Pros: There are no positives when dealing with AFAA.
Cons: Our family initiated the process to adopt a child through AFAA in August, 2007. At that time, we entered AFAA's Ethiopian program. We were provided a time frame of 18-24 months for completion of the adoption. The Executive Director of AFAA subsequently contacted our family at the beginning of 2008 and encouraged us to enter AFAA's Uganda program. At that time, she provided a time frame of 9-12 months to complete the adoption. As we continued to make monthly payments to AFAA without any evidence of progress, we began to question whether the alleged activities were truly occurring. We were reassured on multiple occasions by the Executive Director that our case was progressing in Uganda. In the spring of 2010, we began to ask more frequent questions about the obvious lack of progress in our case. We were again reassured that all was well in Uganda and urged to keep sending money. We began to press harder with our questions. The Executive Director then informed us that the Ugandan lawyer had quit because we were asking questions. In the summer of 2010, members of fellow adoptive families traveled to Uganda to investigate the situation. None of the required work regarding our cases had been completed. The lawyer stated that he had not been paid per his agreement with AFAA. At our insistence, payment was finally made, and court dates were granted for our case. We traveled to Uganda in September 2009 to find the situation in utter chaos. Our case was held at the US Embassy pending investigation. This USCIS investigation lasted approximately six months. Following the investigation, USCIS denied our prospective adoptive son's visa based on AFAA "knowingly and admittedly" committing fraud in preparing the paperwork for our child. The boy that had been referred to us was not an orphan. AFAA and/or its representatives had prepared false documentation to make it appear as though this child's biological parents were deceased. To our knowledge, judgment has been granted to two similarly situated families in South Dakota and Michigan in suits against AFAA alleging fraud and breach of contract. Our family will be filing suit in the near future, as AFAA's actions have led us to expend approximately $40,000 in pursuit of a fraudulent international adoption.
Reviews: AVOID AFAA AT ALL COSTS!!!
Review by sseifrit submitted on September, 13, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 5y 0m
Start Date: Nov 2007
Status: Referral received
Type: Closed, International
Special Needs: No
Child from Uganda
Pros: Cheryl, the director of AFAA, is a hands on, knowledgeable woman. She has successfully handled adoptions from Africa for 20+ years. I found her to be of the upmost character. She and the staff at AFAA are TRULY dedicated to the children and will not tolerate anything that is not inthe best interest of the children - now or the future. She is direct and doesn't have time for nonsense. So anyone who has anything negative to say about their experiences with AFAA is likely disgruntled becasue they behaved poorly themselves and Cheryl set them straight. I will adopt through AFAA again
Cons: Because they are truly non profit - no extra money for staffers to hold the parents hands, the commuication can be frustrating. But getting information from Africa and having so much to do is the problem - not the agency.
Reviews: AFAA is the real thing, ethical, honest and committed to the children
Review by mvb1900 submitted on July, 19, 2009 at 09:04 PM
Adoption Details:
Child's Age: 1y 6m
Start Date: Nov 2001
Status: Referral received
Completion Date: Feb 2002
Time Until Placement: 3 months
Type: Closed, International
Special Needs: No
Child from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Pros: We adopted two children simulatenously. The price mentioned above reflects approximately the cost of the adoption of both children together.
The agency's founder and managing director was in touch with us the minute she had some new information to relay to us. She explained everything very clearly, was completely above-board, and the entire process worked out very well. We were very happy with the agency and would highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to work with an agency that has a long record of experience in Africa, from whcih you can expect complete honesty, and that is truly non-profit (with the paid personnel making very small salaries and doing this truly because it is a calling more than a job).
Cons: Adopting from Africa, through any agency, is not for prospective adoptive parents who have difficulty accepting that information may not be as complete as you'd like (it may simply not exist or not be traceable) and everything done yesterday (it won't, things move on their own time). Bureaucracies in other countries have their own routines and conventions, and one has to be willing to be patient with that. This agency has a long experience working in Africa and has a long reputation for navigating complex bureaucracies while maintaining ethical standards.
Reviews: If I were to adopt again, I would definitely work with this agency again! I do feel strongly that adoption should be non-profit and this agency works on that principle.
One note on the homestudy process: since we did not live in the same state as the agency, we needed to work with someone in our state for the home study. This meant we had to locate the person and the person had to figure out what was needed for the purpose of this specific adoption. Our social worker had never before done a homestudy for an adoption from an African country.
