International Family Services

Thank you ..........

Thank you ..........

IFS works under another agency's license...so you might want to ask them about that. They do not have their own individual license in Ethiopia.

Thanks I'm going to be doing domestic cross culture Texas I think they use an agency with the name caring in it :thanks: :thanks

I am looking at this adoption agency did you choose it can you Private message me and tell me what you learned about them Thanks

Hi Everyone! We are a few months away from beginning our Ethiopia adoption and we;re very interested in using IFS' program. Can any of you PM me with your thoughts and/or opinions? It would help to put my mind at ease. Thank you!

I would only sign on with agencies that have their own license to operate in EThiopia and those that are hague approved.

I don't have any knowledge of the specific agency mentioned, and I wouldn't post on a public forum about it if I did. However, I want to agree with those posters who tell you never to work with an agency that "umbrellas" under another agency's license to work in a country. It's a formula for disaster. Countries license or accredit agencies because they feel that doing so will ensure a more transparent, orderly adoption process that protects children, birthparents, and adoptive families. They try to come up with requirements for agencies that will support this goal. While we may not always agree that their choices of requirements are perfect, the fact is that they are almost always acting in good faith and within estabished legal precedents. Some agencies that don't want to meet the requirements -- for example, a requirement to provide a certain dollar amount of financial assistance to programs for children who will not get adopted because of age or disability -- or that cannot meet the requirements because they started too late, are too new, etc., have gone around the system by umbrellaing under a licensed or accredited agency. Essentially, clients think that they are working with the non-licensed agency, but the foreign country assumes that they are working with the licensed one. There are two problems with umbrellaing. The first is that there's a lot of potential for unintentional or intentional miscommunication when you are dealing with two agencies. The client is not actually dealing with the agency that is working in the country -- and the country is not actually dealing with the agency that is working with the client. International adoption is complicated enough without introducing this sort of communication nightmare. And the second is, quite bluntly, that most countries consider umbrellaing to be illegal. They created a system of licensure or accreditation, and expect it to be used. If a client is in the adoption process, and the country suddenly wakes up to the fact that there is umbrellaing going on, it could decide to refuse to work with the agency and the client. The client is quite likely to lose money -- or even a referral. In short, before signing on with an agency, make sure that the foreign country authorizes it to place children with American families. You can usually get a list of authorized agencies from the U.S. Embassy in the country or the U.S. State Department, and you can certainly get it from the foreign government. Also be sure that you know whether a country is a party to the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption, because if it is, you will need to use an agency that is Hague-accredited, as well. Sharon

Thanks for your input - we've deicded to do just that! Thanks again!

My husband and I are just starting the adoption process and are very interested to hear what experiences people have had with using International Family Services? If anyone would please share their thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!!

Hey! What did you end up learning or deciding about International Family Services? Thank you!

Hi everyone, I'm new in this forum and me and my husband would like to have information about International Family Services too. Thanks!

Hi everyone! Me and my husband are really interested in this agency, we are still deciding between domestic adoption or Ethiopia. Does someone have recent experiences? I read here someone talks about using licensed agencies, in their website I saw their renewal of the Hague accreditation. Thank you!

I would strongly recommend working ONLY with nonprofit, state licensed agencies that are directly accredited by the foreign country. Most countries oppose the practice of "umbrella-ing", in which an agency that either can't qualify for accreditation by the foreign country or don't want to spend the money and time needed to gain accreditation simply takes applications and fees from prospective parents, and submits them through an accredited agency. The foreign countries often feel that they have spent a lot of time and effort trying to ensure a clean adoption system and protect children and birthparents, by setting up a system of accreditation, only to have their laws and regulations circumvented by some agencies, especially when their clients lie about the agency that is representing them. From the adoptive parents' point of view, this approach may cost more, because the accredited agency may demand extra fees, often reduces agency responsiveness, and definitely provides less accountability if something goes wrong. It also feels "sleazy" when, in some cases, agencies tell their clients not to mention the name of the non-accredited agency, and to mention only the accredited one. Given that Ethiopia is moving in the direction of becoming Hague-compliant, I would also recommend that families select only an agency with Hague accreditation. Once Ethiopia is Hague-compliant, it will not be able to place children with clients of American agencies and agencies in other Hague-compliant countries that are not Hague-accredited, and umbrella-ing will not be allowed Sharon

thank you!