Hope Cottage Adoption Agency in Dallas - BEWARE
I am filing this report to warn all interested parties that are considering Hope Cottage Adoption Agency in Dallas for their international adoption program.
There is much wrong with their program - but will be brief if more information is desired I welcome the ocassion for you to contact me through email at: melissa_hendrick@aeanet.org
First, their program is in relatively infancy - although the agency is over 80 years old. As a matter of fact, my parents adopted me and my 2 brothers from there over 40 years ago and why when we selected Hope Cottage when we decided to adopt internationally.
Second, most international adoption agencies do not require a substantial downpayment upfront when you retain them - only when a referral is given and accepted. Hope Cottage charged $7400 - of which $400 a month becomes nonrefundable each month you are in the program.
My husband and I enrolled in their Romanian international adoption program in March 2000. We were told our wait would be about 7-9 months. When December 2000, January and February 2001 passed without any referral and inadvertantly learning (not by the agency) that Romanian program was suspended; we decided to run a consecutive adoption program with another agency that represented Russian adoptions (at this time Hope Cottage didn't). Hope Cottage strongly discouraged us from running concurrent programs. However would provide no concrete information to us about our adoption referral timeframe. Even with the distrust we were developing we still shared with them that if their referral resulted we would go with them. Yet, within 2 months we had received a Russian Referral from our new agency and advised Hope.
From the moment we accepted, Hope became very obstinate, rude and critical. Wanting to retract their homestudy (which had cost an additional$1200) and would not provide us a copy they had completed and by which we needed for the new agency. Additionally, they refused to refund our $7400 fee even though they had done nothing to earn this nor incurred any expenses relating to our adoption. We tried repeatedly to contact them to reach a compromise (we had only requested half of the deposit back)however no reply was returned (we even wrote the Chairman of the Board of Hope Cottage). Citing the reason was "we withdrew from their program and hence nothing would be refunded". In actuality, they did not deliver on their promise -yet we had no recourse since the contact we signed was in their best interest and to puruse legal counsel would exceed our requested refund amount. We learned shortly thereafter that they closed their Romainan program.
We now have a wonderful 17 month old Russian angel, Kendall Valentina Hendrick and had a pleasant experience w/ our replacement agency. I can only wonder how long we would have waited and how much money Hope would have eventually taken from us and why I felt compelled to share our story.
There is much more to this - including their lack of warmth and compassion. Would be happy to share more so feel free to contact me via email.
In summary - STAY AWAY FROM HOPE COTTAGES' INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION PROGRAM. Reputable agencies do not require a substantial outlay of cash for your adoption until a referral results.
Melissa
Carrollton Texas
2 Updates & Rebuttals
CEO, HopeCottage
Dallas,Texas,
Things are much different 11 years later
#3UPDATE Employee
Thu, May 23, 2013
As the current cheif executive oficer of Hope Cottage, I have been here for almost four years. This report is in reference to interactions that took place 12-13 years ago in a program that no longer exists. Countries around the globe began to systematically close their doors to international adoption as early as 2008. Hope Cottage has not assisted in an international adoption since 2009 and completely closed the program in 2010.
The closing in Romania is an example of what happened to many American agencies. With little or no notice, countries yielded to pressures to stop the flow of children to United States families where they feared the children would lose their cultural identity. There was no recourse but to cease operations and inform waiting families of that decision made by a foreign government.
While I have no personal history with this program or the person who filed the above report, I can explain that while the $$ quoted may sound high, there certainly was much work and expense that went into executing an adoption from 7,000 miles away over months, even years. Americanadoptions.com reports that an average international adoption costs between $25,000 and $50,000, now. In the era that this report was written, it cost about 2/3 of that amount.
The bottom line in 2013 is that Hope Cottage no longer has any realtionship with any international adoption organizations but continues its 95 year history of placing infants and children from the CPS foster care system into permanent adoptive homes. During this time, Hope Cottage has assisted in completing almost 20,000 adoptions and continues to serve the needs of Texas childen and families.
Msjohn66
HUNTSVILLE,Alabama,
United States of America
Hope cottage is not in the best interest of the children, they're in the best interest of their profits
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, March 14, 2013
One year ago, my child while under duress consulted with Hope Cottage, and they convinced her to give them my grandchildren. Never-minding the fact that my daughter was alone and afraid at the time. I tried as the maternal grandparent to get them and was told I had no rights. Today I'm writing this in hopes that someone will read it and HELP us to gain custody of my two beautiful grandchildren.
The father's names in this case were not contacted and legal names have not be used. However the adoption has still taken place. My oldest grandchild constantly calls out for her mother, and our family so they put her in therapy. My daughter and I have been talking with attorneys, they want obscene amounts of money to represent our needs, this ordeal is erroneous. My daughter was told through out the OPEN ADOPTION, she would be allowed contact, it hasn't happened due to the adoptive parent wanting our children to forget us!
PLEASE!!!! If you're able to help against this form of trafficking, and sells of precious children respond to this rebuttal immediately! No children should be sold!!!!!! No parent should be coerced into giving up their children under false pretense!!!! If a parent is under stress or duress, other steps should be taken to help the parents of the children. I don't care how long they've been around, someone out there has to have the same issues we are having right now. Please if you have encountered this problem or know anyone that has please feel free to email me at: (((email redacted))) or if you are a licensed attorney looking to help someone please connect with me.
Sincere Thanks
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