[LiliVG]

I am looking for anyone who has recently adopted a child from Serbia. I am Serbian by origin and am looking into the process but can find very little first hand accounts about the process (except for the amazing story told by Abdulina here on Adopt.com). Does anyone have any leads or suggestions?
~Lili G.

[sak9645]

I sent you a PM about a possible program.

Sharon

[Bunnygirl]

Take a look at the intercountry adoption section of the CIS at USCIS Home Page -- I don't know if it will list agencies but it will list all of the legal requirements for both the U.S. and Serbia for the adoption.

[Abdulina]

Lili, I have adopted from Serbia though it has been years ago. They currently do independent adoptions and you use a facilitator. Pretty much just special needs children. My son is healthy 10 yo now. He'll be 11 in Jan. We brought him home shortly after his 6th birthday. No visas are required. You have to stay for about 2 weeks. Great place, very nice people and really want to get the kids out of the orphanages and into a better home. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. I check here more often now. Take care,

[Armywife160]

Abdulina, I sent you a PM.

[kem]

I have also heard that Serbia only does special needs adoptions and relative adoptions. As far as I have heard, it is a quick, inexpensive program and as far as I have heard, people have had wonderful experiences there. I'll send you a PM with some links.

[Abdulina]

Great program, and yes, only special needs children. You'll stay in an apartment for about 2 weeks. It is only one trip. Program is not that bad as far as expense goes. Around $15K when all is said and done w/ travel, medical, embassy, etc. You knwo how it all goes. Great kids coming out of there. I should know, I have one!--LOL. My son is mentally, behaviorally, and emotionally intact. Nothing wrong w/ him. Regular classes and all. He is only missing his right leg and has a clubfoot on the left. Not a big deal at all. Wears a prosthetic and had surgery for the clubfoot. I would highly consider the program. Someone is currently doing paperwork to bring home a girl that just turned 1yo. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

Take care,

[cmasc]

Could anyone w/info on Serbia please send me the info? An agency is starting a program and stated the children are healthy (but also special needs) which seems contrary to what I've read on this thread. Also, the cost is approx 30k plus travel - and again on out whack with what I've read here.

Thanks!

[Abdulina]

Be VERY weary of that. As far as I know, they are not currently working w/ any agencies. BTW, when I adopted YEARS ago, it was indeed through an agency adn the costs were NOT that high. Those are definitely inflated prices for sure. The attorney costs currently are running around $7K to $8K last I heard. And, that is w/ recent travelers. I will ask some of the others and see if they have changed it recently to agencies. Like I said, there was one years ago in the US doing it but it was a rarity. Put it this way, my son was the 11 th one adopted in 13 years there. There are more adoptions going on now independently but it is still not very prevalent. In addition, they have so far been all special needs. The orphanage in Belgrade houses around 400 children and then there is an older children's home. Beautiful children. Feel free to write me privately at boydbunch@gmail.com. Put Serbian adoption in the subject line. Give me a day or two as I have a lot going on right now but I will get back to you. I have a blog but not allowed to post on here as it has a chip-in button. I think it is against the rules. But, can show you my son. He's now 11yo, very healthy & right now being a typical boy...URGHH!!!! I think though getting a healthy child from there would be difficult. Unless things have changed.

[LiliVG]

I also believe those prices are crazy considering it is a lot easier and quicker than the Russian programs. I went to Serbia and visited an orphanage and spoke with the ministers involved with adoption last year. For U.S. non-relative adoption, they are only putting special needs children up for adoption. Their priorities are with Serbian families in Serbia, then Serbian families abroad. Last of all come foreigners. They have many Serbian families adopting "healthy" children from foster care. It is the special needs children who suffer. Serbian families do not have the resources, nor does the government or health care system (or society) have the programs in place to support special needs children and their parents.
If an agency is promising a "healthy" child for big bucks, I would be very suspicious from what I have seen and have been told right from the source.

[Abdulina]

Originally Posted by LiliVG

I also believe those prices are crazy considering it is a lot easier and quicker than the Russian programs. I went to Serbia and visited an orphanage and spoke with the ministers involved with adoption last year. For U.S. non-relative adoption, they are only putting special needs children up for adoption. Their priorities are with Serbian families in Serbia, then Serbian families abroad. Last of all come foreigners. They have many Serbian families adopting "healthy" children from foster care. It is the special needs children who suffer. Serbian families do not have the resources, nor does the government or health care system (or society) have the programs in place to support special needs children and their parents.
If an agency is promising a "healthy" child for big bucks, I would be very suspicious from what I have seen and have been told right from the source.

100% agree!!!

[chloe]

As I understand it the healthy children available are of Roma/Gypsy descent. They are healthy but are discrimated against, which makes them are harder to place for adoption within Serbia.

For the cost; I am not prepared to handle a foreign countries bureaucracy alone and need an agency to hold my hand.

[CorinneN]

Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone has any recent information about Serbian adoption. It's virtually impossible to find recent info online. ANY information you guys can provide will be helpful.

My husband and I have a son, adopted from Russia about a year and a half ago. We are looking into our options for a second adoption. Russia might not be for us again. It was super-expensive and it took 3.5 years. All ended well, our son is amazing!!! but I'm not sure I want to go through that again.

Thanks!!!
Corinne

P.S. Based on some older posts in this thread, only "special needs" children are available. What do you mean by that? Our son was "special needs," because of a heart condition, but he's perfectly healthy now. Is it subjective?

[sak9645]

Each country will define special needs in its own way. As an example, some countries will define a child as special needs with something as simple as an extra toe (not part of a syndrome) or a prominent birthmark, or a droopy eyelid that needs surgical correction. Others will reserve the term only for more significant issues, such as cleft palate, clubfoot, a congenital heart defect, or blindness.

Also, agencies look at special needs in terms of the difficulty that they will have in placing a child. The agency may not discount fees for a child with a missing hand, because the child will need little medical treatment and because many families will come forward to adopt him/her, but may eliminate its program fees for a child whose spina bifida causes him/her to need a wheelchair and to have no control over bowel and bladder, because many families do not feel able to meet the needs of such a child.

And, of course, individual families define special needs differently. You may consider a child healthy if he/she is a chronic Hep. B carrier with no current liver damage, even though he/she can infect people who are not immunized, through blood and bodily fluids, and may develop liver damage later in life. Other parents may not be comfortable with even this very mild special need.

A parent whose brother has Down's syndrome may feel perfectly comfortable raising a child with the same disorder, but other parents may not feel equipped to handle the challenges of dealing with mental retardation. And a parent who has excellent access to superior medical facilities and who has very good health insurance may not think twice about adopting a baby with a major heart defect that can be surgically corrected, while a person who live in a rural area with few specialized medical services and whose health insurance coverage isn't all that good would be best off NOT adopting that child.

Remember, too, that the special needs designation is often used, by adoption agencies and countries, to refer to a healthy child who is of school age, because relatively few families want to adopt such a child, especially if the child is a boy and/or age 10 or over. Unfortunately, most Americans want to adopt infant or toddler girls, and school age children often languish in orphanages until they age out.

Sharon

[Adoptsis]

We just got back from Serbia with our son. As of right now, the children available for adoption from Serbia have moderate to severe disabilities. There are several children with Downs, etc.

However, our son has much less severe special needs than he was thought to have in Serbia. Their medical care and diagnostic testing is moving in the right direction, but it is still decades behind the U.S. (at least for children in orphanages).

The process was extremely simple and the ministry is great to work with...we submitted our dossier requesting a child within the parameters we were approved for and waited to see if there was a child available that matched. If there wasn't, they would have held our dossier in case one became available. (The dossier is super simple, so we would have just been out the money to amend our homestudy and pay for shipping/translation of paperwork).