We started an adoption with this agency because we wanted to adopt from Latin American and they had several programs at the time. They providing glowing information about their (now-defunct) Panama and El Salvador programs, so we signed on with them. As we went through our home study, we started asking more specific, informed questions about where the babies came from, what they knew about the lawyers they were dealing with, etc and they had few answers. It turned out that no one from their agency had ever even been to those countries or had actually met the people they were dealing with. They had little information about the backgrounds of the lawyers or how children came into care. The more we talked to them, the more we realized that the information on their information sheets was a guess, at best, and downright deceptive at worst. We asked for our money back and, of course, didn't get it. Even after those two programs started crumbling (although they had never really gotten off the ground to start with), they kept advertising them in the same glowing manner until we wrote a letter and complained.
This agency did not do due diligence to ensure an ethical process. They advertised many things about their programs that didn't end up being true. It may not have been done to purposely mislead, but it was certainly negligent. These are kids' lives! At the very least they should meet the lawyers they work with and see the orphanages BEFORE opening a program. They should have full information before they start advertising.
We are with a different agency now and I can't believe the difference. They have strong ties with the countries they work with and so much information about what goes on on the ground. I am so grateful we left Los Ninos.
We came to this agency b/c of their great reputation for Guatemala and Vietnam. But you know what happened with those programs. They advised us to enter their Kazakhstan program even though no one currently working at the agency has Kaz experience. They assured us they still had their in-country contact. Although their online education was excellent, and home study went fairly smoothly, help with dossier prep was non-existent. Forms were outdated and incorrect. No electronic forms provided. They really didn't know what they were doing.
Sadly, we spent 5 months and nearly $15k with this agency attempting to adopt from Kaz. Turned out they didn't know how to get our dossier translated or submitted, so it sat on their desks until they returned it to us. Also they signed us into their Kaz program at the same time Kaz announced impending reduction of their maximum age for parents--only LNI didn't tell us. We only found out from message boards--after it was too late.
Now they are balking on refund. VERY disappointed.
We have switched agencies and countries, and are now zooming along--the difference is amazing.
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Reviews
Los Ninos - Unethical
We started an adoption with this agency because we wanted to adopt from Latin American and they had several programs at the time. They providing glowing information about their (now-defunct) Panama and El Salvador programs, so we signed on with them. As we went through our home study, we started asking more specific, informed questions about where the babies came from, what they knew about the lawyers they were dealing with, etc and they had few answers. It turned out that no one from their agency had ever even been to those countries or had actually met the people they were dealing with. They had little information about the backgrounds of the lawyers or how children came into care. The more we talked to them, the more we realized that the information on their information sheets was a guess, at best, and downright deceptive at worst. We asked for our money back and, of course, didn't get it. Even after those two programs started crumbling (although they had never really gotten off the ground to start with), they kept advertising them in the same glowing manner until we wrote a letter and complained.
This agency did not do due diligence to ensure an ethical process. They advertised many things about their programs that didn't end up being true. It may not have been done to purposely mislead, but it was certainly negligent. These are kids' lives! At the very least they should meet the lawyers they work with and see the orphanages BEFORE opening a program. They should have full information before they start advertising.
We are with a different agency now and I can't believe the difference. They have strong ties with the countries they work with and so much information about what goes on on the ground. I am so grateful we left Los Ninos.
Los Ninos International - Beware of Kaz program
We came to this agency b/c of their great reputation for Guatemala and Vietnam. But you know what happened with those programs. They advised us to enter their Kazakhstan program even though no one currently working at the agency has Kaz experience. They assured us they still had their in-country contact. Although their online education was excellent, and home study went fairly smoothly, help with dossier prep was non-existent. Forms were outdated and incorrect. No electronic forms provided. They really didn't know what they were doing.
Sadly, we spent 5 months and nearly $15k with this agency attempting to adopt from Kaz. Turned out they didn't know how to get our dossier translated or submitted, so it sat on their desks until they returned it to us. Also they signed us into their Kaz program at the same time Kaz announced impending reduction of their maximum age for parents--only LNI didn't tell us. We only found out from message boards--after it was too late.
Now they are balking on refund. VERY disappointed.
We have switched agencies and countries, and are now zooming along--the difference is amazing.