I personally don't know anything about the Sanctuary in Tennessee you're looking into, but I have worked at a large, private Avian/Reptile Rescue for over 8 years now, and I'm sorry that you've had some bad experiences. I'm not sure why the places you've been to have treated you badly, although I can attest to Avian Rescues being extremely particular about who they re-home birds to, and that's simply because there are SO MANY parrots in need of good, loving homes, and so many that we see over and over and over again that you do get a bit of an attitude about it. That being said, I've not known anyone at our Rescue or any of the Avian Rescues we work with (quite a few in the PA, OH, MD, NY, NJ area) to be rude or not willing to answer questions that people have, so if that's the case then I wouldn't want to adopt from them either...
What I will say is that while it might seem like a better idea, or rather "easier" to adopt a parrot straight from it's owner, the one big difference between the owner and a Rescue is that a Rescue (or Sanctuary) is going to be 100% honest with you about the bird's behavior, it's personality, the way it forms bonds with people/interacts with people, and especially about the bird's history, both it's owner history and it's medical/dietary history...I'm actually the Medical Liaison so I don't do any of the adoption/surrender stuff except I do interview people who are surrendering their birds to find out as much information as I can about their bird's past medical history, dietary history, and it's normal routine/schedule, etc. And all of that information as well as any new medical findings that we discover are detailed thoroughly and presented to all prospective adopters...
I guess the bottom-line is that Avian Rescues are just like anything else, it all comes down to each, individual Rescue. So don't give-up entirely on adopting a bird from a Rescue, Shelter, or Sanctuary, because it really is the only way to keep from accidentally giving your money to very bad, unscrupulous people, such as the many THOUSANDS of "Parrot-Flippers" that make-up over half of the people "re-homing" their birds on Craigslist, Kijiji, Hoobly, etc. Most of the birds you find on these places have been given to these people for free or for a very small fee, or they actually have adopted them from a Rescue or Shelter for a small fee, and then they actually invent entire histories for these birds to tell prospective buyers like you...So you think you're adopting a bird who belonged to someone's mother who passed-away, etc., when in-fact the person found the bird for free on Craigslist a week prior to them listing it for "adoption" themselves...It's a terrible scam that is rampant, and there are actually MANY PEOPLE who are professional "Pet-Flippers", that's all they do, they don't have jobs at all, they simply find free pets of all kinds online, they drive every single day to go pick them up from all over the place, in and out of state, doesn't matter, they then create a "history" or a story for them, and they turn a puppy or a parrot they got for free into a $500 or $1,000 profit. Not bad for a day's work...These people make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and it's all tax-free and under-the-table...And all at the expense of the animal's well-being...
