Intermational adoption, How does it work?

sunny

Well, first you cough up a bunch of money. Do you have 30-50K? Well, just borrow it if you don't have it! Have a bake sale or wash cars!
Meanwhile some poor, disadvantaged woman in a Third world country is at the end of her rope. She lives in a place where birth control is not available. All the better for you! More desperate women in poor countries = more babies for you and your friends!
Then the time comes for you to go and collect you baby. It was all meant to be! Now that woman will go away, and leave you alone with your 'family'.
Are there birds singing?

Marsha R

There is information on many different international adoption processes on www.informedadoptions.com that you can look at, as well as many articles about things you would need to consider (first parents, adoptee grief, ethics, attachment and bonding, transitions, racism, etc.

Ana C

I guess it's the route you want to go. Want to pay big bucks to an agency, or want to spend the money on your new child? I'm from Mexico and I am adopted. My mom and dad found me by asking and looking. My mom stayed in an apt. in Mexico for 3 months while the adoption took place in Mexico. They brought me over with a Mexican passport and then re did some paperwork here, changed my name and voila! Here I am. There are a lot of children out there in need of a family - pick a place and research your options. And thanks for giving someone a home.

lady bird

I found a few links....

Angela R

We've adopted internationally twice. The process will start off by submitting an application, once that has been approved you'll begin the homestudy process which includes getting fingerprinted, background checks, interviews with your social worker, and a visit to your home to show that it is a safe environment for a child.

After you've been cerified to adopt, and yuor paper work has been sent to the country, you will wait to recieve a referral, this can take a few days or 18months or more depending on the program. Once you have a child referred to you, you will usually wait several monts to travel to bring home your child. Some countries allow children to be escorted to the US, but most require 1-2 trips to the country.

The wholde process can take as little as 5 months or as long as 2-3 years in most cases. It really depends on both your agency and the country you choose.

Your first step would probably be to research the different countries that allow international adoptions and their requirements (each countries rules can be very different) Then you'll want find and contact an agency that has a program in the country you've chosen.

If you're in the US, here are a few reputable agencies (the first two have forums for adoptive parents for each country, and they would be able to give you good advice as well

http://www.holtintl.org/flash/index.shtml
http://www.bethany.org/
http://www.dillonadopt.com/

Good luck!

In response to Sunny's answer, first our adoption fees were nowhere near the $30,000- $50,000 she quoted, and knowing these fees we paid went to care for our children, and others, insuring that they would be in loving foster homes rather then orphanages and provided care for the expectant mother who chose adoption for their child.

(Also, in Korea, where our children were born, birth contol and abortions are available) Because of social and economic reasons, our children's firstmoms chose adoption for their children. Yes, this is a sad situation, and I wish they would have been in a position to be able to raise their children, but they weren't. If international adoption wasn't allowed, the mothers would not "magically" be able to raise the babies, the children would remain in orphanages. We adopted our children 6 months after they were placed for adoption, and unfortunetly were never able to meet their mothers. We hope that our boys will be able to be incontact with them someday, and are doing everything possible to make that happen. We understand that our joy of bringing these children into our lives is also connected to the pain that these women suffer in not being able to care for their children. However, this is not a perfect world, and they allowed them to be adopted in able to give them the lives they could not provide. Please try to understand that every situation isn't always black and white.

lay_gwapa2

for more info about your querie, visit this site---->http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=313

sir_galahad_ks

In order to best answer your question, I'd have to give you two questions to consider to help narrow down the help you've asked.

First, do you have a particular type of child in mind for adoption -- age, race, gender, location in the world?

Second, do you have a time frame or financial limitations?

I've adopted one little girl from China and am in the process of adopting a second. When my wife and I first started expanding our family, we asked around who was a good agency. We thought we were being led toward China. Several acquaintances recommended a nationally known agency with regional offices. We drove 2 hours to one of their seminars. When we talked to the director after the seminar he expressed doubts in us being able to adopt from China. He said there were always other countries to consider.

Six months into the process and just the week of our first homestudy visit, the agency bailed on us. After getting an interview fee, they kept tagging us along suggesting this country and then another one. Always finding something they "thought" might be a problem.

After being dumped by this agency (who once again I remind you said there would be no way we could adopt from China), my wife found that a China-only agency had a regional representative in our hometown. We contacted her. We talked to her for quite a while. We went to a couple of their monthly meetings. She forwarded the medical concerns we were dropped by the other agency. The national office didn't think it would matter. We specifically included this in our application to China.

As of 2004 we went to China and returned with our first daughter. We filed paperwork and am now in the process for daughter number 2.

What did I learn?

First, go to an agency that specializes in the country you want to adopt from. Make sure they know the system inside and out.

Second, if someone says with authority you can't do something, keep asking around.

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