Great idea, moderator! Thanks for keeping us focused!

In trying to respond to each separate question, we found that we kept
giving the same answers. Therefore, we decided to lump our responses
together; each response speaks to IAC's practices as deceptive,
unethical, and fraudulent.

A. We were led to believe our profile letter would be sent to every
birthmother when we met her criteria and she met ours. IAC emphasizes
the importance of the letter to prospective birthparents, stressing
that "This is the birthparent's FIRST introduction to you" (IAC
manual, section I). The magnitude IAC places on these letters is
further illustrated by the fact that they provide verbal instruction
at the earliest opportunity, give critical feedback to our working
drafts, provide examples of the best letters they've had, and
dedicate pages in the first section of their instructional manuel to
creating the best possible letter. However, less than half of our
letters that should have been sent were actually sent.

B. IAC claims to provide its clients with "professional counseling
and support" (introductory letter, par. 3). After waiting one year
only to find out that they neglected to send out our letters, we were
incredibly upset and in much need of this "support." When we sought
help from our counselor, she dismissed our concern, stating that it
never could have happened. Even when furnished with the birthmother
statistics IAC furnished for us, the number of letters initially
placed in our file, and the number of letters remaining, she refused
to address the issue. Instead, she told us we were "not ready to
adopt," and we were "in breach of contract" for not having ourselves
on the IAC website.

C. IAC misleads the potential client into believing they have
facilitated far more adoptions than they actually have.
Upon entering IAC, we're faced with profile letters displayed on the
walls throughout the office. We're told that each couple whose
profile is displayed has successfully adopted a child. Later, we
found out that some of the couples on the wall didn't have any
success with IAC and adopted a child through another avenue (ie
attorney, facilitator, etc.), yet IAC claimed responsibility for
those adoptions by 1.) displaying their profile letters, 2.) deeming
that the IAC contract had been fulfilled, and, 3.) in one case that
we know of, even demanding a couple pay the remaining IAC fees
despite the fact that they had nothing to do with bringing the
adoption to fruition.

We suspect that they probably count these adoptions into their own
success rate.