[FLmom2]

We are considering both countries for IA. We would be interested to hear from others that considered both as to why you chose China. I also posted on the Korea forum. Any input appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[foxl]

We had little choice -- Korea has a no-obese-parents rule. However, I think our ages might also have ruled out Korea -- we are 48 and 47 ...

[Mailbox13]

We also considered Korea. However, the only agency allowed to place Korean children in our state was full for this year, and had a waiting list for the next year. So we were looking at least two years out. That was before we could even start the process.

[Trace7]

We chose China because it is less expensive that Korea, and the process seems more streamlined for China IMO. Also - we love to travel and we love the idea of traveling to China to get the baby (and it is my understanding that you don't need to travel to Korea).

[jchrapcyn]

We ended up chosing Korea because-

no travel (more time to be at home with our child), our agency does not have a weight restriction, no special medical exam/blood tests, our agency is getting referrals very quickly, no dossier required- homestudy only, young infants are being referred, Korea medical care is excellent, children are in foster care

we orginally wanted to choose China because- we kind of wanted a girl (boys more likely with Korea), China program is very stable, we would like to visit China, China program is less expensive, but China was a little more difficult with the dossier, there are way more agencies that have a China program than Korea

good luck!

[Sean&Shan]

We also had narrowed our search to China and Korea and this is what we found in a nutshell...

Pros for either program:
Excellent reputations as to healthcare/ healthy babies and low/no incident of fraud. Programs are very reliable.

Pros for Korea:
More likely to get a younger infant
Travel not required (though this was not a pro for us, we wanted to travel)

Pros for China
Larger choice of agencies
Doesn't limit the number of babies allowed to be adopted per year
Less expensive
Allowed us to travel and see our baby's homeland
Large support system in the US with the FCC network.

We ultimately chose China because the agency we picked doesn't do Korea and the cost factor. We have been very happy withour choice thus far but I think both programs are excellent.

[pb86]

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.

[jchrapcyn]

Just so you know- not all agencies have a weight requirement- it depends on the agency (ours does not).

Also some agencies do not allow travel and only use escorts (ours is that way).

And as far as I know, Korea does not allow gender selection , unless you already have a child in the home of the opposite sex.

We are planning to try to get our little boy from Korea first, and then maybe try for a little girl from China in 2 years.

[prechrswife]

We also looked at Korea, mostly due to the escort option. We were not impressed by the most local branch of the agency we would have had to work with in our state, so that helped us with our selection. I think our hearts were in the China progam all the time. I just had to come around to the travel idea.

[FLmom2]

Thanks for all the responses! We are going to an FCC waiting families meeting tomorrow. We hope to decide very soon.