|
China and Korea... both excellent international adoption programs! We considered each of them as well, but it was China that consistently called our names and tugged at our hearts.
With regard to Korea: You must use a Korea-placing agency within the state you reside… this is a requirement set up by their government, and to my knowledge, there are no exceptions except maybe for The Waiting Child program. They have a weight requirement… I believe that both adoptive parents must be within 20% of their recommended body weight to qualify. You cannot choose the gender of the child you are requesting unless you already have a child within your home of the opposite gender… so if your heart is set on a girl and you’ve no boy already in your home, you’re better off to look to another country since there are typically more boys available in Korea than girls. It is the only country at present that requires just a home study to adopt… a dossier is not required. It is only one of two countries, I think, at present that will permit an escort to bring the child to this country in lieu of traveling to the country itself. There are only a very few countries whereby all of the children reside in foster care and have typically received very good health care including a hospitalized birth... Korea is one of them. The parents are typically known instead of unknown , unlike those of children who are abandoned in China.
Regarding China: There are a large number of China-placing agencies to choose from, and the program itself is one of the most stable and predictable. Your in-country stay is rather short, one visit of two weeks, and the program is less expensive than some others. The children are rather healthy despite limited resources, and the women in China do not typically drink or smoke and they take good care of their bodies while pregnant since they know not the sex of the child before he/she is born. Most of the children available are girls... unfortunate victims of a one-child policy and a culture that relies heavily on boys/men to sustain it. The children are illegally abandoned/orphaned, so there is little/no chance that biological parents will reclaim the child. (Let me clarify here, as this statement was misunderstood by someone when I wrote it in another post... I am not implying that it is a good thing for an adopted child to not ever come to know his/her parents but rather that it can be a good thing to some adoptive parents that no potential exists for enduring the pain of falling in love with a child only to lose him/her later by government sensitivity toward biological parents/family who've changed their minds.) There too is a number of support groups for adoptive parents and adopted children of China, as well as classes to learn the language, culture, etc.
With either country though, there are many children waiting to be loved. I say, "Go with your heart," as it should never steer you wrong. Congratulations, and best wishes with your decision.
|