I was one that wrote a comment back to your orignal post discussing how I had a positive experience and stated that one should not be quick to make judgment. The response I received back was very curt and argumentative. It's nice to see that you took the time to research and contact them to clarify any misunderstandings that might have accord. Hopefully this will continue in the near future. Thanks for the update.

Does hiring an agency like this really help speed up the process? We are sitting in PGN, and no one seems to be able to tell us what is going on.

Thanks,
Carolyn

"Groups" such as mentioned by Kelly are NOT there to "speed" up your case. They are present to assure that every legal avenue (notorial/judicial) toward an adoption is being done correctly and efficiently.

Now, as a result of working with your "main team," the process may indeed move through the system more smoothly.

The sad part is the fact that this type of "service" is necessary.

Troy

Nancy - I apologize for being curt. However, under the circumstances, I cannot apologize for alerting the public. SJI was "known" as Adoption Supervisors long before ASG decided to use the name. There were a number of folks that contacted ASG because of recommendations from folks that used the original "Adoption Supervisors"...SJI. To say the least, ASG's name choice was questionable. I certainly would not want someone confusing me with someone else even if their reputation was stellar.

While the situation could be described as unfortunate, the red flags were waved because of confusion and fraudulent postings about ASG on my site...and these are issues that ASG understands that they are accountable for.

Kelly, thanks for clarifying all of this. ASG may be a group of good lawyers per the report of some people you've contacted, but their decision to open a practice using virtually the same name as AS (aka Servicios Juridicos Integrados/SJI) to me is indefensible.

SJI has been referred to as Adoption Supervisors by English speakers for as long as I've known about them!

I would not feel comfortable referring people to or working with professionals who did something sneaky like this -- there were a gazillion names that they could have chosen, but they chose to ride on the tails of (and confuse people about) another organization with an excellent track record. Their response that Adoption Supervisors had not trademarked their English name may be legal, but to me it is not OK on a moral or commonsense level.

They knew just what they were doing.

Tesi

We are currently working with ASG and they have been a Godsend to our case. I wanted to speak up during the initial posts regarding ASG but your website asked for families not to respond as you were weeding out the erroneous posts. Now that there is a forum, I can say that Marco has been fantatic, aggresively pursuing any snags, frequently corresponding and updating us, and always respectful or all the parties involved during this huge event in our life and in our son's life.

Tesi -

The name choice was also something that I felt very strongly about. I pushed ASG on this issue pretty hard. I'm not happy with the continued use of the name...but I felt obligated to clarify the information I had.

Kelly & all,

I appreciate you taking time to reearch this out and share your findings.

My concern is that for years and years SJI has been called " Adoption Superivors" by the Guat adopt community. They have built there wonderful reputation with that name and I am concerned about this other orginization using a name so similar.. it really does make me wonder... they could have chosen any name under heaven and yet they chose a name that is really known to be "THE" adoption supervisors,aka: SJI.

I find it odd at best and although I find nothing wrong with another group of attorneys helping families complete their cases, I do find it odd and a bit uncanny that they would choose a name so similar to manfred and edwin's orginization.

I don't see the guat adopt community using the name SJI..... it's kind of hard after all these years to do.....btw, Adoption Supervisors ( SJI) was hired by our family to complete our child's case last year and I can't not say enough great things about them! :)

Just my .02,
Gloria
mom to 5 Guatemalan blessings

I used ASG after being stuck in PGN since October of 2005. Our case went to investigation in January or February. We experienced our adoption agency as unsupportive and adversarial as we tried to find out why our case was experiencing such difficulty. In May of 2006 my husband and I went to Guatemala to wait out the adoption. He had to return to the US in the end of June to work, and I stayed.

From July until the end of August we were told repeatedly by our agency in the US that our case was only waiting for signoff and that all advocacy possible was being provided. Because of the way in which our agency personnel behaved when we pressed for details about how they could be sure our attorneys were advocating on behalf of our case, we came to the decision to hire outside help. I found ASG by doing a search in Google. At that point I did not know about the controversy over their choice of names and might not have used them if I had known about it. Our trust with our agency in the US had been badly damaged and I was skittish and frightened, and had I known about the issue, I would likely have avoided them.

I am glad that I did not. I give thanks every day that I crossed the threshold of that office. Because I was living in Guatemala when I hired them, I was able to go to their office in person and meet them. Marco and Ligia are a brother and sister who have excellent reputations in the adoption community. Everywhere I went people knew of their work and spoke highly of their motivation, energy and commitment. Besides their reputations, I experienced them in person as warm, empathic, smart, and thoughtful. They explained their services and fees well and up front. They were respectful, helpful, cooperative, and genuine.

They did not bad-mouth PGN, our agency, or our facilitators, nor did they make promises about outcomes. They explained what makes things in PGN run the way they do, how investigations are conducted, and how people can work most efficiently and ethically within the frame of what exists in the adoption system in Guatemala. They offered me an array of possibilities that they were willing to pursue on my behalf, all ethical, all legal, and all respectful of my child's family and government.

Marco was able to uncover what was wrong with our case within two working days. It was a simple problem; our case had been misplaced and was not logged into PGN's system as being ready for the director to review. Our attorneys would have known this if they had asked the director's secretary to confirm the case's whereabouts in the system. When Marco uncovered this problem, it was quickly remedied, and our case was processed and out in a couple of weeks. I am convinced that Marco's daily follow-up is what made this happen so quickly.

I never wondered whether I would hear from him or Ligia; there was always an email or a phone call at the end of the day. It was a very healing thing after going sometimes for weeks waiting for my agency to follow up with me, all the while separated from my family not knowing if there was an end in sight. My lack of money after living in Guatemala for four months was not a barrier to them; they worked with me to help me to afford them.

I am glad that I was able to find them and would still be sitting in Guatemala waiting if they had not helped me. I came home with my son in the wee hours of the morning of September 23. I am glad for my time in Guatemala, and the people I met and came to know in my four months living there, but I am so glad to be home, finally, after fifteen long months in process. I will always be grateful to Marco and Ligia for what they did for my family.

Any questions you have about name usage are absolutely legitimate to ask, and I do not at all suggest that anyone ignore its significance. I just want you to know, as well, what I saw, and experienced, of ASG. If there is one thing I have learned in this whole experience, it is that there are so many dimensions of any given reality; the more we see of the whole picture, the more power we have to advocate for ourselves.

Best to all who are waiting.

Adrianne,
I understand fully how desperate one gets when your agency turns uncooperative and adversarial. If we had heard of Adoption Supervisors during our adoption, we would have hired them also. However, I would like to point out that if ASG had to trick you into hiring them (by operating under a deceptive name), then you were duped. Regardless of the outcome, they proved themselves unethical at the very start of your business relationship.
"At that point I did not know about the controversy over their choice of names and might not have used them if I had known about it."
Nobody can blame you for hiring them, when you had no knowlege of their deceptive 'advertising'. I'm glad they were able to help you, and that you didn't fall victim to a financial scam. However, I think advocating for them is ethically questionable. We all know very well how just the appearance of impropriety can have negative effects on the adoption community. Just the appearance is all UNICEF or the Mrs. Berger's of the world need. We should be holding ourselves to extremely high standards of ethical conduct, because anything short of this endangers the future of adoption. ASG failed to meet those high standards. Period.

We used ASG in November 2006 and could not have been more impressed by them and our experience mirrored that of Adrianne even though our lawyer was Luis

BTW Is aggressive business practise anyhting to do with failing to meet high legal standards? I think not. Lawyers in the US grow very wealthy with companies passing off as others. Look at what Monster does to stifle use of the word "monster." ASG did us proud regardless of their website address.

I thnk their use of the name might have been unfortunate but equally it was stupid of SJI not to register it or the domain. I'd rather deal with professional and SMART attornies