reputable adoption agencies? Need help!!

In general, be very careful with photolistings. First off, many countries do not permit the photolisting of children, in the interests of protecting their privacy. If you go with an agency that photolists children from a country that does not permit photolisting, and the country becomes aware of the photolisting, you could be put into a situation where you cannot bring the child home after having committed emotionally and financially to him/her. Second, remember that photolistings were developed in order to help agencies find homes for the hardest-to-place children -- usually school aged children, children with signficant special needs, or children in sibling groups of three or more. Many people who wouldn't normally think about adopting a ten year old or a child who is missing an arm will change their minds upon seeing the picture of the beautiful child in question. Legitimate adoption agencies almost never need to use photolistings for healthy infants and young toddlers, especially girls. They usually have long waiting lists of families who want such children, and do not need to recruit new families. If you see a photolisting of an infant or toddler, with a notation that he/she is healthy, ask a lot of questions. Unfortunately, there are disreputable agencies that use one or both of the following: 1. Bait and switch tactics. They post pictures of a gorgeous child who is not -- and may never have been -- available for adoption, just to get you to call them. They then say, "Oh, we JUST placed that child but we have lots of other beautiful children. Why don't you fill out an application?" Or, worse yet, they have you send a nonrefundable deposit, and then come up with an excuse about why he/she is no longer available. 2. Misrepresentation. They post pictures of a child whom they represent as healthy, when they know that the child has been rejected by families who have met him/her because he/she clearly has very significant and non-correctable physical or mental challenges, or when they have disturbing medical reports that they do not plan to share with families. In addition, there are some agencies that photolist genuinely available healthy infants, in the hopes that some family will fall in love with them and sign up with them, without doing their homework. Unfortunately, there are some agencies that offer such terrible service that you shouldn't go with them, even if a healthy infant is available. You will run the risk of a terrible adoption experience if you choose these agencies -- paying high fees, and running into delays and difficulties that far exceed those normal in intercountry adoption. If you plan to use photolistings, NEVER send any money until you have researched the agency representing a particular child, to see if it is right for you. And NEVER give in to an agency's demands that you send a non-refundable deposit to "hold" a child for you, even before it sees your approved homestudy and such. No reputable agency will take a child out of circulation, without knowing that a family is paper-ready and suitable for meeting the child's needs. Photolistings can be an excellent option for families who are strong enough NOT to fall in love with a picture, to the point of failing to exercise good judgment. They can also be an excellent option for families who are open to the possibility of parenting an older child or a child with special needs, as long as they have really done their homework and understand the challenges inherent in older child and special needs adoptions. But in many cases, a person would be much better off if he/she stayed away from photolistings, and simply did a lot of homework to identify an ethical agency working in his/her country of interest. Once the person has identified such an agency, that agency will work hard to ensure that the person receives a referral of a child whom he/she is equipped to parent, and who will be the child of his/her dreams. Sharon