Amy Anglin - This is a repost from another blog. I have been wondering for months what was bothering/hurting my father and have been very worried about his health. Today we finally talked about his pain and dispair over these hurtful posts, emails and blog entries. The following is my opinion and experience of this situation as Harold's daughter.
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FYI: All of the recent allegations against Acres of Hope were created by a disgruntled Acres of Hope ex-employee who wanted to take over the organization and went on a retaliation campaign when she was prevented from doing so. She started an email campaign to retaliate against Acres of Hope when she was unable coerce another 100% raise from the organization, and have her husband and another family member working for the organization and sitting on the board.
Beware of WHERE you get your information from.
The feeding program does exist and is not solely funded by one organization. It has had it's ups and downs because - if you have ever read about Africa or seen the movie "Blood Diamond" - TIA - This is AFRICA. It is extremely difficult to get anything positive going consistently on this continent.
I am not connected with Acres of Hope other than as an Anglin family member with no financial stake in the organization. I have no extra special love of my stepmother, Patty Anglin... she is my stepmother and provides me with all the problems of a typical stepmother/stepdaughter relationship.
However, I do care very much for my brothers and sisters, and have a caring relationship with my father, Harold.
I have seen him age significantly, turning from a spry 70 year old to a man who looks like 20 years of life has been sucked out of him during this selfish and short-sighted campaign of personal retaliation.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of support for Acres of Hope have been lost in this email and blog campaign, my father has lost about 20 years of his natural lifespan, and what is even sadder to me, is that when (or sometime just before) this campaign, slandering Acres of Hope, began, my father was desperately trying to obtain the money for food shipments for the feeding program and was very frustrated and exhausted ALREADY.
It is very easy to be an armchair quarterback and complain when you are NOT trying to get money to lease a cargo ship to Africa!!
My father, Harold Anglin, is the least money interested person I have ever met. He has always had faith that God provides to those who do the right thing at the right time, and he has never used nor abused the support of any person or any animal (he is a horseman and wildlife biologist as well.)
Your allegations hurt him mostly because he is trying his heart out to save and help children, and he sees how many children have ACTUALLY DIED because of one person's selfish and self-centered campaign of retaliation through the internet... of which this blog is a part.
Yes, you know how to blog, (and pass on the misinformation) but do you know how to obtain money for cargo ships, feeding programs and wells and schools in Africa? If so, let me know and I'll send your information on to my father.
Maybe your abilities in fundraising and cargo ship rustling can help save a man who is slowly dying inside because of grief stemming from the efforts of this blog.
Yes, grief kills... but lack of food kills quicker, when my father sees children die, he grieves, and little by little, his life is leaving him because of this tremendous burden of grief.
So, ask yourself this - am I being compassionate by passing on this mis-information in blog form?
Am I helping children in Africa?
Am I being part of the solution?
If you are an honest person, you know what the answer is.
Our family used AWAA for a Ethiopia adoption. Their Ethiopia program had problems. It seems like they are fixing these problems, but the way senior leadership handled problems makes me believe if there are issues in your adoption, you could be in trouble with AWAA as your representative. When problems came up in our adoption there were also major lapses in communication - it was a very bad time. They had allowed the program to grow beyond their ability to manage it and had some other major issues (staffing, communication, in-country problems which could have been prevented with proper planning and management). The program was in crisis, I think. The current staff really seem to be on top of stuff and I imagine other families will have a much better go of it. Unfortunately, I can't give them a good rating based on our experience. Our experience was poor in some critical areas.
Everyone at AWAA seems very nice, but sometimes their words are not followed by action. When they made mistakes in the past, appropriate action was not taken to compensate for it even if apologies were given. I was
Despite all of this, I don't think it would be fair to give them a "poor" rating. The agency has excellent staff in Ethiopia. Their transitional home is very good (though could use some improvement). Our time there went very well, but some families have had major issues as the agency does not properly prepare you for travel. Their packets are often disorganized and confusing with contradicting information. Some families have not had all the documentation they've needed when they traveled, which resulted in problems with their Embassy appointments. AWAA had told them all the wrong thing. We were only okay because we had read through the State Dept. info ourselves and followed what we read there. I think the agency should, if not advise, at least not lead families astray. All of the admin staff stateside are great. Very professional, courtesy and warm. I also think the current Ethiopia case managers are also top notch.
Be very careful in trusting this agency. I know we would not use them again in the future because of the problems we had. They also seem expensive since the families do all of the paperwork themselves except for the stuff in Ethiopia. They spend a lot of money on fancy marketing materials and are currently trying to open programs in a number of other countries. A huge part of our problems came from them allowing their Ethiopia program to grow beyond their ability to manage it. That's a problem with upper level management. I would imagine you'd see the same issues with other "new" programs because they don't seem to have good business plans/models for this type of situation. I also didn't appreciate being hit up for donations while we were in the midst of an expensive, international adoption so that they could expand their operations while they were so thoroughly mishandling their current operations.
I know many families felt betrayed and lied to. I wouldn't go that far, but we were very sad with how some things turned out. I can't recommend them based on our experience (and that of many others). But, a lot of people have had a good experience with them. I hate to give them a bad review because there are many things I like about AWAA. They fell very short with our adoption, but I think they have offered better service to most of the other families in their Ethiopia program.
They could be an amazing agency, but they need to get organized. Solid plans to ensure safe growth would go a long way. They also need to be careful in setting their aims too high without the proper foundations in place.
I have noticed that all the positive stories are being posted by one person. Which person from CAS is posting all the glowing reports? Since you are posting all these wonderful stories, do post about the failed adoptions, the lies told to parents, monies taken and tricks used against birthmothers?
We have a adopted twice using Kirsh and Kirsh both times. Steve and Joel both have answered our questions and were always forthright in their conversations and/or e-mails. I know that giving up your child must be one of the most difficult decisions a mother could ever make. We would not hesitate to recommend Kirsh and Kirsh to anyone that was looking to adopt or someone who needed to make adoption plans for their baby. .
I have known Steven and Joel for 40 years. They are both honorable, honest, decent, caring, sincere men. Both are family minded, both are fair, reasonable, logical. I am sorry that Dee Dee had a negative experience but she is truly the needle in a haystack. Kirsh & Kirsh has facilitated adoptions and created hundreds and hundreds of happy families -- children and parents. Frankly, I cannot believe the things that Dee Dee has written. These are good men and their office is kind, compassionate place. The issue of adoption is complex for all parties involved, Steven and Joel consider all points of view as they take both birth mothers and adoptive parents through the process. I recommend them every chance that I get.
Our family has adopted two children through two different agencies. Heart to Heart was by far the better of the two. As a family we found everyone to be honest and extremely friendly. Everything was explained to us upfront and they handled our family with dignity. Our experience with Donna and her staff was top notch.
I am surprised to hear that there are negative reviews about Bethany Christian. I placed a baby boy in December of 99 through the Atlanta Bethany office and had a good experience as far as placing a child goes. The social workers were very caring and attentive to my needs. I truly feel that I would not have had a better experience had I turned to another adoption agency. Although my parents arranged the first meeting, I never felt pressured by the agency to place my child. In fact my social worker helped me realistically look at what it would take for me to parent my child. I was seventeen at the time I got pregnant and 18 when I placed. Although it has been 8 years since I placed I am still satisfied with the services I received at Bethany Christian. Not that I never had doubts about my decision, and occasionally regret that I placed for adoption. But this is to be expected because it is a healing process that will probably take the rest of my life. In no way do I ever believe Bethany is to blame for those regrets.
Bethany provided me with a shepherding home in which the couple I lived with had three precious children with which they adopted through Bethany. Bethany provided counseling throughout the entire process. Bethany encouraged a relationship with the adoptive parents throughout the pregnancy and helped set up arrangements for an open adoption and a birthing plan that suited myself and involved the adoptive parents. After the placement I attended post placement support group meetings and did receive some counseling. For anyone who is considering placing or adopting through Bethany I strongly recommend it. Placing is not easy to do but through my experience through the Atlanta office I would recommend Bethany.
The people working in the Guatemala program were extreamly over worked - though they tried there best. Emails and phone messages were returned immediatley before we received our referral but not after. They promised us we would be parents and bring home a child, and that did happened with the first adoption. (The attorney and foster family were wonderful and even though there were a few bumps in the road everything turned out okay).
The second adoption didn't have a happy ending. The birth mother changed her mind shortly after the baby was born. We had a difficult time getting information from CWA. It was heartbraking for us but we also understood the pain the birth mother was suffering. CWA was not very caring and compassinate to us once we suffered this loss. It was pure business. We were offered if we wanted to get on a list for another referral. We wanted our money back but never got it. Plus they immediatly blocked our internet access to there site which we paid for. They did not play nice.
All in all we have a wonderful, healthy, happy child and we are very greatful for that, However when things go wrong praying isn't the entire solution - you really need to think and use the brain the good Lord gave you.
Adoptions are very emotional and require much patience. CWA could use a lot of improvement when adoptions turn sour.
It is pretty sad to see that someone has some sort of a grudge or vendetta against Christian Adoption Services and is using this board/website for their own personal agenda...whatever that may be. I say that because many of the negative comments are highly suspicious. Take for instance the 6 reveiws from 6/18/2008 that were all negative and all coincidentally posted within 5 to 20 minutes of each other. Also many of the negative comments are from "unverified" users. If that's not trying to manipuate the reviews I don't know what is. This is a great agency and I can't see the motive as why someone would want to trash this wonderful agency.
I first met the director, Jim, in 1999 or 2000 at an adoption expo along with over a dozen other agencies that were represented. Jim was very polite, very informative and left a very good impression on me and wife. After about three years of infertility treatment, we decided to adopt. Of all the pamplet's and brochures we collected three years earlier at the adoption expo, Christian Adoption Services was the only one we saved. We contacted them and attended their adoption seminar. Afterwards, we were very pleased with the agency and were very comfortable with not only Jim and Doris, but the entire staff including social workers and foster parents. We have since adopted both internationally and domestically through this agency and have had nothing but a great and positive experience. There are many things which are out of the control of any agency, particularly adopting from a foreign country because they are you are at the mercy of that country's timeline for processing applications and dosiers and matching the children with families. Also, with domestic adoption there are at times legal risk involved. We've experienced both of these events, and while it may seem frustruating to some, Jim and Doris did a wonderful job keeping us informed on their many calls oversees for our international adoption and keeping us updated on their progress of removing the legal risk issue associated with our domestic adoption. I have been so touched and moved by this agency and Doris and Jim's passion that I still kept in contact with both of them and have volunteered my time to help the agency out in whatever capacity I can.
Christian Adoption Services hosts many events for their adoptive families including an annual Family Day Picnic. This year there were almost 200 people in attendance at the event which is in itself a great testimony on the true views and experiences adoptive parents receive at this wonderful agency. So, I hope that the prospective adoptive parents or birth mothers that read these reviews can see that most, if not all, the negative reviews do not have merit.
The following was sent to all in process Children's Hope International
families today
(July 21).
I have been asked to post this to all the CHI country Yahoo
groups as well. Ann Tollefson
****
On Friday we sent you an email that Children's Hope, to our great surprise, was
denied Hague approval. It was on the basis of an incomplete corrective action
plan in one state that we thought was totally resolved. . This is nothing new
but something unfinished. We are appealing the decision but we are also
preparing details for you on how this affects your adoption process or even if
it does affect it. Each country is different so your country program director
will let you know later today the information you need. As you can imagine this
was a complete shock for us as well - as we believed that all requirements were
in perfect order.
As you already know, last year we made the discovery
(Russia made the discovery)
that improper procedures by two staff within our Russia department
(one the program director)
were done in the St. Louis office. There was misuse of notary privileges and mis-handled paperwork to Russia . Children’s
Hope began an investigationin to what is a
(federal multi state )
violation of the principles and ethics
of our agency. On the date of discovery, we immediately notified the Division
of Family and Children’s Services in Missouri , which evaluated and issued a
Corrective Action Plan to establish a proper checks and balance of notarized
documents within the agency, which was completed to their satisfaction.
Our investigation last summer found that 10 documents in 6 states were affected.
and so we began the process of notifying those states and undertaking any review
of our license
(why aren't federal authorities reviewing your license?)
that those states deemed necessary. Except for two states, this license review process was completewithin 3 months. We however continued to work with Kansas and Illinois to follow any requirement they thought necessary.
Children's Hope believed that all requirements had been met in Kansas while
still waiting for Illinois to finalize what turned out to be a 9 month process.
Therefore, we could not meet all the Hague requirements in the first round of
approvals for the Hague on February 29, 2008, so Children's Hope was issued
a "Pending Status" from the Hague Commission.
When Illinois finalized their corrective actions and issued our new permanent 4
year license in June, we immediately applied for Hague approval. They reviewed
our case on July 9th. On that very same day!, we found out through our new KS
Office Director that we were not in compliance in all points as we had thought.
This meant - as we found out on July 17, 2008, that our Hague approval was
denied! The problem seems to be that we were deemed non-compliant to the
regulations required for domestic adoption agency licensing in the state of
Kansas even though we are not a domestic – but international adoption agency.
In the world of international adoption you should know that logic is not followed !!
In an international agency, for example, it is impossible for the social worker
to visit the child before it is placed, which is one of the regulations. We had
already instituted what we thought were all the requirements of the state. We
greatly respect those in authority in the state of KS and are only sorry that we
did not get the communication in STL until we had applied for the COA to review our
application.
We have been and always will be committed to the highest moral and
ethical principles. comical
We immediately began talks with the Kansas officials to resolve any licensing
issues so we can re-apply to the COA for Hague Accreditation within the next few
weeks. But it is the discretion of COA to schedule our application for review,
or make us wait up to one year before re-applying.
In addition we are in talks with our friends in Holt International how we can
work under and through them to assist any families in application and those
whose dossiers have not been submitted – and that possibility looks very
positive.
We are going forward in the faith that this will soon be resolved. We are
committed to you and so appreciate those of you who have expressed your
understanding. We regret that we did not have the time to compose and share on
Friday what we are sharing in this email.
At that time, we were just wanting you to hear an announcement from us – and not someone else– until we had more information.
Please call or email me with your questions or concerns. Your program
consultant will be of more help with program issues, but I hope you will contact
me and I will try to explain anything I can.
We will leave nothing possible undone to make your adoption a reality.
What does any of this have to do with what happened to DeeDee. I guess I don't understand your reply here. Is it true or is it not that only two days after giving birth - before the final consent was in the courts - did you or did you not refuse to return this poor woman's baby? Did you or did you not tell her that birthmom's never win in court to try and get their babies back? Did you tell her not to look on the web for the propoganda of adoption while she was pregnant?
These are serious claims and I for one would appreciate a forth-right, honest reply instead of the usual "smooth" talk that completely ignores everything this poor, suffering mom is going through.
I think that the problems with our adoption were with the agency. We had problems with errors in our home study. We received very little help when we ran into problems. We did bring our son home in June, but most of what I needed to know I got from other families, boards, etc. I actually knew things before the agency did. Once Guatemala started to slow down "they couldn't afford to have anyone work full-time on that program" - AAI's words.
AAI made it clear from the start of the "extra fostering fees" situation that their loyalties were with the attorney in Guatemala. I even had to deal with the agency and attornies calling me for money on the day of my embassy appointment. A pickup trip is stressfull enough without having your agency tell you that you had to pay more money than you were suppose to. Our adoption was not delayed by any Hauge situation - instead the Hague was used to try and get extra money out of us. Since coming home, we have not heard one word from AAI - shows how much they care. They take your money and that's all they care about. We have received no clue as to what we should do or where we should go to get paperwork done in our state.
And if it werent for the natural mother you wouldn't have her. I cringed how you called it an "obligation". You should be happy to provide pictures and an update. It's the least you could do. It' s not a chore.
I'm sorry you did not have a good experience adopting from Adoption Associates. Were you (eventually) able to bring home a child/baby? I was recently told that Guatemalan adoptions are in a huge mess and probably will be for the next five years or so. My husband and I seriously considered adopting from Guatemala but ended up adopting domestically instead. (I was diagnosed with breast cancer about six years ago, so I was afraid about being turned down by international judges, who tend to view cancer as a death sentence even though I have a normal life expectancy.) Our original case worker did resign. We were very disappointed because we really liked her. Our new one was fine, though. I have four friends who adopted through Adoption Associates domemstically. (All of us teach in the same school district.) We all had fabulous experiences, but I'm not nearly as familiar with the Guatemalan process. Although our adoption worked out in the end, there were several very stressful times (related to our birthmom/birthparents.) I probably made about a dozen calls or so during the four months we were linked and I always had someone call me from Adoption Associates or at least e-mail me within 24 hours. I'm sorry you did not have a better experience. Do you think this was because of the Hague Treaty amendments/changes, or do you think it was the agency itself?
I would say ran people from all of it... Kaz program is just to show what is going to happend to Russian program.. RUN PARENTS RUN AWAY FROM CHI AS FAST AS YOU CAN, ALL OF THE OTHER GOOD AGENCIES ARE GETTING FILLED UP WITH PARENTS LEAVING CHI AND LINES ARE GETTING MUCH LONGER ...
We used AAI for our Guatemala adoption. It seemed like everyone who worked there only worked part-time. We were told that there would always be someone there to cover and answer questions for us but there was not the case. Many emails were sent out after 5:00pm and the person sending them would not be in for the next 4 days. Upon receiving an upsetting email that indicated that our contract was being changed I called and left a message for a particular person to call me back that day. What I did receive was an email telling me that "my schedule does not permit me to answer your phone call today. C will be in on Tuesday (4 days later) and will answer your questions then). We were pressured into believing that we had to pay for "extra fostering fees" because of the Hague agreement situation with Guatemala. Much to our attorney's disappointment, we were not told to bring the extra $2,000 down for pick up and we have refused to pay this extra money which was not part of our original contract.
Overall, I would give them a poor rating on communication. I would also question their ethics in regard to pressuring parents into paying extra fees that are not in the contract. When asked, they refused to give any details or supporting documents as to why we should have to pay this money.
We have two children through international adoption and we used CWA to bring them both home. Our caseworkers (two different countries) were both very responsive and seemed to truly care about our concerns and our children. We highly recommend CWA to anyone and will definitely use them again in the future! It's too bad all those negative comments came first :(
Amy Anglin - This is a repost from another blog. I have been wondering for months what was bothering/hurting my father and have been very worried about his health. Today we finally talked about his pain and dispair over these hurtful posts, emails and blog entries. The following is my opinion and experience of this situation as Harold's daughter.
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FYI: All of the recent allegations against Acres of Hope were created by a disgruntled Acres of Hope ex-employee who wanted to take over the organization and went on a retaliation campaign when she was prevented from doing so. She started an email campaign to retaliate against Acres of Hope when she was unable coerce another 100% raise from the organization, and have her husband and another family member working for the organization and sitting on the board.
Beware of WHERE you get your information from.
The feeding program does exist and is not solely funded by one organization. It has had it's ups and downs because - if you have ever read about Africa or seen the movie "Blood Diamond" - TIA - This is AFRICA. It is extremely difficult to get anything positive going consistently on this continent.
I am not connected with Acres of Hope other than as an Anglin family member with no financial stake in the organization. I have no extra special love of my stepmother, Patty Anglin... she is my stepmother and provides me with all the problems of a typical stepmother/stepdaughter relationship.
However, I do care very much for my brothers and sisters, and have a caring relationship with my father, Harold.
I have seen him age significantly, turning from a spry 70 year old to a man who looks like 20 years of life has been sucked out of him during this selfish and short-sighted campaign of personal retaliation.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of support for Acres of Hope have been lost in this email and blog campaign, my father has lost about 20 years of his natural lifespan, and what is even sadder to me, is that when (or sometime just before) this campaign, slandering Acres of Hope, began, my father was desperately trying to obtain the money for food shipments for the feeding program and was very frustrated and exhausted ALREADY.
It is very easy to be an armchair quarterback and complain when you are NOT trying to get money to lease a cargo ship to Africa!!
My father, Harold Anglin, is the least money interested person I have ever met. He has always had faith that God provides to those who do the right thing at the right time, and he has never used nor abused the support of any person or any animal (he is a horseman and wildlife biologist as well.)
Your allegations hurt him mostly because he is trying his heart out to save and help children, and he sees how many children have ACTUALLY DIED because of one person's selfish and self-centered campaign of retaliation through the internet... of which this blog is a part.
Yes, you know how to blog, (and pass on the misinformation) but do you know how to obtain money for cargo ships, feeding programs and wells and schools in Africa? If so, let me know and I'll send your information on to my father.
Maybe your abilities in fundraising and cargo ship rustling can help save a man who is slowly dying inside because of grief stemming from the efforts of this blog.
Yes, grief kills... but lack of food kills quicker, when my father sees children die, he grieves, and little by little, his life is leaving him because of this tremendous burden of grief.
So, ask yourself this - am I being compassionate by passing on this mis-information in blog form?
Am I helping children in Africa?
Am I being part of the solution?
If you are an honest person, you know what the answer is.
Our family used AWAA for a Ethiopia adoption. Their Ethiopia program had problems. It seems like they are fixing these problems, but the way senior leadership handled problems makes me believe if there are issues in your adoption, you could be in trouble with AWAA as your representative. When problems came up in our adoption there were also major lapses in communication - it was a very bad time. They had allowed the program to grow beyond their ability to manage it and had some other major issues (staffing, communication, in-country problems which could have been prevented with proper planning and management). The program was in crisis, I think. The current staff really seem to be on top of stuff and I imagine other families will have a much better go of it. Unfortunately, I can't give them a good rating based on our experience. Our experience was poor in some critical areas.
Everyone at AWAA seems very nice, but sometimes their words are not followed by action. When they made mistakes in the past, appropriate action was not taken to compensate for it even if apologies were given. I was
Despite all of this, I don't think it would be fair to give them a "poor" rating. The agency has excellent staff in Ethiopia. Their transitional home is very good (though could use some improvement). Our time there went very well, but some families have had major issues as the agency does not properly prepare you for travel. Their packets are often disorganized and confusing with contradicting information. Some families have not had all the documentation they've needed when they traveled, which resulted in problems with their Embassy appointments. AWAA had told them all the wrong thing. We were only okay because we had read through the State Dept. info ourselves and followed what we read there. I think the agency should, if not advise, at least not lead families astray. All of the admin staff stateside are great. Very professional, courtesy and warm. I also think the current Ethiopia case managers are also top notch.
Be very careful in trusting this agency. I know we would not use them again in the future because of the problems we had. They also seem expensive since the families do all of the paperwork themselves except for the stuff in Ethiopia. They spend a lot of money on fancy marketing materials and are currently trying to open programs in a number of other countries. A huge part of our problems came from them allowing their Ethiopia program to grow beyond their ability to manage it. That's a problem with upper level management. I would imagine you'd see the same issues with other "new" programs because they don't seem to have good business plans/models for this type of situation. I also didn't appreciate being hit up for donations while we were in the midst of an expensive, international adoption so that they could expand their operations while they were so thoroughly mishandling their current operations.
I know many families felt betrayed and lied to. I wouldn't go that far, but we were very sad with how some things turned out. I can't recommend them based on our experience (and that of many others). But, a lot of people have had a good experience with them. I hate to give them a bad review because there are many things I like about AWAA. They fell very short with our adoption, but I think they have offered better service to most of the other families in their Ethiopia program.
They could be an amazing agency, but they need to get organized. Solid plans to ensure safe growth would go a long way. They also need to be careful in setting their aims too high without the proper foundations in place.
Could have been amazing...sadly they were not.
I have noticed that all the positive stories are being posted by one person. Which person from CAS is posting all the glowing reports? Since you are posting all these wonderful stories, do post about the failed adoptions, the lies told to parents, monies taken and tricks used against birthmothers?
We have a adopted twice using Kirsh and Kirsh both times. Steve and Joel both have answered our questions and were always forthright in their conversations and/or e-mails. I know that giving up your child must be one of the most difficult decisions a mother could ever make. We would not hesitate to recommend Kirsh and Kirsh to anyone that was looking to adopt or someone who needed to make adoption plans for their baby. .
I have known Steven and Joel for 40 years. They are both honorable, honest, decent, caring, sincere men. Both are family minded, both are fair, reasonable, logical. I am sorry that Dee Dee had a negative experience but she is truly the needle in a haystack. Kirsh & Kirsh has facilitated adoptions and created hundreds and hundreds of happy families -- children and parents. Frankly, I cannot believe the things that Dee Dee has written. These are good men and their office is kind, compassionate place. The issue of adoption is complex for all parties involved, Steven and Joel consider all points of view as they take both birth mothers and adoptive parents through the process. I recommend them every chance that I get.
Our family has adopted two children through two different agencies. Heart to Heart was by far the better of the two. As a family we found everyone to be honest and extremely friendly. Everything was explained to us upfront and they handled our family with dignity. Our experience with Donna and her staff was top notch.
Heart to Heart doesnt charge intial fees.
I am surprised to hear that there are negative reviews about Bethany Christian. I placed a baby boy in December of 99 through the Atlanta Bethany office and had a good experience as far as placing a child goes. The social workers were very caring and attentive to my needs. I truly feel that I would not have had a better experience had I turned to another adoption agency. Although my parents arranged the first meeting, I never felt pressured by the agency to place my child. In fact my social worker helped me realistically look at what it would take for me to parent my child. I was seventeen at the time I got pregnant and 18 when I placed. Although it has been 8 years since I placed I am still satisfied with the services I received at Bethany Christian. Not that I never had doubts about my decision, and occasionally regret that I placed for adoption. But this is to be expected because it is a healing process that will probably take the rest of my life. In no way do I ever believe Bethany is to blame for those regrets.
Bethany provided me with a shepherding home in which the couple I lived with had three precious children with which they adopted through Bethany. Bethany provided counseling throughout the entire process. Bethany encouraged a relationship with the adoptive parents throughout the pregnancy and helped set up arrangements for an open adoption and a birthing plan that suited myself and involved the adoptive parents. After the placement I attended post placement support group meetings and did receive some counseling. For anyone who is considering placing or adopting through Bethany I strongly recommend it. Placing is not easy to do but through my experience through the Atlanta office I would recommend Bethany.
The people working in the Guatemala program were extreamly over worked - though they tried there best. Emails and phone messages were returned immediatley before we received our referral but not after. They promised us we would be parents and bring home a child, and that did happened with the first adoption. (The attorney and foster family were wonderful and even though there were a few bumps in the road everything turned out okay).
The second adoption didn't have a happy ending. The birth mother changed her mind shortly after the baby was born. We had a difficult time getting information from CWA. It was heartbraking for us but we also understood the pain the birth mother was suffering. CWA was not very caring and compassinate to us once we suffered this loss. It was pure business. We were offered if we wanted to get on a list for another referral. We wanted our money back but never got it. Plus they immediatly blocked our internet access to there site which we paid for. They did not play nice.
All in all we have a wonderful, healthy, happy child and we are very greatful for that, However when things go wrong praying isn't the entire solution - you really need to think and use the brain the good Lord gave you.
Adoptions are very emotional and require much patience. CWA could use a lot of improvement when adoptions turn sour.
It is pretty sad to see that someone has some sort of a grudge or vendetta against Christian Adoption Services and is using this board/website for their own personal agenda...whatever that may be. I say that because many of the negative comments are highly suspicious. Take for instance the 6 reveiws from 6/18/2008 that were all negative and all coincidentally posted within 5 to 20 minutes of each other. Also many of the negative comments are from "unverified" users. If that's not trying to manipuate the reviews I don't know what is. This is a great agency and I can't see the motive as why someone would want to trash this wonderful agency.
I first met the director, Jim, in 1999 or 2000 at an adoption expo along with over a dozen other agencies that were represented. Jim was very polite, very informative and left a very good impression on me and wife. After about three years of infertility treatment, we decided to adopt. Of all the pamplet's and brochures we collected three years earlier at the adoption expo, Christian Adoption Services was the only one we saved. We contacted them and attended their adoption seminar. Afterwards, we were very pleased with the agency and were very comfortable with not only Jim and Doris, but the entire staff including social workers and foster parents. We have since adopted both internationally and domestically through this agency and have had nothing but a great and positive experience. There are many things which are out of the control of any agency, particularly adopting from a foreign country because they are you are at the mercy of that country's timeline for processing applications and dosiers and matching the children with families. Also, with domestic adoption there are at times legal risk involved. We've experienced both of these events, and while it may seem frustruating to some, Jim and Doris did a wonderful job keeping us informed on their many calls oversees for our international adoption and keeping us updated on their progress of removing the legal risk issue associated with our domestic adoption. I have been so touched and moved by this agency and Doris and Jim's passion that I still kept in contact with both of them and have volunteered my time to help the agency out in whatever capacity I can.
Christian Adoption Services hosts many events for their adoptive families including an annual Family Day Picnic. This year there were almost 200 people in attendance at the event which is in itself a great testimony on the true views and experiences adoptive parents receive at this wonderful agency. So, I hope that the prospective adoptive parents or birth mothers that read these reviews can see that most, if not all, the negative reviews do not have merit.
The following was sent to all in process Children's Hope International
families today
(July 21).
I have been asked to post this to all the CHI country Yahoo
groups as well. Ann Tollefson
****
On Friday we sent you an email that Children's Hope, to our great surprise, was
denied Hague approval. It was on the basis of an incomplete corrective action
plan in one state that we thought was totally resolved. . This is nothing new
but something unfinished. We are appealing the decision but we are also
preparing details for you on how this affects your adoption process or even if
it does affect it. Each country is different so your country program director
will let you know later today the information you need. As you can imagine this
was a complete shock for us as well - as we believed that all requirements were
in perfect order.
As you already know, last year we made the discovery
(Russia made the discovery)
that improper procedures by two staff within our Russia department
(one the program director)
were done in the St. Louis office. There was misuse of notary privileges and mis-handled paperwork to Russia . Children’s
Hope began an investigationin to what is a
(federal multi state )
violation of the principles and ethics
of our agency. On the date of discovery, we immediately notified the Division
of Family and Children’s Services in Missouri , which evaluated and issued a
Corrective Action Plan to establish a proper checks and balance of notarized
documents within the agency, which was completed to their satisfaction.
Our investigation last summer found that 10 documents in 6 states were affected.
and so we began the process of notifying those states and undertaking any review
of our license
(why aren't federal authorities reviewing your license?)
that those states deemed necessary. Except for two states, this license review process was completewithin 3 months. We however continued to work with Kansas and Illinois to follow any requirement they thought necessary.
Children's Hope believed that all requirements had been met in Kansas while
still waiting for Illinois to finalize what turned out to be a 9 month process.
Therefore, we could not meet all the Hague requirements in the first round of
approvals for the Hague on February 29, 2008, so Children's Hope was issued
a "Pending Status" from the Hague Commission.
When Illinois finalized their corrective actions and issued our new permanent 4
year license in June, we immediately applied for Hague approval. They reviewed
our case on July 9th. On that very same day!, we found out through our new KS
Office Director that we were not in compliance in all points as we had thought.
This meant - as we found out on July 17, 2008, that our Hague approval was
denied! The problem seems to be that we were deemed non-compliant to the
regulations required for domestic adoption agency licensing in the state of
Kansas even though we are not a domestic – but international adoption agency.
In the world of international adoption you should know that logic is not followed !!
In an international agency, for example, it is impossible for the social worker
to visit the child before it is placed, which is one of the regulations. We had
already instituted what we thought were all the requirements of the state. We
greatly respect those in authority in the state of KS and are only sorry that we
did not get the communication in STL until we had applied for the COA to review our
application.
We have been and always will be committed to the highest moral and
ethical principles. comical
We immediately began talks with the Kansas officials to resolve any licensing
issues so we can re-apply to the COA for Hague Accreditation within the next few
weeks. But it is the discretion of COA to schedule our application for review,
or make us wait up to one year before re-applying.
In addition we are in talks with our friends in Holt International how we can
work under and through them to assist any families in application and those
whose dossiers have not been submitted – and that possibility looks very
positive.
We are going forward in the faith that this will soon be resolved. We are
committed to you and so appreciate those of you who have expressed your
understanding. We regret that we did not have the time to compose and share on
Friday what we are sharing in this email.
At that time, we were just wanting you to hear an announcement from us – and not someone else– until we had more information.
Please call or email me with your questions or concerns. Your program
consultant will be of more help with program issues, but I hope you will contact
me and I will try to explain anything I can.
We will leave nothing possible undone to make your adoption a reality.
comical
.With best wishes and high hopes,
Dwyatt Gantt
What does any of this have to do with what happened to DeeDee. I guess I don't understand your reply here. Is it true or is it not that only two days after giving birth - before the final consent was in the courts - did you or did you not refuse to return this poor woman's baby? Did you or did you not tell her that birthmom's never win in court to try and get their babies back? Did you tell her not to look on the web for the propoganda of adoption while she was pregnant?
These are serious claims and I for one would appreciate a forth-right, honest reply instead of the usual "smooth" talk that completely ignores everything this poor, suffering mom is going through.
I think that the problems with our adoption were with the agency. We had problems with errors in our home study. We received very little help when we ran into problems. We did bring our son home in June, but most of what I needed to know I got from other families, boards, etc. I actually knew things before the agency did. Once Guatemala started to slow down "they couldn't afford to have anyone work full-time on that program" - AAI's words.
AAI made it clear from the start of the "extra fostering fees" situation that their loyalties were with the attorney in Guatemala. I even had to deal with the agency and attornies calling me for money on the day of my embassy appointment. A pickup trip is stressfull enough without having your agency tell you that you had to pay more money than you were suppose to. Our adoption was not delayed by any Hauge situation - instead the Hague was used to try and get extra money out of us. Since coming home, we have not heard one word from AAI - shows how much they care. They take your money and that's all they care about. We have received no clue as to what we should do or where we should go to get paperwork done in our state.
There seem to be two Lighthouse adoption agencies. One called Lighthouse Adoptions with the url: http://www.lighthouseadoptions.org
And the other one called Lighthouse Adoptions, Inc. with the url: http://www.lighthouseadoptions.net/
Which one is this review for?
And if it werent for the natural mother you wouldn't have her. I cringed how you called it an "obligation". You should be happy to provide pictures and an update. It's the least you could do. It' s not a chore.
Hi.
I'm sorry you did not have a good experience adopting from Adoption Associates. Were you (eventually) able to bring home a child/baby? I was recently told that Guatemalan adoptions are in a huge mess and probably will be for the next five years or so. My husband and I seriously considered adopting from Guatemala but ended up adopting domestically instead. (I was diagnosed with breast cancer about six years ago, so I was afraid about being turned down by international judges, who tend to view cancer as a death sentence even though I have a normal life expectancy.) Our original case worker did resign. We were very disappointed because we really liked her. Our new one was fine, though. I have four friends who adopted through Adoption Associates domemstically. (All of us teach in the same school district.) We all had fabulous experiences, but I'm not nearly as familiar with the Guatemalan process. Although our adoption worked out in the end, there were several very stressful times (related to our birthmom/birthparents.) I probably made about a dozen calls or so during the four months we were linked and I always had someone call me from Adoption Associates or at least e-mail me within 24 hours. I'm sorry you did not have a better experience. Do you think this was because of the Hague Treaty amendments/changes, or do you think it was the agency itself?
Kimberly
I would say ran people from all of it... Kaz program is just to show what is going to happend to Russian program.. RUN PARENTS RUN AWAY FROM CHI AS FAST AS YOU CAN, ALL OF THE OTHER GOOD AGENCIES ARE GETTING FILLED UP WITH PARENTS LEAVING CHI AND LINES ARE GETTING MUCH LONGER ...
RUN, people, RUN!
Run away from CHI Kazakhstan Program as far as you can!
We used AAI for our Guatemala adoption. It seemed like everyone who worked there only worked part-time. We were told that there would always be someone there to cover and answer questions for us but there was not the case. Many emails were sent out after 5:00pm and the person sending them would not be in for the next 4 days. Upon receiving an upsetting email that indicated that our contract was being changed I called and left a message for a particular person to call me back that day. What I did receive was an email telling me that "my schedule does not permit me to answer your phone call today. C will be in on Tuesday (4 days later) and will answer your questions then). We were pressured into believing that we had to pay for "extra fostering fees" because of the Hague agreement situation with Guatemala. Much to our attorney's disappointment, we were not told to bring the extra $2,000 down for pick up and we have refused to pay this extra money which was not part of our original contract.
Overall, I would give them a poor rating on communication. I would also question their ethics in regard to pressuring parents into paying extra fees that are not in the contract. When asked, they refused to give any details or supporting documents as to why we should have to pay this money.
We have two children through international adoption and we used CWA to bring them both home. Our caseworkers (two different countries) were both very responsive and seemed to truly care about our concerns and our children. We highly recommend CWA to anyone and will definitely use them again in the future! It's too bad all those negative comments came first :(