[MrsTiffanyMortimer]

My husband and I would love to adopt. We are interested in adopting from Asia or Eastern Europe. I’ve read that the wait for Asia is long and is continuing to get longer, so we’ve decided to focus on Eastern Europe. If anyone is familiar with the process and requirements as well as pros and cons of adopting from Eastern European countries, I’d love to know!

Thanks and God Bless!

[momraine]

Each country is different and in Russia you can find differences in each region. There are many Eastern European countries. I have adopted from two and the experiences and process were very different for each.
Some of the cons are the possibility of Fetal alcohol exposure and in some countries long waits for refferals or long stays in country. Depending on the age and health your wait can be longer or shorter. I would suggest researching each country seperatly and deciding which best fit your family.

[MrsTiffanyMortimer]

Were your experiences with Russia positive? Are there any regions I should steer clear of?

Thanks!!

[momraine]

My Russian experience is quite out of date. I adopted my daughter in 2000 and in the last 8 years a lot of things have changed. However, feel free to visit the Russian forums and ask some questions. I think people who have traveled recently can give you some great feedback.

[Sohmakun]

Originally Posted by MrsTiffanyMortimer

My husband and I would love to adopt. We are interested in adopting from Asia or Eastern Europe. I’ve read that the wait for Asia is long and is continuing to get longer, so we’ve decided to focus on Eastern Europe. If anyone is familiar with the process and requirements as well as pros and cons of adopting from Eastern European countries, I’d love to know!

Thanks and God Bless!

Although I'm NOT an adoptive parent of a Eastern European child I did consider adopting from here. These are pros and cons for both Asia and Europe that I wrote when I first started researching.

ASIA PROS:
1. There are a few countries who are extremely stable and ethical.
2. Asian countries generally have lower fees.
3. Most have short in-country stays

ASIA CONS:
1. Its sometimes very difficult to adopt from Asian countries if your in your 20's.
2. The more stable countries in Asian tend to have the longest wait times.
3. Asian countries in general have more stringent requirements.

EUROPE PROS
1. Requirements are flexible especially went you adopt an older child or one with special needs.
2. You often meet your child in person before you commit to adopting them.
3. Eastern European countries tend to be very fast when it comes to getting a referral.

EUROPE CONS
1. There is a potential risk of FAS which can cause moderate mental retardation.
2. They tend to have some of the highest price tags in overall cost.
3. Its starting to become difficult to recieve a referral of a child under 12 months old

[baba62]

Originally Posted by MrsTiffanyMortimer

My husband and I would love to adopt. We are interested in adopting from Asia or Eastern Europe. I’ve read that the wait for Asia is long and is continuing to get longer, so we’ve decided to focus on Eastern Europe. If anyone is familiar with the process and requirements as well as pros and cons of adopting from Eastern European countries, I’d love to know!

Thanks and God Bless!

My daughter is awaiting a court date from Russia, are you interested in Russia? Adoptive Families Magazine has lots of information on all Countries and during the process we checked their website daily. Married couples have more options than singles but we are very pleased with her Agency.

[pgakaa]

My husband is 52 and I am 45, so China and a lot of other options were out. We are working professionals so a lot of time in country was out of the question. We looked for a country that would allow for these factors and give us reasonably straight information about the children we want to adopt. We settled on Estonia. We are going to meet the twin 4 year old girls we want to adopt in two weeks. They gave us detailed medicals and a good dvd which I had a neurologist friend look at.

[pnewcombe]

My adoption from Estonia took nine months and was as represented by the agency. The only variable that I had not accounted for is the issue of US currency value overseas. From the time I started until my adoption was finalized the US dollar dropped, making overseas costs different from what the agency had led me to expect which is not thier fault but something that you may need to include in your planning in any overseas adoption.

[Melony67]

To be honest., I dont know too much about Asia or even all of Eastern Europe either. I agree with someone else's post that there is a big difference between each of the countries and that you should select the one that best fits your needs. Me and my husband, chose Poland because we have Polish heritage in our family background. We are proud parents to Lucasz Paul Palmer! YAY

Our experience in Poland was good. We looked at three children before we accepted Lucasz. He is very healthy, only a minor speech delay, but were made fully aware of that before we traveled. I would even say that with our experience, the medical records were exaggerated in the negative light which is probably better than the other way around.

Nevertheless, our experience was a good one. Poland did not require a visa, and the flight was easy. Poland is a beautiful country and I felt safe staying there. Our agency's representatives were also very friendly and made everything as easy as "sign here" and "sign here".

[baba62]

I traveled with my daughter last December to Khabarovsk, Russia to bring my grandson home. He was 20 months old, we arrived home December 31st at 9:20. In May we celebrated his 2nd birthday. Smart, loving, wonderful little boy, no problems with the second trip. Can I help with any questions?

[baba62]

I traveled with my daughter last December to bring my grandson home from Khabarovsk, Russia, we arrived home December 31st. In May we celebrated his 2nd birthday. Wonderful little boy, smart, happy, healthy, she had no problems on her 2nd trip, we were in Russia approximately 3 1/2 weeks.
If I can help in any way email me.

[baba62]

My daughter made her first trip to Khabarovsk Russia in August of last year, in December I went with her back to Khabarovsk to complete her adoption and accompany her and my grandson home, we returned December 31. My grandson, Gage, turned two in May, he's healthy, happy, smart, loving.

Adoption Agency is the most important part of adoption, we researched, emailed references and settled on one, finally. We feel ours was excellent, the coordinator in Russia she worked with has had her job for either 12 or 15 years (can't remember), and her lawyer in Russia was an older lady sharp as a tack, covered everything the evening before she went to court.

I will be happy to email you the Website for her Agency if you like.

Pati