[mom23boyz]

Would you recommend that we decide what country we want to adopt from before we get involved with an agency or would an agency be helpful in that matter (i.e., telling us the pro's and con's, costs, etc.)??

[waitinginnj]

My suggestion is to narrow down one or two countries and then search for the best adoption agency for those countries. Ideally, you look for an agency that can support either country due to the fickle nature of Int'l adoption.

An agency can be great for one country and less connected in another, even if they have a program there.

In either case, make sure you are comfortable working with the agency as well.

Good Luck

[kretzklan]

My experience is that choosing a country first is helpful. As someone mentioned before, some agencies specialize in certain countries. You can ask for the information now - get some specialty agencies and some that do more than one country. Check the country specific info and then choose someone. You may find that a country presents itself as you research the programs. My personal experience is we knew we wanted Eastern Europe (Ukraine or Russia)...we choose an agency that was highly recommended for both programs and they did help us decide that for us, Russia was the correct choice.

[dlbmcgill]

I agree with the posts below. Narrow your choice down to a couple of countries and then get information on agencies that work well in at least one of the countries. It's definitely helpful if the agency works well in a couple of countries. You never know when something might happen that might make you want/need to switch countries and it's probably easier to switch using the same agency.

[hjdeth1]

I would definitely choose a country first for 2 simple reasons:

#1) In your country of choice you may be able to adopt indy and thus have no need of an agency at all.

#2) Once you choose the agency, you are limited to the countries they have programs in. Obviously, no matter how well another country is suited to your needs and preferences, they are not going to guide you to a country outside their services.

[mattecook]

I agree that narrowing it down to a country or two and finding agencies who specialize in those is wonderful. My word of caution is that an agency might be well thought of in one country but have a poor reputation in another country. So you may choose agency A for this country and agency B for another country. I think that it is important in an international adoption to use and agency for your first adoption. If chosen with confidence they can be a tremendous source of support. You need them there to answer questions and guide you along to help your case run smooth. But if you have narrowed down to a country or two get on those specific forums and ask people to give you information about the agencies that you have chosen. I find that they are a better resource than the reference page that your agency might provide to you.

Ami