[ready4family]

DH and I are early in the paperwork and classes phase of our adoption and we have not really picked a country. We want to be as informed as possible by the "experts" before we decide at the last possible moment. That moment is during the homestudy for us.

I am surprised by how many have decided on a country before beginning the process. How did you do that? Why? and Would you do it differently if you could?

TIA

[ocracoke]

I picked a country first then found my agencies. I did a ton of research on which countries I was eligible to adopt from. It is important not to get attached to a country that you are not eligible to adopt from. Your country decision will need to be made prior to the homestudy being completed. Once I decided on a country I picked my home study agency. Then I started looking at placing agencies.

I wanted to pick a country that I felt "connected" to. I felt like it was important to bring my child's original culture into my family and if I didn't feel connected to it then how was I going to do that.

Samantha

[pnewcombe]

As ocracoke points out, for many of us, the first question is what country are we eligible to adopt from, then what agencies you want for homestudy and placement. Not all agencies have the same eligibility as the countries do. I was an older single man and many agencies would not consider me even though the country did not have a restriction. There are issues about marital status, past events in your life, health, age and gender that can all play into eligibility. Do your research and try and not get too committed to anything until you are sure you can cross the hurdles.

Pete.

[momraine]

That was what I was going to suggest. First list the countries you are interested in. Write the name of each country on the top of a page in a three ring binder. (you can always add more if you find out about more.)
Then look up the requirements for those countries.
You can then eliminate countries you don't qualify for. Some countries have rules as to how long you have been married, how many divorces in the past, income, weight, number of children in the home, age, religion and other things.
Once you have removed the ones you don't qualify for, you can look at the process and cost. Can you spend six weeks in country? If not there will be some countries you can rule out.
Then you can look at things that are important to you. Some countries only offer older or special needs children, are you willing to take those or do you want a baby? Is race an issue? Questions like these may or may not elimnate more countries.
Then you can look at other things like common risk factors for children in those countries, lenth of time for refferals, stability of programs and other things. Or you may just fall in love with a culture or find that a country you're family came from allows adoptions, or a family that you or a close family member or friend have ties to. Hopefully all this would help you narrow it down to just a few countries. Then you have a couple of choices. One would be to look for an agencie that works in two or more of those countries you choose or you may need to go with your gut and narrow it down further.

[momraine]

Oh one more thing, it's good to narrow it down before you are too far into the process, some countries have things that must be included in the homestudy that you would have to go back and have added, which would cost money and time later. So if you decide earlier in the process you can have that dealt with. Plus most agencies only deal with a few countries, some only deal with one. Some agencies have really good programs in one country and not so good in another. So you need to have an idea of country to choose an agency.

[Max'smom]

Hi,
I agree with the above poster - the different countries requirements for home studies vary. Your social worker may think that a domestic home study will do, but often there are real differences. I would hold off doing the HS until you know what country you are choosing because home study updates are costly. Also, you should consider choosing a social worker who is familiar with the specifics of the country you use - it could make a huge difference down the line if your paperwork doesn't include something that country calls for.

[karla-k]

I completely and totally agree to pick a country before having a home study! It wouldn't hurt to have a placing agency in mind also. Our country and placing agency required 10 hours of face to face education. Other countries do not require that and our home study agency would not have included it without our placing agency advising them to. We also had very specific ways for the wording of our chosen guardians of our children should something happen to us. Our placing agency was able to walk the HS agency through that part of the home study. I would hate to think what we would be going through if we had completed a home study, then picked a country and placing agency...lots of revision and cost on our part!!!

karla

[mlb]

For our first adoption we were going to Russia (liked the agency, program, and we know others who had a great experience) but it shut down so we awitched to their other program (Kazakhstan). Fast forward seven years and we went back to Kaz (same orphanage) for a second child.
My only advice is to choose an agency that has several countries they deal with, with you having good feelings about another program in case you have to switch. Write down a list of what you can handle and what you can't. Include money, travel, time away from home, length of adoption, age of child that you prefer. Once you figure that out, match up with the the country that best fits. Good luck!

[AutumnMom]

For us we chose the country first before the agency. I would say do as much research as possible on the countries that you are contemplating. First I would weed out all the ones that you CAN'T adopt from (if any) and then focus on the others. For me, it was more of a calling. I felt Ethiopia called to my husband and I. Listen to your heart after you are fed up with all the information and research....only then will you know for sure. Hope that helps!

Autumn

[momraine]

One other thing, a few of the agencies I spoke to required you use thier agency or a partner agency of thiers for homestudy. They would not accept a homestudy from anyone else, so had we done our homestudy and then gone with one of those agencies we would have had to start all over, and pay fees again!

[JCNickmom]

We were seeking a child with a specific special need. So, we searched waiting child lists. Then we looked at country requirements. So, we chose a child from a country we were qualified to adopt from. The child we chose was already represented by an agency. In college I went on a missions trip to Brazil. So, my first choice would have been to adopt from Brazil. However, they require a month long stay! So, we went about it by searching for waiting children.
Good Luck!

[Nursie222]

I am in the process of adopting from Russia. I chose Russia because it is open to single women adoptions. When choosing a country you have to look at there requirements and narrow it down because you may not meet the criteria for all countries. Also look at the wait time of the gender/age of the child you want. Also look and see if they have the age of the child you want to adopt. What I mean by that is if you want a 5 month old, don't go to Russia because all children are older then 9 months when ready for adoption. You have to look at travel requirements too and see if you will be able to travel for the required time. I chose my country before I chose my agency just because not all agencies have the country you wish to adopt from. Hope this helps. Good luck

[Sohmakun]

Although I'm adopting domestically I have picked out my countries for the second child. What I did was write down the top 20 countries that Americans had adopted from in 2007. Then I crossed out the ones I didn't qualify for (Ex. I crossed out Korea and China because I'm single and Ethiopia because I'm a lesbian). Next I crossed of the ones that I did qualify for but the children didn't meet my criteria (Ex. I crossed off Haiti, Poland and Columbia because I wanted a child under 2 years old at homecoming). I ended up with three countries: Russia, Kazakhstan and Taiwan.

I chose Taiwan because I knew so much about Chinese culture, the in-country stay is extremely short, children are ages 6 months and up at homecoming, it was very affordable and the wait is extremely short for special needs children (which I was very open to from the beginning).

[OlgaUa]

I can tell you the actual information about the adoptions in Ukraine, with some useful links. Let me know if you are interested, I'll send you it in private message.

[cborsa7]

I agree with the other posters. It is important to decide on a country before starting an agency or home study. The paperwork will be different for every country, some agencies have great programs in some countries, not great in others. I would also have a back up country and be sure my agency also has a strong program in that country as well. Be sure they will allow a switch (if needed) and what their policy is for this. I think the most important part of this process is to investigate the agency, it could save you a lot of money and heartache.