Dossier and Agency question

[mmehegartner]

I applied with ARC at the end of March, and managed to get the home study scheduled right away! The first night that we had met with the sw, she had mentioned that we might want to begin preparing our dossier. She had asked if we applied to any agencies, and we told her yes- she said that they should send us info on what to get for the dossier for Guatemala. When I asked the agency, they said that their policy is to wait until the home study has been completed before beginning any preperation. Well our last visit with the sw was on the 19, and she says that all she is waiting for is the fingerprint clearences to come back in.

So I called the agency (which has been being updated on a weekly basis) and told her what I had gathered so far:
birth cretificates
marriage license
letters- notarized
employer letters- notarized
tax returns for 3 years
original divorce decree

and asked her what else we need to do, now she is saying wait until INS has had time to review our application. Is this normal?? All of the other agencies that I have spoken to encourage you to get your dossier together!! She is making me feel like this is not going to happen. We ordered all of the nursery furniture over the weekend becasue the time wait is 22 weeks....now I wonder if that was a mistake.

Any thoughts would be so helpful

[BC-Tracik]

In my Opinion this is not normal proceedure and if you aren't too invested financially your placement agency you might want to explore some other agencies, even just talk to a few that were on the top of your list when you were researching. Ask their policy towards it. I would also do this before your HS was sent to them, since you might have to pay for another if it goes to your placement agency. If changing agencies is not an option for you then I would talk to the agency director and inquire to their rationale for waiting on the dossier and see what that person has to say

In our case We paper chased for both our adoptions while the homestudy was being completed. For our son's adoption we actually finished the dossier before we had the completed homestudy back from our SW. Part of the reason for doing this is you need a Dr's clearance for your HS but also your dossier so you can do both at the same time... saves time and money (co-pay's)

By the way congratulations on getting your HS completed so quickly... that is great.

[capeach]

That doesn't sound normal to me either. Many of the documents are the same for the home study and the dossier, so it saves legwork and time when they are being completed side by side. Our agency even sent us the list of documents for the dossier before we had signed a contract with them.

I agree with Traci, if you're not too invested with this agency, I look at the other ones that were at the top of your list.

[foelschg]

I agree with Traci and Capeach -- it doesn't sound normal. Our agency gave us a copy of a what goes into a typical dossier before we had even signed with them...

Gail

[onniebay]

We were paper chasing for our dossier at the same time we were doing our homestudy. Our agency told us to do it that way.

You're scaring me about the baby fruniture!!!! Is it 22 weeks to wait for baby fruniture? I was going to wait until we were in pgn to start deciding, but if it is that long we need to make a decsion in the next week or two!!!

[MarieL]

It's not normal. We actually had our dossier together (except the homestudy) while waiting for the social worker to type up the final draft of the homestudy. Once we had the homestudy, we had the entire dossier sent to the placement agency.

I agree with Traci - I'd either find another agency or go higher up with your current agency than whomever you've been dealing with.

[mmehegartner]

Thank you all for your replies! I am going to make some calls in the am. Onniebay- I guess it all depends on what you want and where you get it from. We looked all over, and I just loved this one set!! I knew the wait was a long one, so I had to do it....

Again, thank you all for the replies- if any of you can give me some agency names that you have heard good things about or know that work with Guatemala that would be great

[BC-Tracik]

Melissa... My personal list of Top agencies are: HAPS (we used them), Adoptions International/Hannah Wallace, Karing Angels, All Gods Children (though they have very long waits), Children of the World, Casa Quivira, Journey of the Heart, and Across the World Adoptions.

THis list is not all the reputable, supportive, good agencies out there. There are many smaller agencies that are also good but these are the ones I have heard consistently good things about and that I researched when looking into agencies for our son's adoption. Remember any agency that promises short waits or things that sound to good to be true would set off my "alarm".

I am sorry you are going through this but at least you are figuring out early that this may not be the best agency for you to be working with... a call to a higher up would help as well as a call and good chat with any of the above agencies.

Keep us posted.

[onniebay]

I'm glad you are looking around at other agencies..........that just didn't sound right to me. If you get a chance, please post a picture of your baby fruniture.

[kcall]

Jumping in a little late here, but it is so important to feel 100% comfortable with your placement agency. If you are having uneasy feelings already you might want to reconsider using them. For our first two adoptions we weren't completely happy with the agency. It wasn't a horrible experience by any means, but they lacked in some areas. When we decided on our third adoption (because we were already familiar with them - good & bad) we went with the same agency. It ended up being a mistake. I wished we had used another agency. We had many unnecessary delays with our daughters adoption. This time we have decided to use another agency. We are strongly leaning toward HAPS. I talked with them again this morning and it just feels right.

Hope this helps. Good luck with whatever you decide.