I’d like to thank Associated Press Reporter, David Crary, for his work on this article. Thank you David!!!
I would also like to point out that no one is defending the 1 agency that was debarred over the last 9 years, and in the same breath….. in no way does this one debarment justify a jump from the Council on Accreditation’s 4 full time staff and an annual budget of 147K with 20 volunteer evaluators comprised of adoption agency professionals with vast clinical and agency management experience to IAAME’s budget of over 2.5 million + (in fees paid in by families ultimately since adoption agencies are fee for service based models) and 23 full time staff, without the clinical and agency management experience model Council on Accreditation has.
Consider this dollar amount when Hague Accredited agencies have accumulated some 170 substantiated complaints (many are administrative in nature) over a 9 year period: over 87,000 children have come home to American families, of those what is the cost of each complaint. Under Council of Accreditation, 170 complaints/$147K annual budget = $1,023.53 per complaint vs IAAME’s 170/$2.5 million + annual budget = $14,705.88 per complaint. You may want to do the math for yourself. In addition, IAAME will assess the agency cost for at least two evaluator’s travel expenses associated with the complaint should they feel an onsite visit or travel to the foreign country is warranted. Add on another $4,000.00 – $40,000.00 Does this sound reasonable to you?
The public should also know Mr. Stephen Pennypacker, IAAME’s CEO, explained why the $500 nonrefundable client fee is urgently needed to be paid now. Much to Pennypacker’s credit for his honesty, the immediacy is attributed to the need for recouping IAAME’s startup costs. You read that right.
Have you ever heard of any other business sector where a startup nonprofit, designated to be your watchdog, also holds you accountable for paying their startup costs?
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