I googled their name on the internet. Adoption Agency ratings has quite a few complaints on them. There is even talk of a lawsuit. That should be interesting.
I was snooping even further. They practice adoptions in Russia,Taiwan, India, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Columbia. They have been denied COA accreditation twice. I have to wonder if they are just that crooked after reading the many complaints against them. I even read that they can sue an prospective adoptive parent if they complain about them online. Its a five thousand dollar pop. Why would any PAP sign an agreement like that? That would be a warning bell with me.
The agency earned $8,846,704. They spent $774,180 in contracted services. They also spent $577,664 in advertising. They also run Sunshine Adoptions in Wisconsin. Their president and CEO, Marina Mayhew, is a Russian immigrant out of Krasnoyark, Russia. She is married to her husband who helps operates the agency, James L. Mayhew. On their IRS Form 990 according to Guidestar, there is not any information on their connection. In previous years, he was a paid member of their board. Ms. Mayhew made $143,249. Their secretary/treasurer, Judith A. Daken earned $75,060. They are also not on the Russia accreditation list either. They also have offices in Wyoming, Michigan, Arizona (headquarters), Colorado and others. They are also no longer accredited by the Russian Federation.
More will be written as this situation unfolds.
9 comments:
The closed Sunshine down earlier this year. I would know because that is where my original case manager was out of.
I am sad to see your post with so many inacuracies. I know this agency well/for many years, your facts are mostly wrong. Marina Mayhew IS ETHICAL. I don't know of many agencies who are able to please 100% of their "give me instant gratification" adoptive families 100% of the time. You should stick to topics of which you are better informed. Liked your home school info but then after I read your uninformed posts on CAI, I lost all respect of your other "stuff."
All of my information about Commonwealth Adtoptions International is from the news, the BBB, their website,Guidestar, and from other adoptive parents who have been screwed over by them. You must be the adoption agency crone. They have failed 90% of the adoptive parents that I have seen so far. Go read at adoption agency ratings. That will tell you how bad they are. If they were so ethical as you say, why do they have a clause in their contracts that they make adoptive parents sign about speaking out against them? Its five thousand dollars a pop if they speak out against them in any manner. That is a true sign that they are a bad and unscrupulous adoption agency.
Leslie's correct. There really are several inaccuracies in the blog above. Adoption is a very tricky field, I know, I worked in it. I also adopted my son from Russia and I understand the other side as well. But really, it's a very difficult, draining and exhausting field and while it's also incredibly wonderful, a 150,000 salary for being up half a night, half of every week, being screamed at by adoptive parents who are understandabley impatient and nervous, working with foreign govts. and our own and dealing with all of the difficulties behind the scenes is not unreasonable. Part-time state college proffesors make that same salary, most of it through your tax dollars. Marina and Jim Mayhew (no longer married btw) are kind and ethical people and I think the fact that this agency is closing is very sad for the many people who have and were adopting their children through them.
Sad doesn't even begin to describe the situation with Commonwealth! My family has been waiting almost THREE YEARS with Commonwealth, paid $15K, and were told by an EMAIL that Commonwealth was discontinuing adoptions. Not to mention the "donations" they asked for to "speed up the process." I guess that should have been our first clue that something was up. We are on our 4th adoption caseworker, and it seems as if we are no closer to getting our child than we were 3 years ago.
We were able to transfer to another agency, but we are still waiting for our referral. It's very hard to trust any adoption agency at this point, but we are at their mercy, waiting for our baby to come to us. I thought I did everything right, checking out close to 50 agencies before choosing Commonwealth. I feel for all the families who were involved with Commonwealth. I hope those individuals responsible for this get what's coming to them.
"I know this agency well/for many years, your facts are mostly wrong. Marina Mayhew IS ETHICAL."
Funny...then why would the Attorney General of Arizona waste his time bringing a federal lawsuit against them?
And "Jennifer" to sit there and go on and on about how ethical Marina is... it's pathetic. Unless your going through this stuff with this agency like the rest of us...maybe it's best not to comment at all. Part time college professors make $150,000??? Dang...I'm in the wrong field...I think your facts are a tad skewed in CAII's favor obviously. The last time I looked at my paycheck from doing part time professorships at U of M it certainly wasn't anywhere NEAR $150,000.
Good grief...get a clue people. Amy is right about everything she said and it's unfortunate for those going through it.
Maybe, before you who are so quick to find fault should either talk to Marina or get your facts straight. I know that this is a bogus law suit and it will be finally proven in court. The details in the law suit are incorrect in a variety of ways. Please point out the agency out there without a blemish working in some of the countries where CAI was supporting orphans. Thousands of children placed without a hitch in 15 years of doing business. For the last eight months working for little or no pay to see to it that everyone in the process was either transferred or completed their adoption. A handful of families chose, on their own accord, not to accept the transfer and to fight for refunds. This is tragedy for everyone involved and especially the people who dedicated the time and effort to complete so many families succesfully in that period of time.
Actually my information is correct. You know they earned close to eight million dollars of these families. I wonder where that money went. Now these families will have to pay more money to the adoption agencies that they have been transferred to. I know about that one too. There is alot I know but I am just using information that is already out there. It behoove all of those that lurrvve Marina and Dawn to really dig for information. I am looking forward to what the year actually does bring Commonwealth. Then I will sit back and laugh my ass off at them for getting their hands caught in the cookie jar.
Marina Mayhew is a terrible person. She is trying to withhold our homestudy records from us, which we need to complete our readoption. They are our records, and our rightfully ours under law.
So in addition to being a fraud, she is a thief.
It will be my extreme pleasure to see this woman fall, and hard.
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