My personal opinion...
I agree that the first option would be to do a full orientation. We signed with another agency after Abrazo because we were too impatient to wait for the next orientation. Paul and I could not connect with the staff at the other agency and ended up being told the process as we went. (Every agency has a different process).
With Abrazo, I greatly appreciate the person to person contact before the "roller coaster" ride really takes off. I knew very clearly what the core values of Abrazo were and felt confident that my hopes and expectations matched their expectations.
That being said, we were a "tweener" with our second child, Carter. We went to Camp Abrazo because of being a tweener. We would have never experienced one of the greatest weekends of our lives without it.
My advice...
1) Match up the tweeners. Do a Skype call to get these people to meet and talk.
2) Talk about the core values of Abrazo verbally to ensure that the hopes and expectations are clear.
3) Perhaps increase the "waiting reading" to enhance the information sharing. Perhaps, also match them with families who have been through the process to be a sounding board and review the reading homework. (We would be happy to be one of those families).
That's it...
Good luck and God Bless!!
Michelle