Has anyone adopted a child from another country?

I am in the process of adopting from another country right now. We are in the first year of a possible 3 year wait.
Wait times, costs and age limits vary depending upon the country you are looking to adopt from.

I would recommend checking out www.informedadoptions.com
This site is by and for adoptive parents, you will gain more insight from this site.

spydermomma

That's a pretty general question, and a lot of our specifics would be different now, so I'll give you a general answer.

To try to answer your question, here's a table of a lot of countries and their requirements for adoption (scroll down):
http://www.whfc.org/adoption/default.htm

Note please that I'm not advocating this agency -- I know nothing about them, and though their page does not initially leap out as horribly unethical, you would certainly want to check them out very thoroughly -- but they have a nice clear chart.

Also note that Guatemalan adoptions are "on hold." There is a good reason for this -- many Guatemalan adoptions have been very unethical. Avoid Guatemala!
And Vietnam (not on this chart) was closed for many years due to unethical practices (kidnapping and selling of children among other things) and reopened a couple of years ago. In recent months there have been a lot of concerns again, and some families have adopted in Vietnam and then found out they cannot legally bring their child into the US. I would avoid Vietnam as well.

Here is the US state department site on international adoption, and from the menu at the left you can check the basics, news from various countries (for instance on Vietnam), and information about specific countries.
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/adoption_485.html

Here are a few links about ethics in international adoption. Some international adoptions are very unethical (baby stealing, baby buying, baby "farms" where mothers are held prisoner). You do not want to participate in that:
http://www.ethicanet.org/countrylist.php?pagestyle=countrylist
http://www.informedadoptions.com/index.php?
http://www.informedadoptions.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=5&Itemid=41
http://www.orphans.com/faq_h.html

Here's some general information about international adoption:
http://international.adoption.com/foreign/international-adoption-where-do-i-start.html

And last but not least here are some links on Transracial/transcultural adoption. Most international adoption is transracial and all is transcultural. Race can matter an awful lot to the child you adopt and the teen and adult they become. And sadly racism is still a huge issue in this country--getting smaller, but still huge. If you adopt a child of another race, they may have a hard time developing a healthy self-identity as a person of color. They may face issues of racism that adoptive parents of a different race or ethnicity would be ill-equiped to prepare them for. So it can be a big issue and a big challenge and it isn't something to be entered into without a lot of thought.
http://www.nysccc.org/T-Rarts/T-Rarts.html
http://www.pactadopt.org/adoptive/
http://racerelations.about.com/od/parentingrace/i/transracialadop_2.htm
http://racerelations.about.com/od/thehierarchyofrace/a/viewfromclouds.htm
http://www.antiracistparent.com/
Cheri Register's books: >Beyond Good Intentions< and >Are those Kids Yours?< are great.
Also the book >Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria< is great about race relations and especially the development of racial self-identity.

Cartier

My son was adopted from Guatemala. It took about 2 months for the homestudy and about 8 months from the first paperwork to the agency to when I brought my son home. I'm not sure of the age requirements. Guaatemala is currently closed while they change procedures.

asian-q-t

I was adopted from another country. It costs (it cost my parents 10,000 but that was 17 years ago) 10-25 thousand dollars. It took my parents almost 2 yrs. (but there was some complications) but I think it can take anywhere from 6 months to a year in actuality. I don't think there is any age limit (other than being at least 18) to adopt. Other things to consider: you have to prove that you have the finances to support the child and that you have no legal trouble on your record. And you will also be audited by somebody to get to know how your lifestyle is and to make sure that you are stable enough to have a child. It's a LONG process to adopt a child from another country.

tink

Depending on where you adopt from, it can be relatively quick. The home study takes about 6 months to complete. After that, your dossier is sent to the country of your choice and it can take anywhere from 3-24 months, depending on the country. I know Kenya takes about 6 months to find a child and then you have to live in Kenya for 6 weeks to 3 months to bond. But, other countries can take a couple of years before a child is in your home.

Cost depends totally on the country. African countries are generally $15,000 - $18,000 and Asian countries can be up to $25,000. I don't know exact costs of Russia or other E.European countries, but I believe they're $20k+.

As for age, this again depends on the country. Generally the lowest age is 25 or 26. But countries such as China require PAPs to be at least 30 with an upper age limit of 50-something. Again, really it depends on the country.

Jennifer L

We adopted two children from Liberia. It took about nine months from the time we had our dossier finished. Liberia has no age limits for parents, but other countries do.

If you have other questions about international adoption, feel free to email me.

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