Discuss Review

Adoption Advantage

1.95122
Average: 2 (41 votes)
Phone: 1 501-376-7778
Fax: 1 501-376-7775
E-mail: integadopt@aol.com
Address:
13720 Colonel Glenn Road
Little Rock, AR 72210

Reviews

We were wrong

1

I posted in here some time ago defending AA. Everything I said up to that point was the truth and my honest opinion at that time. My husband and I did have a very successful adoption with them the first time and were very satisfied; however, our experiences lately have not been so pleasent. I am not able to go into specifics, but I would absolutely no recommend anyone signing up with the company any more. We have talked with several other couples that have had the same experiences recently. I apologize if my review led anyone to sign up with the clinic, but that was my true opinion at that point. I felt that it was necessary to post my updated opinion so nobody else will fall into the same trap we have fallen into this second time.

so now what?

Are you going to share your story or are you going to report them to whatever authorities they have to answer to? I am getting my things in order, documentation, paperwork etc. to send to the licensing department in Arkansas. I really think people need to open up and be honest about what is going on. Their business is going downhill really fast and I would hate to have anyone fork over thousands of dollars only to be duped like we were.

Yes, we are currently in the

Yes, we are currently in the process of filing with the appropriate agencies. I would recommend contacting Greg Gilliland at Greg.Gilliland@arkansas.gov for he is compiling info to take to the state licensing board. I am also going to file a compliant with the local prosecuting attorney's office for possible criminal charges. My attorney is sending me paperwork to submit to the bar ethics committee as well in order to work on getting him disbarred. I am not going to sit by and let him do this to other people and am going to do everything in my legal power to prevent that.

Disgusted

Strawbabies

Ok well now that is really going to get you a child. What exactly did the agency do that is illegal? AA and any agency cannot just pull babies off of a shelf to give to you when you feel you have waited long enough. Are you a Christian? Do you believe God is in charge of your life? God is the one who decides when you get to add to your family. It is wrong for you to go after this agency. If it were not for them, I would not be a parent to two wonderful children. I thank God for them every day. I thank God for the work that they continue to do.

Throwing a temper tantrum and "telling" on the agency to whoever is not going to get you a child. In fact it is only going to make AA take up time defending themselves when they could be doing what you hired them for. Not only are you going to hurt yourself but you are also going to hurt the other people on their list.

You ought to be ashamed-all of you who are complaining because you didn't get a child when you wanted one. I have read all of your posts and all I see is whining-nothing that proves to me that AA is doing anything wrong and especially illegal.

Oh really..........

I completely disagree!! Gina did not mention the specifics of her case against the agency and neither will I. You have no idea what we have been through and whether or not they have done anything illegal. You are only basing your opinion on YOUR experience with them which is fine. You have the right to be happy for your two successful adoptions but you should have a heart for those people who have not had the chance and who have lost thousands of dollars! Think outside of yourself! There is no whining going on........simply SEVERAL couples that don't want to see anyone else invest in this agency. Yes, I believe that God is all powerful and in control of my life and I believe he will provide a baby for us all in His time! However this agency has not shown us God's love OR Christian principles as they state. Just remember that there ARE people out there that throw out the big C word as a catch phrase and there are other people that LIVE it!

I am basing my opinion on

I am basing my opinion on the earlier posts. You and the other poster are suggesting the agency that I know and love is doing something illegal. If you are in fact a Christian you might want to pull your Bible out and read the section on gossip and rumors. The Bible is very clear that you should not say things that hurt other people that are or are not based on fact. However I would think that most Christians would at least agree that you should not say things that are untrue or that you cannot prove about another person (and in this case an adoption agency). It is gossip and sin to even insinuate that another person has done something illegal or "duped people out of money". Let me ask you something. Has the agency told you to "hit the road" now that they have your money or are they still trying to find you a baby? Because I don't believe that Adoption Advantage took your money and then said they would not work with you. As I said before, you are mad because you did not get a baby fast enough and obviously you do not have your life in God's hands or you would not be so bitter and mad and you would trust that God will work through the agency like he did with me and find you a child. You and the other complainers are only hurting yourself and the others waiting for a child by posting this crap. I do have a heart for the fact that you are hurting and want a child so badly. I have been there. I know what it feels like. But it is wrong to hurt a good organization because you did not get what you wanted when you wanted it. And its not just about the agency-I am sure they can take up for themselves, but because I do have a heart for what you are going through that I am trying to show you and the others how ridiculous you sound. You think you are helping others but you are not. You are hurting them and yourselves. Just really trust in God and he will give you the desires of your heart! That is a Bible promise.

suggesting?

I am not suggesting that they are doing something illegal, I KNOW they are doing something illegal and it doesn't have to do with the placement/adoption of babies, there are other business practices in which they are breaking the law. So I am "covered" in the area of goosip and rumors. We have never sought legal council in our lives but they have brought us to that point and oince again, you assume I'm talking about not having a successful adoption but I am not. I love when people call us bitter........actually not at all, just wanting to safe guard others from hurt! I actually met someone on here and after reading my post they decided not to sign and give up their money. Yes, she had called the agency and almost signed (sweet dear Karen) and then they started bribing her with potential birthmothers and she wasn't even a client! Her homestudy provider thought it sounded fishy so they backed out. We are now dear friends and they were able to adopt through an attorney in their area. That is music to my ears and it is God's GRACE that protected them.
As far as sounding ridiculous, it is you that seems ridiculous! We are on here for a reason.......people want to know the truth about agencies before signing with them so that is what we are giving them. The TRUTH! Most of us are also speaking the truth in LOVE as God also commands..........I have a love for others and God has called us to make a difference in the lives of others. Through our journey of secondary infertility and adoption He has spoken to our hearts to use what we have learned to help others which is exactly what we are doing.

Can't resist this

I said I wasn't going to reply to this craziness anymore but I just can't help but to reply to you.

This is totally getting out of hand. I wasn't going to bring this to the agency director's attention because I was embarressed that people just like me, fellow adoptive parents (or would be adoptive parents) are behaving this way, but I am not going to sit by and let you slander this poor man's name and agency. I hope when he looks at this that he will come after you and sue you for everything you are worth because there is absolutely no way you could know if there are illegal things going on in an agency unless you worked at the agency and even then I am not sure I would believe it. For there are always people who have lost their jobs and are mad about it. I am assuming that this is where you are collecting your information, because I can't imagine any other way you could THINK you KNOW that there are illegal things happening. I will say it again-I know that the agency I love and owe my motherhood to will be able to prove that you are wrong and I look forward to the day when you are exposed for the awful things you are saying.

If you have a lawyer like you say you do then you might want to get him to give you a lesson in what slander is. I think that in America we believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty. But maybe you don't live in America-it sure sounds like you don't.

sad

I hate to break it to you but they fully know about this website. The owners wife took time out of her day to "take up" for them in a page long response some time ago. This website is protected by free speech and it says so in the rules and regulations, you might want to check it out. It also says in the rules that agencies themselves are not to post and Donna broke those rules. If you think what is going on here is bad, you should read the reviews of some other agencies, much worse, name calling, the whole nine yards!

I read her response. She

I read her response. She may have been technically wrong in the way she used this site but she has a right to "take up" for the agency-it says so in the rules of this site. She identified who she was which is more than I can say for a lot of you.

I noticed that you did not have enough guts to respond to my request to tell everyone how you KNOW that something is being done illegally????

Please feel free to respond to me (and anyone else) at my personal email. My name is Shelly and my email address is strawbabies@gmail.com. While you are rallying people who are upset with Adoption Advantage I am going to rally people who have had good experiences with them! Good will win out in the end.

GUTS

Guts? It has NOTHING to do with guts. I won't reveal their illegal business practices because that will be in our case against them. Not because I am afraid to do so. When I found this website, they had a one star rating. It only went up to two after Donna gave her own agency 5 stars. Go ahead and find your "people". I believe at the end of the day it won't help.

To Strawbabies

Members are allowed to post good and/or bad experiences with agencies. After all, it is THEIR experience. Furthermore, this is the purpose of THIS site. Please refrain from attacking people under the guise of God. God, Christianity, God's love, the Bible or Christian principles have nothing to do with this site. Let's leave Him out of it.

Adoptive Parent Support? Really?

The purpose of this site is to be a support to adoptive parents, not to slander and lie under the protection of being annonymous. I mean I am all for adoptive parents getting support-adoption is very difficult to go through even in the best circumstances. This kind of "support" is not helping adoptive parents. It is only adding to the fears they already have. Let's just keep on writing these things about Adoption Advantage and send them to the state and put them out of business and then all of the parents who are waiting on their list will lose. I am sure the agency will be able to prove that all that is being said is not true but I am also sure that defending themselves will take up time providing adoption services. How does that equal "adoptive parent support"? I did some research on this website today trying to get an understanding of why anyone would allow what is going on here. I read a posting from the creator of this site who said and I quote " I am trying to keep the site clean, no personal attacks and inappropriate comments". I don't think this site is doing a very good job of doing the above. When one of my friends told me about this site because they knew I had used Adoption Advantage to adopt my children, I wanted to see what was being said. I have read all of the postings and I know for a fact that the director of the agency's name is listed in one the attacks against his agency. The people who are posting these things have yet to produce any proof that what they are saying is true. Therefore it is slander, which I believe is against the law-regardless of Free Speech!! I have also been around long enough to know that everyone has a side to their story. You are only hearing the story from bitter angry people. If you want the real story-I encourage you to call the agency and talk to any of their staff. They can also provide you with people who have adopted from them before. I talked to many of these people before I signed up. Some had difficult stories and some had great stories-but THEY ALL GOT THEIR CHILD FROM ADOPTION ADVANTAGE!! So anyone who is reading these posts I encourage you to talk to real live people who will give you their name before you believe people who are too wimpy to say who they are. This alone speaks volumes. If these people were not telling lies they would not be afraid of saying who they are. Slander is not slander if the allegations are true.

And sir I kindly ask you to read the post that I responded to. She/he brought God into this before I did. Free Speech includes talking about our Lord and Savior and what he will do for us if we believe!!! You don't want to censor the people who are spreading lies so don't try to censor me!!!

That's it, you guys are crazy and I am not wasting my time on this site anymore. It will be good when you do get a child so you will hopefully be too busy to hurt others who want to adopt as well.

Response to this post:

To Strawbabies and anyone else reading this!

I'm very happy for you that you have the children you have hoped for with the help of AA. However, I have to take exception with several of your comments:

"The purpose of this site is to be a support to adoptive parents"
--WRONG. The purpose of this site is to RATE and REVIEW adoption agencies and adoptions lawyers, according to personal experience.

"Let's just keep on writing these things about Adoption Advantage and send them to the state and put them out of business and then all of the parents who are waiting on their list will lose."
-- This is probably the only thing you said that made sense to me. Yes, LETS KEEP ON WRITING THESE THINGS AND PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS! I will, of course, feel really bad for the people who will have lost thier money (myself included!) but it will also SAVE not only future adoptive parents from being scammed, but also save the PRECIOUS BIRTH MOTHERS who can't even receive a simple phone call after their placements! I think these people should be STOPPED - YESTERDAY!

"I am sure the agency will be able to prove that all that is being said is not true "
-- Do you really believe that ALL that is being said is not true? Is EVERYBODY lying? I'm certainly not. And you're so quick to dismiss everything that those of us with bad experiences are saying because they wont provide "proof" to you, but I challenge YOU for "PROOF" that all of us LIARS!

"The people who are posting these things have yet to produce any proof that what they are saying is true. Therefore it is slander"
-- WRONG AGAIN. It is not SLANDER to share your PERSONAL EXPERIENCE! It's not SLANDER because we decline to provide YOU with PROOF! "Proof" and "Slander" are legal terms in this instance, and they WILL be worked out in a court of law.

"You are only hearing the story from bitter angry people."
-- You bet we are angry and bitter! You would be too if your experience had been like ours. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for you that you have been able to have the family you dreamed of, but that does not mean that those of us who have been wronged don't have the right the be angry about it!

"If you want the real story-I encourage you to call the agency and talk to any of their staff."
-- I WOULD LOVE TO DO THIS!! If you're in contact with them, would you PLEASE PLEASE ask them to call me! Maybe they return the calls of their defenders, but they obviously don't care about those of us who have already paid their fees and have questions or concerns about our investment. Call the agency and talk to any of thier staff... yeah, good luck with that!

I assume that you are addressing me...

I was a bit confused, though, since I said nothing that could be construed as censorship. I was merely asking you to play nicely.

This site is a resource for adoptive parents and those in the adoption community who want to find more information, albeit biased, about adoption agencies. The information contained herein is that of one's experience whether YOU (or anyone else) agree with it.

What is not helping is that YOU were attacking someone for merely posting his or her experience. Your behavior was unnecessary. If they choose to post something that is untrue, that is THEIR issue. I also find it ironic that you criticize the owner of this website for not moderating people like YOU.

If you don't like this sand box then perhaps you shouldn't "waste [your] time on this site anymore."

As for who brought God into the conversation first...it is irrelevant to me. I find it appalling when "Christians" hide behind God, as they act un-Christian like.