Comments on: Unethical Adoption Practices Hurt Everyone!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:00:44 +0000

We are one of the families burned by this agency. I want to assure you that we DID do all the research. Two years ago when we signed with them we checked out all the websites, contacted the BBB, talked with former and current clients, got info from them about their record, timeframes, etc. There was NOTHING to indicate this agency was bad. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because you did your research. I know everyone wants to believe that this could never happen to them, but there are no guarantees. Bad things do happen to good people.

By: tithefirst

tithefirst — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:12:44 +0000

Thank you for your post!
We are currently in the middle of working to create a replicable and effective means of partnering with agencies who can demonstrate (through documentation) that they meet their state requirements for licensing and that they are in the process of accreditation through the Hague Convention. Although the Hague has created difficulties for agencies, particularly small ones that have trouble affording the cost of accreditation, the benefit for Precious is that it will provide us with a means knowing which agencies we will work with and those we will not. The Hague will be an overall blanket of accreditation and licensure. We will only work with agencies that have received accreditation and are now monitored by the Central Adoption Authority in the US.
Not all states require adoption agencies/facilitators to be licensed. Therefore, we cannot (at this point) require that all of our agencies be licensed. When an agency partners with Precious.org they give us their good faith word that they are state regulation compliant and working toward Hague accreditation. We understand that this is not enough, unfortunately. I am currently working with our Hague contact from the State Department to find out exactly which documents we need to receive from our partner agencies to see that they are actually legitimate, ethical, and following state/federal guidelines.
It is our hope that very soon this will be in place and we will have documentation from our partner agencies. This will remain in place until the Hague Convention is implemented in late 2007 and then we will only work with accredited agencies monitored by the federal government.
We ask that our user (both agency and prospective parent) let us know if there is an agency on our photolisting that they know to be unethical or non-compliant with regulations. When we are informed of this we launch an investigation into the matter. This has resulted in several agencies being removed from our photolisting. We have so many wonderful agencies working with us and we want to protect them and their investment into Precious.org by keeping unenthical agencies off of our site!
It is incredibly important for us to work only with agencies that are reputable and ethical. This is because these are the agencies that are doing good things for children worldwide and we want to support this! When a “bad” agency is on our photolisting this is destructive not only for the adoptive parents, the children, but for Precious.org and the entire adoption community.
As we work to support our good agencies, remove the bad ones, and find homes for children please let us know if you have credible information about an agency that is unethical or noncompliant. We will continue to work to make our photolisting credible and ethical both now and as the Hague Convention on International Adoption is implemented.

Kind Regards,
Katie Brabson
Senior Editor
http://www.precious.org

By: Amena

Amena — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:02:27 +0000

Good tips, especially the one you listed “Before working with an agency there are several things that parents can do to make certain to their very best ability that the agency is good.”

So I must ask the question: Why is Precious.org promoting unlicensed, non-regulated facilitators? Many of the children photolisted on this website are by facilitators who are not licensed or regulated by the USA. Adoptive parents have NO recourse working with these people who avoid licensing and do not need to fulfill any requirements. Our yahoo group is discussing this issue now: Why is Precious.org still promoting these people…

By: motherof4

motherof4 — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:29:33 +0000

This reiterates the importance of checking out an agency before jumping in. We used Holt Intl – they are highly reputable and our experience was awesome. There are many other agencies out there like Holt – unfortunately, there are bad ones as well that you need to avoid.

By: petunia

petunia — Mon, 07 May 2007 16:53:16 +0000

Thank you – well written and comes to the point – not all adoptions are bad – not all agencies are bad….we have to try to get rid of the bad ones – they do make the adoption “industry” look bad.