[lostpoet]

Just curious, whys other countries charge any fees to adopt. In the long run you save them years of paying out money, to raise the kid. If they had to keep the child in a orphange or foster home 16 to 17 yrs of their lives the gov' would pay out a ton of money. So I just don't understand why they don't waive all the adoption fees. In the long run they've saved money and the kid wins. They wanna save $$$ and make a big profit on top of it. Sometimes it can cost btw 12k to 30 to adopt. Unless you go through Social Service and get an american kid which is virtually free. Why go to another country when you can help your own nation and save money too. More money in your pocket means more money you can spend on the kid. Cloths, toys, ect!

[lastpaige]

There are many services needed in order to adopt internationally. These services are provided for by the people who hold the jobs offering the services. If I want my car to run, I must seek the service of a mechanic, and pay him for his time and services. If I want to adopt children from Country X, I must pay for the services required for that process. I'm not paying Country X one 'price' for a child, I'm paying for the attorney's work, the translator, the medical exams, the visas, etc. As soon as some of these people start working for free, then we can expect no-fee adoption. But I'm sure they want to feed their families just like us. Yes they want to save money and make a profit - that's how business works. If I'm not turning a profit, I'm in the red and my family isn't eating. Do I like the expense? No. But I understand it.

Personally, we are going to another country for a few reasons. First, we are adopting from the country where my husband was born. He is fluent in the language, and the rest of us are learning. If we could help our own nation without CPS/case workers and other government agencies 'helping' us for the rest of our lives, we'd probably do it. There is too much information sharing, 'rights', and privacy invasion for us. We'd rather have a little less money, and a lot more privacy.

Of course, these are only our personal opinions. There are certainly multitudes of successful domestic adoptions, and I pray people consider domestic before going abroad. If it works for them - yeah!

Mrs. L

[ndoscoptec]

Your thought process seems logical but the fees from many countries go to pay for the services for those children who might never be adopted. Many forign countries involved in international adoption do not have government services that pay to raise these children they survive on donations or fees collected from adoptions. Remeber only a small part of the fees paid for international adoptions go to that country. Part goes to agencies in the US doing the homestudy, travel fees, court fees, INS has fees, less than half of our adoption monies went to the counrty that our sons came from. We like the above poster had ties to this country and sought out children from this ethnic backround.
MLH

[SchnauzerMom]

Foreign adoption is expensive, but as the other two replies said, nearly all the money goes to US agencies and governmental offices for most intercountry adoptions. We are doing Guatemala, where most of the money goes to an attorney to process our case and to the foster mother(s) that are caring for the babies for several months.

Since we started this process, we have had many people ask why we weren't adopting an American child. Although I believe it is really not their business and am insulted by the question, I have begun to realize that these people have no clue how difficult and unpredictable domestic adoption is in this country. It took us all of 2 weeks to decide domestic adoption was out of the question as we began researching adoption. Why? We found many negative aspects of domestic adoption:
1. It is now common for bmoms to chose the adoptive family. So basically you are competing with others to be the "best" family. Some people wait YEARS to be selected!!! After nearly 5 years of infertility, why would we wait an unpredictable number of YEARS to get a child when we can adopt internationally in 6 months to 1 year???
2. Even if you luck out and get selected by a bmom quickly, she has a long period of time to change her mind. There is a much longer period in which she can change her mind in domestic versus international adoption, so you would live in fear for several months up to a couple years, depending on the state laws, before you knew the child was definitely yours. In Guatemala, the mothers can change their minds, but usually that happens very early in the process (like 1-2 months).
3. Then there is private adoption where an attorney matches you with a bmother. If you think international adoption is expensive--check this out! When we looked at this option, we were quoted $40,000 to $80,000!!!
4. Lastly, our lovely foster care system. Foster care is so messed up in this country, it would be ridiculous if it were not so sad. I've heard so many horror stories from strangers, friends/acquaintances, and even distant family members about foster care cases--several have kept foster children themselves. It is not uncommon for someone to foster and attempt to adopt a child for upwards of 2 years, only to have the bmom return to claim the child after rehab, etc. While some of these mothers/fathers may have gotten their lives together and be able to truly care for the child, I know of many stories where judges have given custody back to drug addicted parents that couldn't even show a means of support for their child. I admire people that do foster case, but as a means of adoption, it would be a roller coaster that you could never predict.

So for all these reasons, domestic adoption was not the least bit attractive to us. I know there are children in the US that need homes and loving families, but children in Guatemala, China, and countries all around the world need homes as well. Children are children, no matter their race or ethnicity. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have felt confortable adopting a child of another race or ethnicity a few years ago because I grew up in a nearly all-white rural town, but then I became a teacher. I teach middle school math in a very racially diverse metro school and I love all my students and truly don't think of them as Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, etc. They are simply children with the same wants and needs, hopes and dreams, and desire to feel loved. It always touches me to visit the cafeteria and see tables with friend groups where nearly every one of them is of a different race or ethnicity--it gives me hope that perhaps these younger generations will be more tolerant of differences than the past generations of our country.

Heather

[kimechy]

Hi,
I just wanted to quickly comment that your advice is wonderful. My husband and I are new to this decision/process and are trying to get as much information as possible. You advice is the same reasons that we are choosing International Adoption.
I couldn't agree with you more on your post.

By the way, I can't help but notice your log in name: Schnauzer - is this as in a minature schnauzer? I ask because I am a Yorkie fan. Nikki is my pride and joy!

Kim