Please get a kid, and stop dressing me up!

Interviewing and Choosing an Agency

Once you decide, international vs domestic, you can begin interviewing agencies. Some people will just choose one based on recommendation. We wanted to research and find an agency on our own – because we like to do things the hard way.

How we found our agency

These are the steps we followed while searching for an agency:

Step 1: Come up with criteria that you want from your agency
The critria that we had for an agency was:

1. The agency must be respected and loved by their clients.
2. The agency must be advocates for orphans (adoptable and unable to be adopted)

Step Two: Request information from agencies.
I sent off for around a dozen packets from differnt agencies. Then I narrowed the search down to six agencies based on reading reviews online, going through the material they sent (videos and written), and word of mouth from friends.

Step Three: Set up agency interviews.
I set up phone interviews (and one face -to -face, because the agency was in Austin) with each agencies. We set aside one hour a week (me and Jason) during the work day. I then scheduled one interview a week for 6-week period. This worked great for our family. Since this was our first adoption, I wanted Jason in on the process. Chinese Children Adoption International was our second interview and when we hung up the phone, Jason and I both were in tears and ready to commit, but we went ahead and interviewed the remaining four (note: Chinese Children adopts children from other countries, check them out here).

Step Four: Narrow down to final few agencies.
We narrowed the six agencies down to two and sent remaining questions by email to our contact. I also asked for specific family types (parents with bilogocal and adopted children) that had adopted using their agency. I emailed those parents a list of questions and from there, made our decision. CCAI, was by far the best for our family. We loved their story, founders, staff, and the families they recommended. It was a perfect match, even though they are in Colorado. Jason and I not only look forward to being apart of the CCAI family, but contributing back to the CCAI family one day.

Questions to ask in agency interviews

Here is a list of the questions we asked in the agency interviews:

Agency Background

• History of the agency – how long on business, why/how was it started, etc.
• What’s the ratio of client to staff?
• Has the staff adopted kids themselves?
• How are you governed? Board of directors?
• Can we get a copy of the latest annual report or financial records?
• What other humanitarian work do you do in China?

Process

• How does the China program work? Leaving the question opened ended may give your details or raise issues you have not previously thought of.
• Do we qualify to adopt from China?
• Can you break down each step if the process for me?
• How many children have you placed since opening? per year? (specifically in 2008 and 2009)
• What changes have you made to their processes as the referral wait has changed so dramatically.
• How often does the agency send complete dossiers to China?
• Do you have staff in China? What do they do?
• How do you communicate with adopting families?
• How responsive are you when a question is raised?
• What happens if China shuts down or changes it regulations and I no longer qualify. Will I get refund can I switch to another country?
• What happens if we get pregnant before paperwork is complete? after paperwork is complete?
• Do you make the travel arrangements? Is their flexibility?
• What kind of support services do you offer before and after the process?
• Have you ever had an adoption over turned?
• Do you have a waiting child program. Can you tell us more.
• What qualifies a kid to be in the waiting child program?
• Inquire about the changes the adoption of the hague treaty has meant for china adoption, all international adoption, and them as an agency. (How has this changed the process for the prospective families and for the orphans? Has it been a positive thing? What has it meant for your agency?)
• Would you recommend going with another country than china and why

Timing

• How soon after application will home study begin?
• How long will it take to complete?
• When will we know if we got approved?
• Home study to referral – average wait time last year?
• After referral how long until we go get her?

Assurance

• Do you provide a contract that spells out my responsibilities towards the adoption as well as what you are responsible for?
• Do you give clients a copy of their rights with their application form?
• Can we get a copy of the contract we would be asked to sign?
• Is there a written policy of quality assurance that will address my concerns during the process?
• How much do you assist with paperwork?

Finances

• Breakdown cost and when due?
• How much can I expect the entire process to cost?
• Do your fees include home study, postplacement visits, fees to placing agency, international processing, transportation, visa, dossier prep, notary, medical exam, document translation, exit tax.
• What portion of the fees are non-refundable?

Support

• What ways that they are advocating for their waiting families with the chinese government with the greatly lengthened wait from the few years.
• How are you supporting and encouraging families for the wait?
• Do you offer classes?
• Do you offer support groups for waiting parents?
• Do you have referral families like me to contact?
• Tell me your agency’s experience working with families like mine.What about support groups and culture classes for after the adoption?

Questions to ask family references

Here is a list of the questions I asked the family references that had adopted through the agencies we were talking to.

• Did you enjoy working with CCAI?
• Who was the most helpful person on staff at CCAI during your adoption process?
• Did CCAI help your family as a whole (children included) during / after the adoption process.
• Did CCAI communicate well during / after the adoption process?
• What sets CCAI apart from other agencies?
• Was it difficult working with CCAI because they are out of state?

Up Next: Sending in your agency application