[Ann07]

Hello all,
My DH and I are looking into international adoption. We are leaning toward Ethopia.

I am currently in Grad school for my PhD in Clinical Psychology (I have an M.A.). What is the income guidlines for a family of four. Since I am in school I am not bringing that much $, but have the potential to make money and will have good income once I finish school. My DH has a full time job. We own our house and live comfortably. We have the money saved for the adoption.

What is the referral wait time? If we want an infant what type of medical issues do many children from ethopia have?

Does it matter that we are not of the same ethnicity?

Please PM me if you have info?

[kerriv]

USCIS guidelines require that you exceed 125% (I think) of the fedral poverty standard. Ethiopia has no income guidelines but some homestudy or placement agencies do.

Referral wait times vary tremendously from agency to agency and based on gender and age of the child you hope to adopt. There is no standard.

With infants, the primary issue will probably be undernourishment. Keep in mind, medical info tends to be more limited with infants as some issues can't be diagnosed until a child is older.

Ethnicity/race don't matter as long as you're prepared to parent a child who's different from you. It can be very hard work but also very rewarding. It just takes a lot of education and willingness to expand your world view.