[JourneyLady]

Hello all. I'm hoping someone may be able to offer me some insight. I'm admittedly very confused by all of the information out there.

I'm a single woman, early 30s, interested in adopting an Indian baby. I am of Indian ethnicity, but was born and raised in America. I live in Virginia, and I am not sure how to proceed with this. I believe that a single person can adopt from India, however.

Any information on what my next (really first!) step should be would be very appreciated. I'm anxious to do this sooner rather than later, and would ideally like to adopt more than one child during the next ten years. Thank you so much.

[sak9645]

You are correct that single women under 45 can adopt from India.

India, like the U.S., has ratified the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption. As a result, besides following U.S. and Indian law, you must comply with Hague Convention requirements. This tends to make the adoption process a bit lengthy, but helps to ensure that the rights of children, birthparents, and adoptive families are protected.

At this moment, there is a temporary suspension of adoption in place in India, because of a backlog of cases that need processing. It is anticipated that the backlog won't last much beyond the end of September, but no one can predict that.

Under Indian and Hague requirements, you cannot do an independent adoption from India, even if you are of Indian origin. You will have to use an American adoption agency that is licensed in the U.S., that is approved by CARA (the Indian Central Adoption Resource

[JourneyLady]

Sharon, thank you so much for your response. This was really helpful as I wasn't aware of the suspension. I did some research and it does seem to state that the suspension will lift at month's end - but I suppose we'll see.

I've been researching US agencies. How do people generally go about "choosing" an agency? There are so many that deal with Indian adoptions. Is there a specific criteria that people generally use? Hope that's not a silly question. I'm trying to do all of this properly and with thorough attention to detail.

Thanks again.

[questioning]

Because you are single, you may (sadly) be limited by that in the agency you choose. Also, you need to choose a Hague agency (but the ones doing India will be Hague I would think?)

[Oellis]

I am also a single female beginning the process to adopt from India. Have you started the process yet?