[wwjdmelissa]

We adopted independently and we were able to do this with the assistance of a friend of mine that has done it twice. The difference is that an agency helps guide you through the paperwork here in the states and has facilitators in the countries that are experienced with adoptions. We used an experienced facilitator in Ukraine that our friends used and they were awesome. I never had one problem with them and they are much cheaper than what an agency would charge. We paid $10,000 for our adoption plus our homestudy which was done back in 1999 so all we had to do was update it for this adoption. PM me if you want more info on the independent adoption. I can give you an email address that will help you a lot!! Good luck!