Satisfaction Survey of Agency Services

Unknown / Unnamed Department of Human Service (DHS) Agency

Updated: September 1, 2009

All survey data is anonymous. Some questions may allow multiple answers.

TOTAL NUMBER OF SURVEYS :  3

Family Race: 
0
   Black / African-American
3
   White / Caucasian
0
   Native American / American Indian
0
   Hispanic / Latino / Latina
0
   Asian American / Pacific Islander
0
   Chaldean / Arab-American
0
   Other
     
Marital Status:
0
   Single
3
   Married
0
   Divorced
0
   Live-Together Partner
0
   No Answer
     
Age:
0
   18 - 24
0
   25 - 34
1
   35 - 44
2
   45 - 54
0
   55+
0
   No Answer
     
Gender:
0
   Male
3
   Female
0
   No Answer
     
How many agencies have you had contact with?
0
   One
1
   Two
1
   Three
0
   Four
0
  

Five
1
   Six or more
0
   No Answer
     
What type of information were you seeking?
2
   Adoption
1
   Foster Care
1
   Foster-to-adopt
0
   Kinship
0
   Guardianship
0
   Step-parent adoption
0
   Training opportunities
0
   Orientation
0
   General information
1
   Other
     
Did this agency work with you in a prompt, courteous and professional manner?
0
   Yes
2
   No
0
   No Answer

Comments:

  • We were dealing with {name withheld} needing residential placement. He was more interested in his lack of funding and need to control us than what we needed help with or the safety of our family. He didn't try to help us, only wanted to bully us. There was no compassion or concern about our family or our son.
  • unorganized, staff kept changine. took our foster child {name withheld} from us for no reason  after 2 yrs.now we are going through courts and they make sure its not timely. we are heart broken and so is child. their rules come before the childs best interest.
  • It was a DHS location. I was not allowed to even complete an adoption application for months.
Was the information you received thorough and complete?
0
   Yes
3
   No
0
   No Answer

Comments:

  • We were not told now the system worked, only that he would help us 30-90 days and then we'd have to take our son back. He didn't want to help us, only keep his expenditures down.
  • the list of a milllion things you can be reprimanded for. and that their rules come before the childs needs.
  • Honest information regarding an appropriate timeline.
Were you satisfied with the services the agency provided to you?
0
   Yes
3
   No
0
   No Answer

Comments:

  • {name withheld} is a bully. The local DHS people in Kzoo cty were very polite and informative. We found out our options through other adoptive parents and a lawyer - not from Lansing DHS subsidy specialists.
  • adoption should of been final in 2 weeks but thats when they decided to take her from us even though physicians (i work at {name withheld} hospital) and  others offered to come to court to testify for {name withheld} and us. but they make sure things are always at 90 day intervals and now we have possibly lost {name withheld}.
  • Delay
Were there barriers to your ability to become a foster or adoptive parent?
1
   Lack of response from the agency
0
   Fees associated with agency services too expensive
2
   Unable to get foster care license or Family Assessment complete in a timely manner (i.e., less than six months)
1
   No Answer / no barriers
     
Where are you in the adoption / foster care process?
1
   Approved (Home study complete)
1
   Licensed Foster Family (Foster Care license complete)
1
   In-Process (Have agency / Home study not complete)
0
   Not yet working with an agency
0
   No Answer
     
Please tell us about the child or children you want to foster and/or adopt:
0
   Infant Adoption
1
   International Adoption
2
   Special Needs Adoption / Adoption from Foster Care
0
   Foster Care
0
   No Answer
   
2
   Younger than 6 years
1
   6 - 10 years
1
   11 - 13 years
1
   14 or older
1
   No Answer
     
0
   Black / African-American
2
   White / Caucasian
0
   Native American / American Indian
2
   Hispanic / Latino / Latina
0
   Asian American / Pacific Islander
0
   Chaldean / Arab-American
0
   Other
1
   Any Race / Doesn't Matter
0
   No Answer
     
2
   Having emotional / behavioral issues
2
   Having physical impairments
2
   Having developmental delays
2
   Having learning impairments
0
   No Answer
     
0
   Single child
1
   Sibling group
2
   Doesn't matter
0
   No Answer

Additional comments:

  • If anyone there at MARE wants to help fix a broken system, have a questionnaire for adoptive parents who have tried to get services from DHS with their FASD children. You'll have quite an eye opening experience and just might save some families a lot of pain and suffering.I have already adopted 13 children. I am not looking to adopt again. I filled this out to bring attention to the lack of post-adopt services. If I had known there was little help out there - compared to what we were told at adoption, I don't know if I would have adopted as many as I did - if at all. This is a dangerous road to travel for families that are willing to take the toughest kids. Michigan needs to change if she wants her children adopted by good families.
  • Had it not been for {name withheld} at centerville DHS we would have our new foster daughter {name withheld} as our legal daughter. Now agency wont even bother calling us back. We have retained an attorney {name withheld} and she even says they all stick together to make it impossible for us to get {name withheld} back in a timely manner. She was removed in April,, 2 days before her 4th birthday. God knows she should be with us and we are praying for a miracle.
  • The second agency we tried told us in PRIDE that we did not want to adopt from MARE as the kids in MARE were there for a reason. We were also very clear that we wanted to adopt only, yet this second agency did not do an adoptive homestudy as they told us they were, and used a worker's pregnancy as a way to delay our approval for many months. After a year of waiting with them, I transferred our license to another agency, and now we are waiting again. I am told the second agency did not send them an adoptive homestudy, only a foster care homestudy. So now we are waiting longer. It will be two years of waiting to adopt special needs/older child/sibling group in 2-08. It makes me sick to realize how many children are out there needing a home--how many are aging out of the system, and how we have been delayed. We are required to stay with our current agency for one year, after that, that's all for us. They say that kids have attachment issues as well as problems when their lives are put "on hold" waiting for a family. Well, as an adoptive family being delayed, we are experiencing the same emotional difficulties and that is unconscionable to me. Thank you for listening.