adoption agency personalities

I knocked two agencies off my list for similar reasons. You will have a million and one questions as you go through all of this-- it is very important that you feel comfortable asking those questions and important that you feel confident in the person giving you the answers. I emailed my agency daily for the first several weeks (I actually started emailing them before I signed with them and they were very helpful even then). So go with your gut-- if it doesn't seem like a good fit, move on. There are enough good agencies that you can be picky. One caveat: if the agency is otherwise well-regarded, make sure that the person who is giving you the brush-off is really the person you would be dealing with. It could be that once you sign you would have a different case manager who would be receptive to your questions.

I wondered if the person I was talking to would be the person I dealt with after we signed, but I still have two more agencies to call and we'll see how they feel before I go back to the 1st one. thanks for the encouragement :)

Besides talking to them yourself, ask to speak to people who have adopted from them recently. They will know how the agency was while the dossier is being compiled, right before travel (how helpful were they), and in country.

I also had a similar experience with an agency who did not seem to know much about the program they were presenting. I felt this was not a good sign so I took them off my short list as well. The agency I chose (LMI) was based on many,many calls and emails to lots of agencies. It is very important to choose an agency that is not only good at what they do, but fits your personality and communication style. I narrowed it down to two really great agencies, but chose LMI because they were smaller than my other choice and I knew that would fit with my husband and my needs (we live in a small town). Here are some deciders for me when I looked for an agency. 1) Eliminated if they were too new of a program I wanted an agency that had been doing Kaz adoptions for awhile. 2) Kept if they returned calls or emails in 24 hours. This may not seem important now but when you are stressing on paperwork that is important 3) Kept if there was limited or no negative feedback received from other folks who had already adopted 4) Eliminated if agencies who "sent me info" in the mail and I never received it (2 X for one of them) I am sure others have things to add. I found choosing an agency to be the hardest part so far and we have already finished our dossier and it is in country Good luck

I find these answers all very helpful to me too, since I am also working on narrowing down 2 agenices to one. I was feeling a little wierd about the 18 questions we are going to email to the 2 places, but they are all real questions my husband and I have! I also crossed off one agency because it Kazahkstan program was only a year old, and another for being a little lackluster with questions--and they also didnt follow thru with info. Thanks all, for being full of info! Luckypetersen

At this point, an agency should be SUPER nice to you. If not, they are not only rude, they are not too intelligent. RUN from them! My agency was terrific, every time I needed an answer. I always got a response within 24 hours. With my daughter's adoption in Russia a few years ago I only had 2 agencies to choose frmo that worked in her region, and I chose the wrong one. The woman ended up screaming at me over the phone one day, until I was in tears. They were horrible. I think they are out of business now. Choose wisely! Good luck! Dee

Yes, yes, if you don't feel like you can talk to the person you will be working with, then don't use them. You can always ask if this person will be your caseworker or not. IA can be an emotional journey and you have to ahve someone you feel comfortable talking to. You can't drive them insane by calling a gazillion times a day of course, but you have to be able to feel you can communicate comfortably.