People who are fostering children to adopt them get very wary of almost everyone that they have to deal with in the system. We had an adoption agency working on our behalf and I was very trusting of our assigned worker. We went to that agency solely because of her. She was very experienced and we relied on her extensively.
I could not rely on the head of her agency though. If the agency was having a bad month financially, she would withhold funds that were intended for us to balance her books. Some payments were received several months late.
We went through the system twice. The first time, the state social worker that was assigned to our boys was not very honest. She would frequently lie to me to keep from having to do extra work.
The second time around, our state worker was great. She was very honest and dependable. She did not mind working hard. The children’s welfare was her main concern. We trusted her implicitly. Before our case was closed, she left the agency to go to law school.
In Houston, the courts rely heavily on reports from Child Advocates. They are a very reputable organization. Because of budgetary constraints, they rely heavily on trained volunteers. I was told not to worry about Child Advocates.
We ran into significant problems with our first volunteer from this group. She was a liberal college professor, who was constantly trying to undermine us. For instance, she was very concerned about the fact that my wife and I are Christians. She placed calls to several people complaining that we would cram our religion down the throats of the children.
Her report was much more concerned about the birthmother than the children. When she refused to make changes to the report to conform to Child Advocates guidelines, she was fired. Until that happened, we felt like we had been ambushed.
For the second adoption, the Child Advocates volunteer was very knowledgeable and professional. She worked very hard with us and for us. She was what everyone expects from Child Advocates. They are a very solid organization that does a wonderful job for the children of Texas. Our first experience was the exception, rather than the rule.
These lessons taught us to be very careful. Going through the adoption process was like walking through a minefield; we learned to be careful where we stepped.
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