|
I would imagine you'll have a hard time finding an agency that will work with Rwanda, if they've only just opened for international adoptions. Assuming that's true...
You'll need to find an adoption attorney in Rwanda. Your friends should be able to ask around and get you a decent reference. Whether you speak a common language with the attorney or not will be a major factor. From that point on, you pretty much do whatever the attorney tells you to do.
Also on the Rwanda side...check with the U.S. Consulate in Rwanda and see if they have an adoption fact sheet. Mali has only one US adoption on record in the last 5 years, but even our embassy had a fact sheet on adoption. It was very informative and helped a lot with at least starting my dossier.
The U.S. side, so far, has seemed to be fairly straightforward (I can hear the others laughing at me now). The USCIS website is really good, though there are a few things I've come across that need to be changed.
Just remember that there are two governments to deal with, which means two sets of hoops to jump through!
A good reference book for the basics is How to Adopt Internationally: A Guide for Agency-Directed and Independent Adoptions by Jean and Heino Erichsen.
If you want a rough flow chart of what has to happen, let me know and I'll go into more detail for you. That having been said, there's not an actual child in my house yet, so everything I say is to be taken with a pound of salt. It's nice to have someone to feel your way through the dark with, though, because that's what I feel like every day.
Good luck!
|