KimW
We used Orphans Overseas almost 4 years ago to bring our little girl home from China. We had friends that had used them previously to adopt a little baby boy from Vietnam 8 years prior to our using them. Their experience and ours was fabulous.
Based on our experience we had no glitches what so ever. Communication and followup was wonderful. All our paperwork was in order when we went over and while we were there.
We turned in our application in October 2003, paperwork went to China in April 2004 and we had a picture of our new daughter by October 2004 and were united with her on November 29, 2004.
We feel that they are committed to uniting families thru adoption. I have nothing but praise for the work they do and will continue to recommend them to anyone that asks me who we used for our adoption.
OO assisted my husband and I with our first overseas adoption and are currently helping us with our second. I have found OO to be the kind of people who care deeply about relationship with the Countries they work with. Whether there are children available for adoption or orphanages full of unadoptable children, they are committed to a long-term relationship. We believe that says to each one of these Countries that they are cared about whether they have anything to offer us or not. They believe that all orphans need a forever family, but understand that, that will not always be possible. This was the reason that we chose to work with OO. We believe that the heart of this agency should echo the heart of all people. OO truly exists to help their neighbors (anyone in need), which we think should be every mans goal in life.
Sunset Presbyterian Church/ Orphans Overseas is licensed in the province of Nam Dinh, which has recently been in the news because of reports of 300+ stolen children. These children were given false identities in order to be put on the market for international adoption. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01CAS150708 Here is the link to the story.
Where there is smoke, there is fire. With this review and the previous negative review, consider yourself warned. There are thousands of other agencies to work with, look into them.
We began our adoption journey with O.O. in June of 2005 in their China program. As the wait time for a daughter dramatically increased we began to look at doing a concurrent adoption while we waited. We became aware of a potential birthmom in early January and within two weeks we had been chosen to be our daughter's parents. Our social worker was with us every step of the way and was very helpful and supportive. We are just wrapping up finalizing our adoption right now and have been very happy with our experience. Orphans Overseas has also been extremely supportive of our daughter's birthmom and has worked hard to meet her needs as well.
We adopted through Orphans Overseas three times and would use them again if we were to adopt again. Did everything go as smooth or quickly as we would have liked? No, but who can expect things to be totally predictable when working with two governments at the same time?
The Orphans Overseas staff all have a real heart and burden both for children who need families and for families who desire to add a child to their family. Their foreign staff were extremely professional and knowledgeable, making our time in both China and Vietnam as pleasant as possible.
Our affiliation with Orphans Overseas began ten years ago and over that time we have seen many improvements including but not limited to increased communication with families, additional staffing and additional adoption programs.
Orphans Overseas AKA Sunset Presbyterian church in Portland, Oregon was connected with two of the most corrupt provinces in Vietnam up until the provinces were shutdown by the vietnamese government. Baby stealing and baby selling was reported by the United States Department of State. Here is the official warning posted, including the names of the provinces that Orphans Overseas was working with at the time of the DOS announcement http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoptionstatement1107.html . The provinces mentioned by the DOS as corrupt are the only provinces that Orphans Overseas has completed adoptions from since the reopening of adoptions in Vietnam.
Orphans Overseas continued to take fees from clients after repeated warnings from the U.S. department of state regarding the provinces that Orphans Overseas primarily worked in, and after warnings about Vietnam adoptions in general. They took fees knowing that the only provinces Orphans Overseas funded were shut down due to corruption. This means they knew they had no orphanage connections to work with and adopt babies out of while taking these fees.
Thus far, Orphans Overseas has not refunded fees paid by clients even though no adoption will be taking place. Adoptive parents will lose thousands of dollars in fees paid to Orphans Overseas.
In addition, Orphans Overseas office staff are much less informed about Vietnam adoptions than other agencies. In fact, clients would call other Vietnam adoption agencies for general information on the status of Vietnam adoptions.
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Reviews
We would use them again
KimW
We used Orphans Overseas almost 4 years ago to bring our little girl home from China. We had friends that had used them previously to adopt a little baby boy from Vietnam 8 years prior to our using them. Their experience and ours was fabulous.
Based on our experience we had no glitches what so ever. Communication and followup was wonderful. All our paperwork was in order when we went over and while we were there.
We turned in our application in October 2003, paperwork went to China in April 2004 and we had a picture of our new daughter by October 2004 and were united with her on November 29, 2004.
We feel that they are committed to uniting families thru adoption. I have nothing but praise for the work they do and will continue to recommend them to anyone that asks me who we used for our adoption.
We love what they do
OO assisted my husband and I with our first overseas adoption and are currently helping us with our second. I have found OO to be the kind of people who care deeply about relationship with the Countries they work with. Whether there are children available for adoption or orphanages full of unadoptable children, they are committed to a long-term relationship. We believe that says to each one of these Countries that they are cared about whether they have anything to offer us or not. They believe that all orphans need a forever family, but understand that, that will not always be possible. This was the reason that we chose to work with OO. We believe that the heart of this agency should echo the heart of all people. OO truly exists to help their neighbors (anyone in need), which we think should be every mans goal in life.
We would and will use them again and again.
Crooked
Sunset Presbyterian Church/ Orphans Overseas is licensed in the province of Nam Dinh, which has recently been in the news because of reports of 300+ stolen children. These children were given false identities in order to be put on the market for international adoption. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01CAS150708 Here is the link to the story.
Where there is smoke, there is fire. With this review and the previous negative review, consider yourself warned. There are thousands of other agencies to work with, look into them.
We are happy with our experience
We began our adoption journey with O.O. in June of 2005 in their China program. As the wait time for a daughter dramatically increased we began to look at doing a concurrent adoption while we waited. We became aware of a potential birthmom in early January and within two weeks we had been chosen to be our daughter's parents. Our social worker was with us every step of the way and was very helpful and supportive. We are just wrapping up finalizing our adoption right now and have been very happy with our experience. Orphans Overseas has also been extremely supportive of our daughter's birthmom and has worked hard to meet her needs as well.
We'd use them again
We adopted through Orphans Overseas three times and would use them again if we were to adopt again. Did everything go as smooth or quickly as we would have liked? No, but who can expect things to be totally predictable when working with two governments at the same time?
The Orphans Overseas staff all have a real heart and burden both for children who need families and for families who desire to add a child to their family. Their foreign staff were extremely professional and knowledgeable, making our time in both China and Vietnam as pleasant as possible.
Our affiliation with Orphans Overseas began ten years ago and over that time we have seen many improvements including but not limited to increased communication with families, additional staffing and additional adoption programs.
Caution
Orphans Overseas AKA Sunset Presbyterian church in Portland, Oregon was connected with two of the most corrupt provinces in Vietnam up until the provinces were shutdown by the vietnamese government. Baby stealing and baby selling was reported by the United States Department of State. Here is the official warning posted, including the names of the provinces that Orphans Overseas was working with at the time of the DOS announcement http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/adoptionstatement1107.html . The provinces mentioned by the DOS as corrupt are the only provinces that Orphans Overseas has completed adoptions from since the reopening of adoptions in Vietnam.
Orphans Overseas continued to take fees from clients after repeated warnings from the U.S. department of state regarding the provinces that Orphans Overseas primarily worked in, and after warnings about Vietnam adoptions in general. They took fees knowing that the only provinces Orphans Overseas funded were shut down due to corruption. This means they knew they had no orphanage connections to work with and adopt babies out of while taking these fees.
Thus far, Orphans Overseas has not refunded fees paid by clients even though no adoption will be taking place. Adoptive parents will lose thousands of dollars in fees paid to Orphans Overseas.
In addition, Orphans Overseas office staff are much less informed about Vietnam adoptions than other agencies. In fact, clients would call other Vietnam adoption agencies for general information on the status of Vietnam adoptions.