[Melissa10]

Hi there

We have just started looking into adoption and are really interest in intercountry (China and Russia at this stage as don't know alot about other countries). We live in New Zealand.

Would really love to talk to someone who has adopted from Russia or China.

Be great to hear your experiences.

Am also wanting to know about adopting siblings from Russia.

Anyone got any experiences they wish to talk about?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Melissa

[cakegirl]

Hi Melissa,

Welcome to the forums!

I'm adopting from China to Australia.

Rebecca

[coffee_please]

Originally we looked into adopting from Russia. So I know a little bit (we are in NZ too) about the start of the process. We have since chosen to adopt from within NZ, so I can't advise you on the rest of the process unfortunately. Firstly you need to contact the Adoption Unit of CYFS. They will invite you to an introduction evening – this is a good forum to voice any questions you have. If you still wish to proceed you will need to attend 3 workshop days - Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. They are each a month a part. The 3rd day is the day specifically aimed at Intercountry adoption. We were quoted $80,000 as an approx cost to adopt from Russia. And were told that this would include things like Airfares and accommodation (for the number of trips you have to make back and forth), legal fees, paperwork charges and mandatory bribes at the Russian end. The cost was the main reason we decided not to go down that path. I believe CYFS insist you still have medicals, reference and polices checks here in NZ and home visits. I hope this helps. I definitely recommend going to the Introduction evening. We got a heap out of it and they have them quite regularly. Then you choose when/how to want to proceed from there. In fact they don’t even contact you after that. They wait to hear from you. Good Luck and all the very best.

[Melissa10]

Hi there cakegirl and coffee_please

Thanks for the replies.

A few months ago we attended an evening In christchurch by the ICANZ organisation. It was a very informative evening.

Coffee_please the price you mentioned of $80,000 was that for siblings? The price given to us at the evening to adopted from Russia was $40,000 all expenses included.

I spoke with a woman last week at Child, youth and family and we are down to attend Day 1 and 2 in the new year. We are both very excited about taking the next step.

Hope you dont mind me asking - but where are you both up to in the adoption process and how long did it take you to get to where you are at. We have no idea of time frames so would be great to hear from someone who is in the system so to speak.

Do you know of any books written about families who have adopted from either NZ or internationally.

Hope to hear from you soon

Melissa