I googled "adoption agency ratings" and similar search terms. They have websites that "rate" agencies based on reviews and business practices. I began there by looking at agency websites that dealt with international adoptions. I looked at agencies that had programs in locations I was interested in (Africa, South America). I also Googled for agencies that work in specific countries.
On the agency websites, there are brief summaries of requirements for each country program: age range for parents, ages of kiddos available, common medical needs available, total time to complete the adoption, how long you need to travel in the country, etc.
I began and Excel document to spreadsheet my findings. On the left hand side, I had agency names, and then in the columns I made a grid for country programs, age of kiddo, total time, if siblings were often available, if we would adopt two unrelated kiddos, who the contact person was, if I had contacted them, etc. My spreadsheet looked something like this, with the agencies I was most interested in highlighted in yellow or orange:
I looked at probably 50 agencies, and added 14 to my spreadsheet to look into further.
A note about agencies: There are two main parts to an adoption: Home study and Dossier. A Home study (HS) is done by an agency in your state, a social worker comes to your home, and it completes the requirements within the USA certifying you are a safe home for a child to be placed in. A Dossier is almost identical, but certifies to the international country that they are placing their child in a safe home. If an agency is in your home state or has an office there, they will do your home study. If they are outside your state, a local agency/social worker will do your home study, and then share that home study with your placing agency: the agency that you are actually working with to bring the child home.
I emailed each of these 14 agencies, and asked for general information. Some I heard back from, some I did not. Some information I was able to glean for their website, some I needed to talk to an actual human about to begin to fill in my spreadsheet.
One agency gave me conflicting information as I spoke with them compared to what was on their website. I crossed them off my list. One agency just felt weird, so I crossed them off my list too. Some agencies placed kiddos that were older than we are looking for, so they were crossed out. Some agencies had consistently poor reviews, so I crossed them off also, even though they looked like a great agency.
Note about agency reviews: An agency is more likely to get negative reviews than positive ones. Happy families don't share as often as frustrated ones, so there will be negative reviews on virtually any agency. Take a moment to look at the reviews, the dates they were posted, and what the complaint is about. Not all complaints are applicable. For example, the entire country of Russia closed its doors to adoption a few years ago. It was tragic, painful, and awful for the families that were in process and had already met "their" kids in Russia. It had nothing to do with specific agencies. So, while a family might be frustrated at the agency because their adoption was not able to be completed, the outcome really wasn't dependent on the agency, but rather the country itself. Also, I have a hard time taking complaints seriously if they don't use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. Just sayin'.
Next post: narrowing it down
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