Whether it’s to a see a movie or to try out a new restaurant that just opened up, most people decide to take a peek at the reviews that someone else left before making a decision. But when making a choice as important as which adoption professional to work with, how helpful are adoption agency ratings and reviews?

The answer to this question really depends. Reviews of adoption agencies can be a great resource when you’re just getting started, but there are few reasons for why you might not want to rely on them alone. Here are a few things to keep in perspective as you’re looking for an agency you can trust:

1. It’s easier to find a negative review than a positive one

When it comes to the internet, any review that you come across should be taken with a grain of salt. Some people use the internet as a way to shrug off their frustrations, and leaving a mean review on a company’s website can feel oddly rewarding. Although you would think that more people would want to leave a positive review to encourage others to try out a service, this usually isn’t the case. In reality, most people just aren’t motivated enough to leave a review unless they’re truly frustrated with their experience.  So, it’s much easier to find a negative review online than a positive one.

If a professional has nothing but negative adoption agency reviews, that may be a red flag — but if an agency completes hundreds of adoptions a year and receives only a handful of negative remarks, it’s likely that those reviews aren’t representative of most clients’ experiences.

2. Reviews are subjective

The thing about adoption agencies is that your experience can be completely different than that of another adoptive family or woman considering adoption. Adoption is an extremely personal and emotional endeavor, so something that worked for one family might not work for you. It’s important to keep in mind that every person who chooses adoption is on their own journey. When it comes to adoption agency reviews, or any reviews for that matter, it’s almost impossible to find an unbiased opinion.

For example, while some agencies do more to prevent adoption disruptions than others, there are times when a disruption is inevitable, regardless of the professional involved. This experience can be heartbreaking for an adoptive family. In this situation, some may choose to leave a negative review of their adoption professional, not because of anything the adoption professional did, but because the parent is upset and frustrated after experiencing such a loss.

As you’re reading adoption services reviews, keep in mind the heightened emotions experienced by birth parents and adoptive families throughout this process.

3. Some people will leave a negative review no matter what

No matter how hard adoption agencies try, some of their clients might walk away feeling unsatisfied with their experience. An adoptive family might be upset that they waited longer than average to be chosen by a prospective birth mother. A birth mother may experience misguided anger toward her adoption professional during her grief and loss process. In many cases, these circumstances would be true regardless of the agency the adoptive family or birth parent chose. But without a solid understanding of how adoption works, the birth parent or adoptive family might not know this, and instead interpret the challenges of the process as something their adoption professional did “wrong.”

That’s why it’s so important to do plenty of research to make sure that you’ve found an agency that works for you personally. The best way to look at reviews of adoption agencies through an unbiased lens is to educate yourself on how the adoption process really works before you dive in and read domestic adoption agency reviews. There’s no such thing as a “perfect” adoption agency, but with a lot of hard work, you can find one that comes pretty close.

4. Not all reviews are genuine

Just about anyone can leave a review on the internet. In fact, some people are actually paid to leave positive or negative reviews for an organization. The worst part about this is that even if it’s just one bad review, it lowers the overall rating of an organization, leaving a bad impression on any potential visitors. You might not be able to spot fake reviews right away, but you should keep in mind that they do exist.

A good thing to keep in mind is that you should be wary of any reviews that talk about how “terrible” any agency is without going into any specifics of what went wrong during their experience. Likewise, you should also be cautious about adoption services reviews that go above and beyond to praise an agency without giving any details. Typically, the best adoption agency reviews fall somewhere in middle, and will be well‐informed enough about the adoption process to list the pros and cons of how an agency performed.

Other Ways to Choose an Adoption Professional

Choosing an adoption professional is one of, if not the biggest, decisions that you’ll make during the entire process. Because of this, you should feel confident in the adoption professional that you do end up choosing. While adoption agency reviews can be helpful, you shouldn’t rely on them alone when looking for information about a particular professional. It’s also important that you don’t get wrapped up in reading too many international or domestic adoption reviews that might sway your opinion.

Most of the time, the best resources will actually be from an adoption professional. Take a look at their website for information on the services they offer both prospective adoptive parents and women considering adoption. You might even consider setting up a time to speak to an adoption specialist from the professional that you’d like to work with as well. The adoption agency that you work with should be up‐front and honest about what it’s really like to work with them. Remember to ask plenty of detailed questions during your search to help make an informed decision. Good luck!