[Melor]

My husband and I are eager to start the adoption process. We live in NYC
Thought we would go with Korea, given how long the wait is for China and the precariousness of adoption in Vietnam.
We are currently looking into different agencies and weighing things like wait time, price and age of child (want a child as young as possible.)
Please share any and all thoughts. Thanks so much

[sak9645]

It sounds as if your heart is in Asia, where Thailand and Taiwan are also open.

Korea is a wonderful choice for many families. Korea has been placing children with Americans for over 50 years, and the program is very well organized. The Korean medical system is very similar to that in the West, and the orphans tend to get good medical care. The children are generally in well-supervised foster homes. In the past, children have come home very young and fairly quickly. Fees, while slightly higher than China's have been in the moderate range.

Right now, there are a few downsides and unknowns. The number of available children, especially healthy children, has been declining steadily over the past several years, due to greater prosperity of the country, changing social norms about unmarried pregnancy and birth control, and so on.

Just recently, Korea has put in place some new programs to encourage domestic adoption, including financial incentives; this is bound to reduce the number of healthy children available for international adoption still further, although children with special needs may not be adopted as readily.

In addition, new rules include making children available for domestic adoption for several months, before allowing them to be allowed internationally. These new rules will increase the average age of children being adopted internationally by several months.

Already, some agencies have stopped letting first-time parents specify gender, because girl babies were being adopted much faster than boy babies. Some agencies may also begin to limit new applicants, if they feel that waiting lists for children of both genders are getting too long.

While the children get good care once relinquished for adoption, the profile of available children is also likely to change. There are likely to be more children with special needs and risk factors such as maternal drinking during pregnancy.

I would suggest that, if you want to adopt from Korea, you take a look at the special needs program. Many of the children with special needs will have very minor problems, though others will have problems that you may not feel you can handle. If you choose a child with special needs, you will probably be able to complete an adoption more quickly.

But even if you decide to go through the healthy child program, you probably will be able to adopt. You simply may wind up with a boy who is at least a year old, and may find that your adoption takes 18 months.

A lot will depend on which agency you choose and, especially, on which of the four social welfare agencies in Korea your agency partners with.

China remains a wonderful program -- ethical and very well-organized, with its centralized referral system -- but many of the same conditions that exist in the Korea program are present there. Domestic adoption is being strongly encouraged, and in prosperous areas, the orphanages are finding that they have a far higher percentage of children with special needs than before.

As a result, the time frame for a healthy child adoption is becoming very long. People who are open to a child with mild to moderate special needs -- partially corrected cleft lip and palate, limb difference, Hepatitis B chronic carrier state, heart defect, club foot, etc. -- can often be brought home much sooner than children without obvious special needs, either through the regular program or through the Waiting Child program. Do be aware, however, that finding a very young child with a very mild special need may not be easy; you are best off if you are open to a slightly older child or to a slightly more significant special need.

You are certainly right to be cautious about Vietnam at this time. The U.S. government is very concerned that some of the corruption in the adoption system, which caused the first closure of the program several years ago, has not been eradicated. Unless the U.S. and Vietnamese governments can work together to improve the situation, a new closure is bound to occur.

It is truly a pity, as there are many children, often young and relatively healthy, in need of homes. Vietnam was extremely popular when it was open the first time, and has been extremely popular during its relatively brief reopening this time around. In fact, waiting lists were getting so long, this time, that some agencies stopped taking new applications.

If the U.S. and Vietnamese governments can figure out a way to remove corruption from the process, perhaps adoptions will be allowed to continue. But even then, unless new, tighter restrictions on adoptive parents are put in place, it is likely that there will be long waiting lists. Right now, Vietnam is very open on issues like age, marital status, length of marriage, and so on; it may not be so at some future time.

It is not clear what the fees for Vietnamese adoption will be in the future, even if the country remains open. To-date, they have been moderate, when compared with the fees for Eastern European adoption.

A lot of people who could not qualify under China's new rules have decided to go with Taiwan. Taiwan is a good choice in many ways, and it is even possible, in some programs, for families to get to know the birthmothers of their children. The children have tended to come home young and healthy.

Taiwan is a small country, however, and it is is more prosperous than some countries. As a result, the availability of children for adoption is relatively low. Agencies have begun to develop long waiting lists, here, too, and are beginning to impose restrictions such as no gender selection for first-time parents. It seems likely that wait times will get longer, children will get older, and parents will have to meet more requirements, as the program continues. Again, it is not clear what the impact on fees will be. Taiwan adoption is considered to have moderate fees associated with it, at this time.

Thailand is rarely mentioned, but it is open and some children are being adopted. The waits do tend to be long, and Thailand allows only married couples to adopt. If you qualify, Thailand might represent a good option, but you will have to be open to some unknowns with regard to the time frame.

Sharon