan and the social workers on staff and wish them the best in the future.
Journey's is TERRIBLE at providing support and customer service. They are EXCELLENT at cashing payments and getting a baby.
They misplaced documents, misspelled our names on forms, gave us conflicting information, and made us sit through the most euro-centric "adoption education class" that made us feel like we were in the 1980's again.
So, when you are not model perfect, rich, skinny, Olympic athletes, or crunchy granola types...where do you go to adopt?? Don't choose this agency. Apparantly birth mothers only want supermodels as parents..if you are anything less, you are unwelcome in their program.
Rude, sacrastic, act like you are wasting their time with your pesky questions. Cash your payments quickly enough, but do not help you to adopt...just wait you out.
If you are a real family- imperfect, hard working, eager to have your child come home....go elsewhere. This agency is too slow, too judgmental for us. We are looking elsewhere.
Horrible horrible horrible. Communication is non-existant and they will tell you not to expect to ever hear from them. WHAT???? Turn around time is lengthy. Comments are not terribly helpful when creating your profile. If you call, no one is ever available to speak with you, emails go unchecked and no responses are given. Paperwork is misplaced, and not recognized.....but the check was cashed quickly.
Unless you have all the time in the world, are young and in peak physical conditioning, look elsewhere. This agency does not want to work with you if you are older, fatter or too eager to proceed through the adoption process to bring a child home. They work on their own timeline and it's unlikely that their snail's pace matches your desire to receive a child quicky if at all.
We bought into the hype and wasted months when we could be looking for our child elsewhere!
The RMI program for Journey's of the Home was seemingly left with mud on it's boots when it was discovered their own director for this program was very vocal about changing the American laws that granted Marshallese Women to come to the United States and receive healthcare before, during and after birth. This director kept rumors up about how American's had to pay for the babies to be born and it raised taxes and that it took the power away from the government of the RMI. Now this director is the *only* American who can do RMI international adoptions for the entire United States of America.
The argument to many didn't make any sense because America is about 'freedom' and gives our citizens and other countries who have 'rights' granted to them to do what they will with their body and their baby. And up until then RMI women were allowed to come to the USA to give birth in an American Hospital and at that time they can choose to place their baby for adoption. Some stated this was some sort of loophole... I don't really get it - it would seem that anyone in their right mind would want a baby who would be born in a hospital without up to date equipment, medicines and specialist on hand to come and receive what is arguably the best medical care one can receive.
And by removing the right of the birth mother and putting her adoption decision into the governments decision seems to go against everything that is 'American'.
My gripe here is NOT that the RMI wants to have a say over the women of their country's choices - this is their country, so we respect that, my gripe is that as someone who adopted a child here in the US and still has relationships with the birthparents of our child, was met with complete ridicule and hatred by this director (I think it was the director, this was by blog) when we talked about adopting another child - through their program.
She was complaining that birth parents in the RMI were not being told the truth about the adoptions - but when I said I spoke to the birthmother about 'our' child's future - she said that's impossible since the birth mother didn't speak english.... *The birthmother *DOES* speak english, in fact when we were with her last she said to me that I am definitely the mother of this precious child and this adoption agency director doesn't even know this birthmother! :)
It just rubbed me the wrong way about all the obvious mistruths being said about our adoption agency, etc.
She didn't give me much confidence that she would be able to pull it together and do a superb job on behalf of the birthfamily and us, the adopting family because she came off as too 'over-the-top' with trying to justify why she's the only person in the entire United States of America that makes money on this adoption and as well she was VERY vocal to make it that way. It kinda makes one want to look at the ethics of it...
This was just my experience and I hope that she has now been able to let go of her 'speech' to justify her apparent takeover of the RMI international adoption program to the US and can focus solely on getting these precious children and families together with 'their' families that God has provided them through the gift of adoption.
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Blessed Abundantly to be a Mommy through the gift of adoption...
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Reviews
Very happy with JOH
We used JOH for 2 domestic adoptions once in March 03 and again in July 07. We have a son and daughter both born in OR. We waited almost a year for our son in 2003 and waited less than 3 months for our daughter in 2007. We were chosen by our daughters birthmother the first one we were shown to within 3 weeks.
I can't say anything bad about JOH there were always there for you if you had a question. If the domestic coordinator didn't call you back in 24 hours she was at a delivery of another birthmother. I never had a problem with communication from either the OR office or the IL office. I agree with what "I highly recommend Journeys of the Heart" said. I feel the same way she does. I never had a problem with them losing any paperwork and I don't think the office in OR looks like a bomb went off, its an old house space is limited.
I Highly Recommend Journeys of the Heart
We used Journeys of the Heart in Oregon to adopt both of our boys Domestically. Our first adoption was in 2005, we first contacted Journeys in September, our homestudy was complete by mid october and we were matched a week later. We were at the birth and the mother decided to parent (as she had every right to do) it was extremely difficult for us to walk through but it was the right choice. We met with Susan (the agency director) the next day and she was extremely kind, encouraging and understanding. She asked if we would like to take a step back or if we would like to stay in the program. We chose to stay in the program and we were shown again right away and chosen, three weeks later we brought our son home. With our second adoption, they were very honest up front saying it could take longer as we already had a child, I am personally very glad they are honest and wont tell you anything to have you as a client. We started working with them again for our second adoption in May of 2007, we were officially waiting June 15th. We got a call week later on June 21st saying we had been chosen and the baby had been born that morning. If you would like to read our adoption story in full, you can read it on my blog http://foreverfamilydesigns.blogspot.com/2008/01/our-adoption-journey.ht....
As far as the people who are complaining that the agency was honest about how you look, or your family, they cannot help or change what birthmothers are looking for in a family. They do not force an expectant mother to choose a certain couple, as that would be extremely unethical. Like it or not it is how domestic adoption works. I personally know two couples who were in their late 40s and early 50s who were chosen through Journeys adoption program in the last 6 months. Both couples waited less than one month to be chosen.
My experience with Journeys was great on both adoptions, I would definitely recommend them again. Please be aware that adoption is an extremely emotional experience, it is easy to forget their are many families at the agency going through the same roller coaster of emotions. There are also birth mom's to consider. I know that if my emails or phone calls were not returned with in 24 hours it was most likely because the domestic coordinator was attending a birth or meeting with an expectant mom. I do know that they were very quick to call us when we had been chosen, our paperwork was processed quickly and that our finalization's only took around 3 months after placement. Susan has always returned my calls, my boys birth families have said they are happy with their experience with Journeys and are treated well even after placement. They have also been great for us to work with even after our adoptions have been finalized, even attending a visit with our birthfamily out of town. I would definitely recommend Journeys.
Journeys does a decent job.
Pros: The staff are all very kind, well-meaning people who care deeply about the cause of adoption.
They have a lovely social worker who made a perfect match for us.
We had a successful domestic adoption of a healthy newborn within the timeframes and budget promised.
Cons: They are woefully understaffed, therefore communication was poor both with us as clients and within the organization itself.
They mixed up our paperwork on several occasions.
The mismanagement of our paperwork caused big delays in our finalization last year.
Jorneys Should not do Out of State
Recently while assisting my daughter researching adoption companies, I got a very nice review of Journeys of the Heart by an out of state family. My daughter and husband, after I gave them the feedback, contacted the agency by email and received the general information email back. Since they already were working with another company in their state and have not been impressed, they were looking to either add or even just change companies. Since they both had come from the area of Journey's states and have family there, they felt like it was 'home' and were open to visiting and an open adoption. Journey's response to the email questions was basically poor. Mainly that they would have to not be with another agency etc. however did they even try and find out the situation - just negative. After clarification by my daughter through another email, the additional response was qualified that since they were out of state and their % chance of a birth mothers selecting them (again with not even knowing about the inquiring parents) went on to tell them that they now require that out of state adoptive parents to take any and all kids (ie. drug, mental conditions, medical conditions gender and well as ethnicity) and repeated it three times in the letter. They did not take a personal note and try and contact by phone (which my daughter was trying to set up) but again just sent an email. My daughter and her husband were very open to taking any child however that just became a moot point. The family supported them in not bothering to continue trying with this company because they were so negative and felt Journey's was so busy qualifying their demands that they did not even take the opportunity to make a personal phone call or learn more about the sitatution. They were just trying to 'get rid of them'. I could not support them more in not bothering to contact this agency again and hope that everyone that is out of state not bother. Seems to me it would be easier to just discontinue your out of state program rather than to negatively communicate to adoptive parents. Journey's makes themselves look very unprofessional by having the people who are their initial contacts relate so poorly to new "customers" on such a sensitive topic .
Unethical Journeys of the Heart - Stay away! Zero star rating!!
Journeys of the Heart left us with no child, less money, and no hopes for a future child. They are unethical and incapable of following through. We were not the only families left in the lurch. They are horrendous communicators; you have to dog them for any information. We started their program in our very early 40s - my husband and I - and tried 3 of their programs, all of which collapsed. They took our money, had us complete all the training and paperwork, and were never able to come through on any of the programs they promised online, in person, and through email and phone commiunication. They are highly unethical. They were shockingly remorseless. When their third program collapsed, they simply indicated that some people had aged out (such as my husband and myself who were now in our mid/later 40s) and that there was nothing they could do about that. Yet, for several years we - and others - asked for updates, voiced our concerns when programs collapsed, when timelines went unnoticed, went they disappeared from communication for long stretches. We have one child who her whole life has been prepped for her baby (international) sister. We haven't even been able to fully share with her the news that she will have no sibling. How can we tell her that an agency misrepresented theimselves and their work and so, so, so very callously took our money but left us with nothing. No child. No hopes for another child. They are such poor communicators and have such a disorganized office that we still get emails asking for donations to needy children or blogs about David's latest trip to find children. David and his wife, the co-owners, essentially cannot maintain the relationships with their staff AND with their international agenices. They spend a lot of time flying abroad trying - totally unsuccessfully - to keep relationships running but this does not happen and those agencies drop them and then all of the families who are signed up for children from that country/agency are without a program. And this happens regardless of how many years one has waited in line for a child from that country or agency. Meanwhile, other agencies continue to place children for years and years with those same countries and with success. You will never get a sorry from this agency either. They sure impacted our lives: left a big, gaping hole.
not alot of families
I started out with journeys earlier in my pregnancy and wish I would of stayed. My advisor called me all the time to check on me texted me in the morning just to say goodmorning. I had told her this was a lonely pregnancy and nobody to share it with (ultrasounds, baby kicks ect.) I felt tremendous support which is important because if the bm cannot have the emotional support the adoption probably wont go through. the only problem was that they just didnt have the very many families to choose from and I was feeling worried about not finding the right family. I do not know what my over all rating would be because I changed to adoption network (worst desicion i made in my life lol) but the time i was with them they were great.
Journeys of the Heart
Our experience with Journeys of the Heart was wonderful. We had gone with another agency for one and one half years in a domestic program and nothing seemed to ever go right. Then, they went out of business. Our old agency offered to transfer our paperwork to another agency but after one meeting with them we felt their agenda was too harsh for us. We went with Journeys on our own and three months later our BABY CAME HOME WITH US! We always had wonderful interaction with staff especially Kimberly and Kristina. I know others might have their own experiences and views, but for us the process with Journeys was a blessing. We will probably go back early next year to complete our family with one more child.
Good experience with them.
We just adopted our daughter from their RMI program and it went off pretty well. We worked with Nancy and she was really really good about always calling us or emailing us right away if we had questions. She did state at the very beginning that they were not an agency that was going to hold our hand and walk us through it but,everytime I had a question I didn't hesitate to call or email and I always got a response back right away we never even had to wait a whole day to get it. She told us up front what to expect and how long to it would take. They send out emails to everyone in the program every month to keep everyone up to date on what number they were and how close they are to a referal. They sent out emails to notify everyone if there were changes in the way the court or RMI wanted things done. They even made our reservations for us at the hotel in the island becase of time constraints on getting there in time for court.
My only complaint I have is that they didn't sent the correct amount of Hague requirement CD to us and the paperwork that needed to go along with it. I notified them and they sent the correct ones right away and apologized. I'm sure there have been some adoptions that had some snags along the way but, they have been in business for a long time and their track record is pretty good at least with the RMI program. If a country closes as some do in the middle of an adoption they will try to find you another country to work with. We asked for a baby girl under 6 months but, as young as possible and we got a 5 week old newborn girl. Also, there are no strict timelines that some agency impose. We live in another country so getting our dossier together took quite a while because we could not just fly back to the US to get fingerprints and such they worked with us allowing us time to get everything ready and let us work with a homestudy person in this country. I really have nothing but, good to say about them at least the RMI program we went though. We would use this agency again and have told two other families who are now going through them.
Had a Great Experience with Journeys
We adopted our son from Guatemala through Journeys of the Heart, and had a great experience. We approached them when we had not yet determined how we would adopt - or where, once we'd settled on foreign adoption. They gave us honest and accurate information about the options to help us make the decision. We had a lot of support in visiting our son several times before he came home, beginning from when he was just 8 weeks old. They helped us find a supportive hotel, and hooked us up with a local friend who translates and helps run down documents etc. At the same time they were frank about how we were taking an emotional risk by going down before the adoption was finalized, and helped us understand how to be safe and avoid harassment as adoptive parents in Guatemala.
We were happy with their ethics, and their plain efforts to assure that the local lawyers that were necessary at that time were also ethical. while researching agencies, we read how Micronesia had had difficulties with some adoptions and suspended them until they could establish a central authority and procedure to assure ethics. Once they re-opened, of all the agencies that had operated there, it was only Journeys they trusted (at that time. - I'm sure there are more that have since passed their vetting) to shepherd adoptions to America. That impressed us.
I'm really puzzled about some of these other comments. We took their adoption training, and it was anything but 'euro-centric'. I've lived several years in other cultures, and trained volunteers at my museum in cultural sensitivity, and found their sessions respected the cultures of adopted children, and the need to stay connected with their birth cultures. A euro-centric training wouldn't have urged parents not to choose an anglo name to replace their child's first name of birth. Nor would that agency support and provide a communication forum for excellent groups like the Journeys parents of Marshall Islands children, who connect with the local Marshallese community and culture.
As far as: 'Unless you .... are young and in peak physical conditioning, look elsewhere. This agency does not want to work with you if you are older, fatter..." I was in my forties and 250lb when we approached them. No problem. They did frankly explain the requirements that each country had for foreign adoptions, including age, and were plain about the process of selection in domestic adoptions. Anyone looking for an adoption agency needs to understand that it must respect the rights of the entire adoption triad: Adopted children, adoptive parents and birth parents. Anything else would be unethical. Please don't assume that the agency is solely your representative in a negotiation with a birth mother. If you really wanted that, and all the ethical uncertainty it can lead to, you'd be posting ads in search of birth parents and retaining a lawyer to write a contract instead of investigating agencies.
Do understand, however, that David and Susan are self-confessed 'former hippies' and fairly laid-back. That doesn't mean lazy. Everyone there is hard-working, but do not stress about things they can't control ( or things for which getting control would be a wasteful allocation of resources). If you are a type-A personality, this agency might not be the one for you. They understand the nature of international adoption, how information is not always going to come as often as one might hope, how bureaucracies will confront them and you with contradictory instructions and requirements. They're used to the uncertainty and know how to endure it, but also assume that you can as well. Updates can be frustratingly sparse, but that is a function of the process as much as of the agency, and this is not an agency that will provide a lot of progress reports when nothing new has happened and only for the purpose of hand-holding.
Having said that, I never had any trouble getting in touch with them when I needed to for advice, information, or just the reassuring 'yup, nothing new. but there's nothing unusual about that, and it doesn't mean you need to worry'. In fact I had David's cell phone if I needed it and was able to call outside office hours (though I made that rare.)
In short, you'll want more than a cursory interview to get a sense of this agency's style, and to assure that it works with your personal style. If it does, I doubt you'll be disappointed. David, Susan, and their entire staff are supremely ethical, passionate and dedicated.
this agency deserves zero stars
the test of a great agency is when things go belly-up with your adoption as ours did, will they support you even if they cannot advocate for you? This agency did not check out our birthmom, in fact, they didn't even verify that she was who she claimed to be OR that she was even pregnant. We flew out of state only to be scammed. When the "birthmom" did not show up for the scheduled "c-section" the agency in Hillsboro became MIA. The never returned our calls, the owners were always "out of the office", "just left for lunch", "in a meeting" etc... there were no apologies for their blunders, there were no offers of comfort or kindness to us in our grief, nothing but unreturned phone calls and THEN weeks later a terrible letter from David Slansky severing ties with us because we sought counsel after they wouldn't talk to us. If it hadn't been for the social worker at the hospital and the director of another agency who stepped up to the plate to help us (a long time associate of the SW at the hospital) we would have been completely lost in our grief.
We trusted this agency, they knew that our son had died, and we expected that they would perform their duties in a professional and thorough manner.
Also, if you have ever been to their office, you could see how the paperwork mix ups happen. It looks as if a bomb went off, and I thought they were remodeling, but this is what it always looks like!
If you need a reputable agency there are many: ASIA of Oregon, Heritage in Oregon, Adoption-Link in Oak Park, IL, Holt in Oregon, Open Adoption in Oregon.
This isn't the 1st time that we've had bad luck with an adoption when things didn't go as planned, but the other agency handled themselves before and after with professionalism and compassion. They also did their job at the beginning which JOA did not do.
Adoption is never a sure thing and can be a very rough road at times, you want an agency that is competent, professional, diligent, and on their game. You want an agency that will advocate for you when things go wrong.
Since our experience we have heard horror stories about JOA, and we have even met someone who sued them after 2 terrible screw-ups.
Good luck!
I Recommend This Agency to Anybody & Everybody!!!
I truly love Journeys of the Heart, their staff, their policies, their ways. This is just a excellent agency through and through. They remain in constant communication with you and the birth parents. They truly care about their birth parents and adoptive parents as individuals and not as profit.
My personal experience with this agency was mixed.
We had some good and some bad with this agency. We had a good experince with the social workers and homestudy and at placement, but a terrible situation post-placement that was very difficult to go through.
With time I am starting to heal and realize that our situation was very specific and somewhat unusual. We do know that much blame falls on the contracted social worker Journey's hired and that she is no longer working with the agency. Journey's tried to correct things after the fact, though we feel that they sould have been more aware of the situation before it became a crisis. Unfortunately, I think we just entered the agency at the wrong time, before they were actually prepared to handle an adoption in our state, and our baby came so suddenly that the agency was left in a lurch. Our only wish is that they had been honest with us from the start and told us that they were not prepared for our adoption and that we should continue forward as an independent adoption, which we could have easily done.
I assume that Journeys learned from the mistakes made on our adoption and with time have made themselves more aware of adoption law in our state. I do believe that the staff has the capability of making good matches and supporting birthfamilies. I respect Susan and the social workers on staff and wish them the best in the future.
stay away unless you're desperate!
Journey's is TERRIBLE at providing support and customer service. They are EXCELLENT at cashing payments and getting a baby.
They misplaced documents, misspelled our names on forms, gave us conflicting information, and made us sit through the most euro-centric "adoption education class" that made us feel like we were in the 1980's again.
Not marketable family??
So, when you are not model perfect, rich, skinny, Olympic athletes, or crunchy granola types...where do you go to adopt?? Don't choose this agency. Apparantly birth mothers only want supermodels as parents..if you are anything less, you are unwelcome in their program.
Rude, sacrastic, act like you are wasting their time with your pesky questions. Cash your payments quickly enough, but do not help you to adopt...just wait you out.
If you are a real family- imperfect, hard working, eager to have your child come home....go elsewhere. This agency is too slow, too judgmental for us. We are looking elsewhere.
Run fast if you want actual assistance!
Horrible horrible horrible. Communication is non-existant and they will tell you not to expect to ever hear from them. WHAT???? Turn around time is lengthy. Comments are not terribly helpful when creating your profile. If you call, no one is ever available to speak with you, emails go unchecked and no responses are given. Paperwork is misplaced, and not recognized.....but the check was cashed quickly.
Unless you have all the time in the world, are young and in peak physical conditioning, look elsewhere. This agency does not want to work with you if you are older, fatter or too eager to proceed through the adoption process to bring a child home. They work on their own timeline and it's unlikely that their snail's pace matches your desire to receive a child quicky if at all.
We bought into the hype and wasted months when we could be looking for our child elsewhere!
Wish I could give Zero stars.
RMI Adoption Manager seems to be a little....
The RMI program for Journey's of the Home was seemingly left with mud on it's boots when it was discovered their own director for this program was very vocal about changing the American laws that granted Marshallese Women to come to the United States and receive healthcare before, during and after birth. This director kept rumors up about how American's had to pay for the babies to be born and it raised taxes and that it took the power away from the government of the RMI. Now this director is the *only* American who can do RMI international adoptions for the entire United States of America.
The argument to many didn't make any sense because America is about 'freedom' and gives our citizens and other countries who have 'rights' granted to them to do what they will with their body and their baby. And up until then RMI women were allowed to come to the USA to give birth in an American Hospital and at that time they can choose to place their baby for adoption. Some stated this was some sort of loophole... I don't really get it - it would seem that anyone in their right mind would want a baby who would be born in a hospital without up to date equipment, medicines and specialist on hand to come and receive what is arguably the best medical care one can receive.
And by removing the right of the birth mother and putting her adoption decision into the governments decision seems to go against everything that is 'American'.
My gripe here is NOT that the RMI wants to have a say over the women of their country's choices - this is their country, so we respect that, my gripe is that as someone who adopted a child here in the US and still has relationships with the birthparents of our child, was met with complete ridicule and hatred by this director (I think it was the director, this was by blog) when we talked about adopting another child - through their program.
She was complaining that birth parents in the RMI were not being told the truth about the adoptions - but when I said I spoke to the birthmother about 'our' child's future - she said that's impossible since the birth mother didn't speak english.... *The birthmother *DOES* speak english, in fact when we were with her last she said to me that I am definitely the mother of this precious child and this adoption agency director doesn't even know this birthmother! :)
It just rubbed me the wrong way about all the obvious mistruths being said about our adoption agency, etc.
She didn't give me much confidence that she would be able to pull it together and do a superb job on behalf of the birthfamily and us, the adopting family because she came off as too 'over-the-top' with trying to justify why she's the only person in the entire United States of America that makes money on this adoption and as well she was VERY vocal to make it that way. It kinda makes one want to look at the ethics of it...
This was just my experience and I hope that she has now been able to let go of her 'speech' to justify her apparent takeover of the RMI international adoption program to the US and can focus solely on getting these precious children and families together with 'their' families that God has provided them through the gift of adoption.
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Blessed Abundantly to be a Mommy through the gift of adoption...