[nhook]

Say, my husband and I are considering adopting from Guatemala. Can anyone tell me what age children are available, how long it takes and approximate cost? Thanks

[saranbr]

Children of all ages are available-- just be sure to pick an agency that works with older (2yrs+) children if that is your age range. Our agency works with birthmother relinguishments only, mostly infants. Two families on our visit trip wanted older children and had to settle on infants as they were told "older kids aren't available"-- not true, just need to work with a different agency.

Adoptions from Guat are not inexpensive. Ours was fairly routine and tipped the $30k mark-- do an internet search and you will discover that agency fees, country fees, homestudy, etc, etc easily add up to that. The one thing to remember when comparing cost is that travel is significantly less to Guat than many of the other countries.

Best wishes! Feel free to PM me if you want to hear specifically about our experience/agency.

[DaughterBound]

PM me if you want to know the name of the agency I used. I had a very good experience with them, and they are cheaper than most. They use great attorneys on the Guat side and are very kind and communicative. It's very important that you like your agency and that they use good people in Guat.
Leah

[coachmom]

you can also go to Guatadopt and get more info there. I had a great agency also if you want it..
Doretta

[dspakowsky]

The average cost is around $28,500 - $32,000 total. A baby may come home around 5 - 9 months old. Some agencies work with older children.

[ej-momtobe]

There have been several threads about cost in the past, and I think lots of people reported $30-33K total including travel. Of course there are always people who have problematic situations whose cost is much higher, and people who have found ways to minimize cost (i.e. not using an agency).