My husband and I adopted a baby from China in 2006. Overall, we were pleased with Sunny Ridge.
We chose Sunny Ridge for several reasons:
-- They were a local agency, which made it convenient for us during the home study, paper chase, adoption preparation seminars, referral meetings and travel preparation meetings as well as follow-up studies and social events now that we've completed the process.
-- Because they are small and local, we were almost guaranteed that we would be traveling with folks who live nearby. That made it easier for us to meet each other ahead of time, have a couple of social events before our trip and to serve as a support group for each other now that we're home.
-- They offered domestic adoption services as well as international, and they offered programs in several foreign countries so that we were able to learn of our many options and make an informed choice.
-- Once we decided on China, we liked the fact that Sunny Ridge had a direct program in China, which meant that we were with them for the entire process, from home study to actual China travel.
-- Sunny Ridge sends a social worker with all its China travel groups, which meant we had someone who knew the ropes of the adoption process as well as being available to help us with attachment issues, health issues, or any problem with the adoption process while we were in the thick of it in China. Once a child came down with the measles and couldn't make the scheduled trip home. The social worker sent the rest of the families home as scheduled and stayed in China with the sick child's family an extra week.
All of those reasons for choosing Sunny Ridge turned out to be advantages. We were well prepared during our home study and also during the adoption preparation seminars. The trip was phenomenal; I didn't realize how unusual it was to have a social worker in addition to our agency's Chinese employee and guide on the trip. Several times during our wait I was surprised at potential adoptive parents' lack of knowledge of basic issues or their lack of preparation for the trip or that initial bonding time. We didn't have those issues at all.
Our social worker checked in with us regularly during our wait. She also handled our post-placement visits and reports, so she seems like an old friend.
Now for the things I didn't like.
Other than the quarterly calls from our social worker, I didn't feel Sunny Ridge kept us as up to date as they could have while we were waiting. They had a web site we were supposed to be able to check for updated information, but it frequently would go weeks or even months between updates. The agency was a bit old-fashioned in its communications, too. The web page with program updates started out as a phone line with a recorded message. In a time when almost everyone communicates by email, they sent out letters -- in the mail! In a time when we can research information on the internet or join support groups or share information through yahoo groups or blogs, they would discourage us from taking advantage of those resources. We were among the people caught by surprise by the lengthening wait, and while no agency had any solid information about the reasons for the slowdown, at least I found out through other sources that it was happening. It also seemed to me that other people were getting more information from their agencies that we were.
The social worker in charge of the China program at that time had a bit of a paternalistic attitude toward us waiting parents. We were understandably agitated that the wait was slowing down and we had no idea when to expect a referral, but we would be admonished for trying to get information instead of sitting calmly at home, reading books on Chinese culture or attachment issues. She also believed strongly in us having the time to make an informed, rational decision on accepting our referrals, which I think was great. But one way she ensured this was to refuse to let us see our child's photo until all the packets in our group had been translated into English and could be presented to us in full. I think this was a wise idea; I was a bit astounded to learn later that many agencies never translate the reports for their clients at all. However, I don't understand why it took NEARLY TWO WEEKS to get us this information. While other folks were sharing photos with their families, getting their travel approvals and preparing for their trips, we were left twiddling our thumbs at the back of the line. To add insult to injury, many of us had paperwork that expired at just the wrong time -- my husband and I ended up spending $900 to renew one form because it expired just a couple of days before we were to complete the process and fly home. So waiting two weeks instead of two days for our translated files cost me a lot of money that could have been better spent.
Many of those issues are not as valid now as they were two years ago, though. Families are getting their translated information quicker, and it seems the agency is finally starting to understand that families are going to be searching for information on their own rather than waiting for the agency to hand it to us. And the former head of the China program has left that position.
There were times during the wait when I wished I had gone with a larger agency. If our dossier had been mailed out right away instead of having to wait a few weeks to get a group together, for example, we might have had our referral a month or two sooner. And I envied the free flow of information that some other folks had. However, in the long run, I thought we were better prepared than many parents I saw, had great support during our life-altering trip and that the agency really took seriously its responsibility to find good homes for the children.
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Reviews
Good experience
My husband and I adopted a baby from China in 2006. Overall, we were pleased with Sunny Ridge.
We chose Sunny Ridge for several reasons:
-- They were a local agency, which made it convenient for us during the home study, paper chase, adoption preparation seminars, referral meetings and travel preparation meetings as well as follow-up studies and social events now that we've completed the process.
-- Because they are small and local, we were almost guaranteed that we would be traveling with folks who live nearby. That made it easier for us to meet each other ahead of time, have a couple of social events before our trip and to serve as a support group for each other now that we're home.
-- They offered domestic adoption services as well as international, and they offered programs in several foreign countries so that we were able to learn of our many options and make an informed choice.
-- Once we decided on China, we liked the fact that Sunny Ridge had a direct program in China, which meant that we were with them for the entire process, from home study to actual China travel.
-- Sunny Ridge sends a social worker with all its China travel groups, which meant we had someone who knew the ropes of the adoption process as well as being available to help us with attachment issues, health issues, or any problem with the adoption process while we were in the thick of it in China. Once a child came down with the measles and couldn't make the scheduled trip home. The social worker sent the rest of the families home as scheduled and stayed in China with the sick child's family an extra week.
All of those reasons for choosing Sunny Ridge turned out to be advantages. We were well prepared during our home study and also during the adoption preparation seminars. The trip was phenomenal; I didn't realize how unusual it was to have a social worker in addition to our agency's Chinese employee and guide on the trip. Several times during our wait I was surprised at potential adoptive parents' lack of knowledge of basic issues or their lack of preparation for the trip or that initial bonding time. We didn't have those issues at all.
Our social worker checked in with us regularly during our wait. She also handled our post-placement visits and reports, so she seems like an old friend.
Now for the things I didn't like.
Other than the quarterly calls from our social worker, I didn't feel Sunny Ridge kept us as up to date as they could have while we were waiting. They had a web site we were supposed to be able to check for updated information, but it frequently would go weeks or even months between updates. The agency was a bit old-fashioned in its communications, too. The web page with program updates started out as a phone line with a recorded message. In a time when almost everyone communicates by email, they sent out letters -- in the mail! In a time when we can research information on the internet or join support groups or share information through yahoo groups or blogs, they would discourage us from taking advantage of those resources. We were among the people caught by surprise by the lengthening wait, and while no agency had any solid information about the reasons for the slowdown, at least I found out through other sources that it was happening. It also seemed to me that other people were getting more information from their agencies that we were.
The social worker in charge of the China program at that time had a bit of a paternalistic attitude toward us waiting parents. We were understandably agitated that the wait was slowing down and we had no idea when to expect a referral, but we would be admonished for trying to get information instead of sitting calmly at home, reading books on Chinese culture or attachment issues. She also believed strongly in us having the time to make an informed, rational decision on accepting our referrals, which I think was great. But one way she ensured this was to refuse to let us see our child's photo until all the packets in our group had been translated into English and could be presented to us in full. I think this was a wise idea; I was a bit astounded to learn later that many agencies never translate the reports for their clients at all. However, I don't understand why it took NEARLY TWO WEEKS to get us this information. While other folks were sharing photos with their families, getting their travel approvals and preparing for their trips, we were left twiddling our thumbs at the back of the line. To add insult to injury, many of us had paperwork that expired at just the wrong time -- my husband and I ended up spending $900 to renew one form because it expired just a couple of days before we were to complete the process and fly home. So waiting two weeks instead of two days for our translated files cost me a lot of money that could have been better spent.
Many of those issues are not as valid now as they were two years ago, though. Families are getting their translated information quicker, and it seems the agency is finally starting to understand that families are going to be searching for information on their own rather than waiting for the agency to hand it to us. And the former head of the China program has left that position.
There were times during the wait when I wished I had gone with a larger agency. If our dossier had been mailed out right away instead of having to wait a few weeks to get a group together, for example, we might have had our referral a month or two sooner. And I envied the free flow of information that some other folks had. However, in the long run, I thought we were better prepared than many parents I saw, had great support during our life-altering trip and that the agency really took seriously its responsibility to find good homes for the children.