"Interviewing" an agency tomorrow...what additional ?s should I ask?
Tomorrow is the first time I'll be talking to an agency which comes highly recommended. I'm talking with a social worker and it sounds like it is my time to just fire questions at her.
ArtTeacher helped me so much by giving me questions to ask (Thanks W!). What else would you add to this list?
1. How many couples are waiting right now?
2. How many placements do you do a year?
3. What is involved with the home study?
4. How much is the home study?
5. Fee schedule?
6. How long is the typical wait for domestic/international
7. What kind of services/counseling do they offer to the birthparents?
8. Do they do semi-open and open adoptions?
9. How frequently do birthparents decide to parent after adoptive parents have been matched with them?
Thanks ladies!
3 IUI's, 2 IVF's , 1 FET , 1 IVF w/ Gestational Carrier, and 1 FET using adopted embryo's = ALL BFNs
We are adopting!
SAIF/PAIF IS ALWAYS WELCOMED TO POST IN MY POSTS!!!
Re: "Interviewing" an agency tomorrow...what additional ?s should I ask?
I would ask about what happens in the case of a failed match. How is money handled? Do you get a full refund (rare but we have found agencies who will agree to it in writing even though it isn't the policy)? Do you lose it all? Is it rolled over? I know that is depressing but good to know.
What their typical processes or standards are. For example, the day after we were matched they set us up with a phone call with our BP's. When we got to the birth state we went out to a dinner with the BM. These are decision makers but rather get to underlying information around structure. There isn't a right a wrong answer but could help get the feel of the agency.
Good luck!
We are doing domestic adoption, so questions pertain to that situation:
1. What is the average age of couples waiting to adopt (late 20's, early/late/mid 30's, 40's)? Do they have an upper/lower age limit? Do they have any other requirements for adoptive parents (length of marriage, religion, etc.)?
2. What is average age of birth mother / birth parents who make an adoption plan? What is average background or circumstances of their birth parents who place through this agency?
3. I would ask for last 3-5 year's placement stats - are the agencies placements going up or down? If down, why? What do they see the trend for this year?
4. How long has the longest couple been waiting for a baby? Why do you think they have waited for so long? Are they waiting for a specific gender? Too strict in requirements?
5. If you are intersted in other races, what % of placements are for babies other than full Caucasian?
more to follow in separate post
continuing post from above:
6. Describe what semi open and open adoptions look like at your agency? We found those descriptions mean different things at different agencies. Varying level of contact. What % of the agencies adoptions fall into these 2 categories?
7. How do they handle "Safe Harbor" babies (if your state has that law -babies left at hospital or with emergency personnel)? Do they still try to match them to adoptive parent profiles or do they offer baby to the family waiting the longest?
8. At what point in process do they allow birth parents to match with adoptive parents? Do birth parents receive counseling before they make a decision to place?
9. What support services do you offer birth parents after placement? What % of birth parents take advantage of services?
10. We asked to see examples of adoptive families profile books.
11. Does agency specialize in domestic? international? both? What % of placements are in each category? If int'l, are they Hague certified (I think that is what it is called).
12. Ask for staff list. Look at job titles. How many people are in agency? What is ratio of staff to birth families? ratio of staff to adoptive families?
13. How long has staff been with agency? Is there a lot of turnover?
14. What is their policy/practice for handling complaints and/or concerns?
15. Is agency for profit or non-profit? Some agencies will publish their annual operating budgets so you can see where the money is spent if you are interested.
16. What is average case load for a social worker?
17. Does agency advertise for birth families? If so, where do they advertise - on the internet, in the phone book, etc? How much of their budget is spent on advertising? Where do they get their leads to offer services to birth families?
18. What is agency's ultimate goal for birth parents? Some we talked to would do everything possible to help the birth parents parent the baby if that is what they wanted. They signed them up for all kinds of resources (federal, state, county, city, church, volunteer) to support their efforts to parent. Only if they truly felt they could not parent, then agency would talk about adoption options.
19. Ask if you can talk to birth families and adoptive parents who have successfully completed the process (references). One agency had several birth mothers who were willing to talk and share their experiences.
20. What resources / support services are available to you as adoptive parents after placmement? Are their support groups for you? If so, how often do they meet? Are they active?
21. In addition to fee schedule, for domestic adoption, how are birth mother expenses handled? What are your state laws? What is average cost of birth mother expenses? Do most birth mothers through this agency have insurance? What are typical expenses that are covered by adoptive parents? Can you set a limit on how much you can pay for expenses (if your state does not establish a limit)?
22. What happens if you turn down a match? In other words, a birth parent picks you, but you turn down birth mother. Are you penalized in any way?
23. If you are interested in a specific gender, can you specify gender? What % of boys to girls did they place last year (if this is important to you).
24. Are there different fee schedules for different ethnic races (basically Caucasian vs. Non-Caucasian) or special need babies?
25. Why should we choose your agency? What services do you offer that are different than your competitors?
26. Why do you think birth parents choose your agency? What services or support do you offer that makes you different than other agencies in the area?
27. What is agency's communication style with adoptive parents?
Some let adoptive families drive the communication - you set the tone and frequency for reaching out and following up on your status / profile / activity?
Do they encourage lots of emails / phone calls between the social worker and adoptive parents?
Or is their style to lead and direct communication with adoptive parents? You wait for them to contact you. If this style, what is normal contact timelines - only when profile is shown? only when you are chosen to meet with birth parent are you notified?
I just wanted to wish you lots of luck tomorrow!
Where and how do they find their birthmothers?
Is there a fee difference in race? (unless you only want a certain race)
How far along are the birthmothers before they are matched?
Will you meet or talk with your matchee
before the BIG day?
If a match fails is your money rolled over? (if they require payment up front)
What is your ratio of waiting families to placements?
If the birthparents decide to parent, what happens to our placement fees?
We asked the licensing questions outlined in Adoption for Dummies as well.
One thing I wish I asked more about was post adoption services. Our agency heavily advertised they has post adoption services including counseling and group sessions and there was no charge. Now that our adoption is finalized, they said funding is low and they charge $150 for one session. I've called a few times with some questions and was very surprised to get the response "we're not sure as your adoption case is now closed".
I am now having some personal issues with birthfamily contact and I want some professional input. I'm left with hiring my own adoption counselor to work things out.
Oh and it makes things much more difficult when there's a high turnover of social workers at your agency. I'd ask what their social worker turnover rate is.. not sure if that's appropriate to ask or not.. but I went through a LOT more red tape because we had about 10 different caseworkers in 1 year.
2 more questions I thought of later:
1) What is agency policy regarding TTC? Some agencies allow it. Some don't.
2) What happens if you get pg during the adoption process? What is their policy? Do you go on hold? For how long? What happens to your fees already paid? What happens to future costs (do you pay the new rates when you are not pg anymore)?
3 IUI's, 2 IVF's , 1 FET , 1 IVF w/ Gestational Carrier, and 1 FET using adopted embryo's = ALL BFNs
We are adopting!
SAIF/PAIF IS ALWAYS WELCOMED TO POST IN MY POSTS!!!