[cac_li]

I know that this may seem silly, but I was looking to get some advice/suggestions from some of the people on this forum who seemed to have relatively quick adoptions (less than a year). I am wondering if it had to do with their agency or if they have suggestions to speed up the process. I am looking to adopt a child from Russian under the age of 18 months. Thanks, Cindy

[karla-k]

I guess the speed of your adoption can be determined by how quickly you are able to get your dossier done. But the time frame for many documents in the dossier depends on sources you have no control over! Such as: ordering birth certificates, getting USCIS documents, getting your final copy of your home study done. This is the most frustrating part of adoption to me: waiting on things that are not under my control!

The other consideration is the country you adopt from. Some countries just have a longer process due to the time to get the dossier together, to the court systems, to the travel requirements. I don't know if 12 months is a reasonable expectation for an infant from Russia, perhaps those who are adopting/have adopted from Russia would know more.

We are adopting from Kyrgyzstan. The dossier is very simple, we completed ours including USCIS approval in about 2 months. But we only had to get an I600A approved, which is much quicker than the I800A I am understanding. Our agency also had a very short waiting list for a boy, we got our referral just a couple of weeks after completing our dossier. Some agencies working in the same country have waiting lists that are much longer.

I think the best thing is to call agencies you are interested in working with and talk to them about the timelines they are seeing with countries you are interested in.

Karla

[cac_li]

thanks for the information Karla. I actually have already completed my homestudy, received my birth certificates. I am just waiting for my fingerprint appointment and approval from CIS, so I can submit my dossier. Congratulations on your referral and best of luck. Cindy

[sallypz]

I adopted from Russia as a single parent. It took a few months to get the dossier done. Multiple copies of everything were required, with notary stamps and apostilles. Luckily a friend's daughter was a Notary and notarized most of the forms for me. I ordered most of the Birth Certificates, Marriage Liscenses, even the divorce decree from my 1st marriage from on-line sources which made the process a lot faster, even though it cost more money. Even though I overnighted the forms to the state(s) for apostille that took up to 6 weeks. So for some of the forms I drove them myself to the state capital for apostille, it took only a few minutes once I got to the apostille office. After I sent the dossier in to the agency coincidentally the Russian authorities put all foreign adoptions on hold for a period of months, so the whole thing too about a year and a half. You have no control over when the Ministry of Education (the Russian governmental group that handles adoptions) calls you to come to Russia. And you MUST go when they schedule you to go or you lose your adoption chance (this is what I was told). There are two trips. The first one to meet the child they've choosen for you and to begin the adoption process in the Russian courts in Moscow (I was told that all Russian adoptions go through the Moscow court only). And the second trip to finalize the process. At that time (2005) the 2nd trip required a 10 business day waiting period (ended up about 14 days because weekends do not count) before the adoption date set by the court was finalized--then we were able to get a passport for her and leave Russia--the whole 2nd trip took about a month. IO adopted an older child (she was 6 at the time) so I don't know if the process is faster for infants (don't think so). I have nothing against infant adoptions but I would highly recommend adopting an older child simply because there are so many of them living in orphanages, not only in Russia, but also in other countries around the world. I got to meet 3 other couples that were adopting older children while in Russia and got to see more than one orphanage, there were 200 to 300 children at each orphanage (babies are kept at separate 'baby orphanages'). There were so many beautiful, lonely children who wanted loving families. I still can see the many faces. i wish I could give them all loving homes.

sallypz

[kretzklan]

You should post this on the Russia forum as you'll get more answers there. However, to adopt a baby (and 18 months is about the youngest you can get a child out of Russia now) - the wait will be longer. Our process was 7 months total in 2005 and that was still rare + we were adopting 2 older children (age 6 and 7). The wait lists are longer for babies/toddlers and now that there are fewer agencies working in Russia - it's just the nature of the beast. Of course, the agency you work with is important - be sure they are fully accredited and working in numerous regions...that can increase your chances. Also, you openess to special needs can help.
Good luck!

[sak9645]

Please don't make decisions based on speed.

So many factors can affect speed, when it comes to international adoption, and most of these factors have nothing to do with what agency you choose. Countries can change procedures, regions can get new judges, the availability of children of the age range and health status you want can diminish or increase, the U.S. government can take a longer or shorter time, and so on. About all that any agency can give you is a rough estimate; there are simply no guarantees, no matter how reputable an agency is.

Go with any reputable agency that has worked in a country for a significant length of time, that is accredited to work in the country, that is well regarded by parents who used it recently, and that meets any particular requirements you have with regard to things like in-country support, referral vs. "blind" travel, a particular region, etc.

As previous posters have said, remember, too, that adoptions tend to be taking longer nowadays than they once did, regardless of your country of choice. It is no longer unusual for an adoption to take two years or more from homestudy to homecoming, especially for children under age two.

Sharon

[cborsa7]

My suggestion would be to not do your own Dossier and pay a service to complete it, most agencies will do this, our's cost 300.00 and worth every penny. Also ask the agency there time lines for completion on there last 20 cases from the country your looking at. Ask to speak to any of those families. Some agencies will have great programs in some countries and some will not, making your process much slower.

Good Luck!

[jeanc]

sALLY

Hi

I am a single older adopter from the Uk - it would be great to hear a bit more about how you are getting on with your lovely 6 year old? How is the adjustment going?
I am hoping to adopt internationally in a few months time.

jeanette