Can I ask a naive question?

MrsA2Be

Is there a reason that we aren't all sharing (in our siggies or bios) which agency we are using/looking at?  I am in the "researching" part of all of this and it struck me that a lot of you mention your agencies, but not by name.  Is it b/c of "competition" or is there a rule about it - I am just curious!  TIA!

TTCgradstud

Nope, won't tell you anything about mine All mine, I'm not sharing!  ::growls protectively over MAPS::  oops, I think I gave it away! 

In all seriousness that's a good question.  i don't have mine as public information because I travel between boards and don't really need it spread everywhere.  I will talk about it here (even though it is a false sense of privacy), but I don't need it to be known to the whole internet, I guess. 

(DFL)

There is too many crazies out there.  I try to keep my real life as private as possible now--I didn't always do that and wish that I had now. 

MrsA2Be

TTCgradstud - LOL!!  You really made me laugh!  When I first started extending my siggie, my local nesties were like WTH?!  Now, their siggies are as long as mine! 

DFL - that makes sense to me.I am a total open-book, web or not - but I totally understand people's need for privacy.

It was just sort of odd from my perspective, where on the TTTC board, we always put everything out there for all to see, and this board seemed different in that way.  So I figured I'd ask. 

Thanks!

speak-ez

For me it's about giving away too much info. I was found on the knot and it wasn't pretty so I try to keep my 'life' off this board - no pics of our faces anymore :-)

I did have all our TTC info in my bio on TTTC and still have the jist of it down there but never said who my doctor/REs office was.

GL with all the research! 

 

Temp206787500007404

We're not using an agency. 

copilot

My agency had this ridiculous policy that you weren't allowed to say anything negative about them on the internet. Apparently that should have been a red flag because the only things I had to say about them were negative. I had heard of the agency threatening their clients that they were going to withdraw their referral if they didn't take down what they said about the agency online. Not surprisingly, my agency is now out of business. And thank goodness because they messed things up for so many families that I would hate for them to be still doing it.

 

Not that I am bitter or anything

Ranita

For me it's a privacy thing.  We'll be super excited to announce that we're parents but through our IF trials and now through this we're being selective with who knows what.  On the TTTC board I was pretty closed too.  But then again that's my style IRL so maybe it has nothing to do with this process.  It's just freeing to be able to have a place to find support etc and know that anyone who might be lurking but who isn't sympathetic or understanding of the process, doesn't know who I am...

CaptainSerious

I will gladly recommend my agency to anyone who asks, but I'd rather not be that identifiable through my signature.  There are only eight agencies in the US that process adoptions from our chosen country, so there aren't too many of us out there.

Besides, the information is of limited significance here since:

1) in international adoption, it's best to pick an agency based on the strength of their program in the country you are hoping to adopt from; and

2) my agency's program for the country I'm adopting from is currently full and not accepting applicants.

come*on*baby

my agency is a private foster care agency in Texas and for Texas only. that's my number 1 reason. secondly, we're very private about it because it's foster care and the children's privacy is a HUGE issue. i'm free to let everyone in the world know i'm a foster parent, but i am to be very vague about the children. i don't use their real names unless i'm amongst friends, and only friends and family can see their pictures. foster children are not to have their pictures displayed on the internet, so my blog is private as well. 

BabySweetPeasMom

I think most people are happy to share when asked.  I know that due to the internet you do need to be careful about what is posted - especially regarding agencies, etc. Mostly because it could come back to haunt you later on.  But on a private forum or something that is not as easily accessible you can be a little more open.  As The Bump is open for all to see, anyone can google and a post can pop up.  I've seen a few people get burned that way from their agencies - receive "complaint" letters or "stop" letters.  Many agencies have web people who that's what they do- search the web to see the feedback, what is out there being said, etc.