[MomofOne426]

We are starting our homestudy with Bethany CHristian services and are considering adopting from Kaz... I very much appreciate comments about Kaz... and I feel that Kaz should be the place...DH is more concrened about race issues... I read Kaz's children are mostly asian, but that the country is mixed.. my question is ... are there many caucasian children available in Kaz? do we get to request race when we send in our dossier? Any suggestions you have is appreciated...

Our other possibility is Russia, but I am concerned about the health of the children especially FAS. Any help is appreciated... We haveuntil Aug 9 to make our decision

Thanks
Mari

[JPDakota]

According to my agency, caucasian children are available in Kaz. Our agency said there may be something of a wait for a non-asian child, though. We were referred an asian child, and the referral was almost immediate. Of course, your agency's policies and procedures may be different. I would check with them.
Welcome to the Kaz group. There's lots to learn out there on the internet about the country. It has been a lot of fun learning.
JP

[pdq]

Hi Mari!

Welcome to the group!! We adopted three children from baby house #1 in Almaty, Kaz in 2001. We used Building Blocks Adoption Service and were very happy with them. There ARE Caucasion children available for adoption, but you may have to wait a little longer for a referral. All our children are Kazak (Asian). They are stunningly beautiful!! We live in a VERY small rural community. There are THREE Chinese girls in our town and just about everyone else is Caucasian - I kid you not!! Anyway, we have not had any problems whatsoever with adopting children of a different race. You may want to consider it. When we sent in our paperwork, we didn't care about the race of our children, but you can request Caucasian if you wish.

If you have anymore questions, please let me know!
Pat

[ckeilin2000]

Hi Mari:

You do not have to list "race" for the dossier - but should definitely work with an agency who will work with you and your family for the child that will best suit your family. An important issue in the home study process will be speaking about how you will keep your child's cultural and history alive within your home. As with any international adoption, it is important for parents to embrace this in their home.

Our son is of Russian descent from Kazakhstan, we keep him connected to Kazakhstan through the Midwest Kaz group - we honestly feel part Albanian, part Russian, part Kazakh - just as you embrace your spouses heritage/cultural, we have embraced our children's heritage and love it! We hope to travel back to Kaz soon and bring home their baby sister, who is part Russian, part Kazakh and a perfect "blend" in our family!

Best wishes on your journey and may you soon discover where your child awaits you.

Sincerely,

[Delmom]

Mari,

Bethany will NOT let you select race. I know this because it was brought up by the caseworker at an informational meeting. If your husband has issues, they will all be addressed as part of the homestudy/application process. You will each be asked a lot of questions about your views regarding those of a different culture/race.

If you already have children they will also be asked their feelings regarding their sibling looking different from them. My daughter didn't understand this question at all. Why in the world would she want a brother to look like her? Wouldn't mommy and daddy be confused? She is very literal for 6.

[mlb]

There are caucasian children available in Kaz. You could request to travel to Kaz and select your child in country. This may cut down on the time you would have spent waiting for a referral. We chose in country and would recommend to anyone.

[yogitundra]

Originally posted by mlb
There are caucasian children available in Kaz. You could request to travel to Kaz and select your child in country. This may cut down on the time you would have spent waiting for a referral. We chose in country and would recommend to anyone.

Hi to mlb and anyone else who could respond,

I'm a new member, been looking through the archives, came across your recommendation for making selection of child yourself, while in country. I've not really read much about this. Do you know if this is dependent on the agency? Do you mind telling me which agency you worked with? And what did you find to be the advantages of doing it this way?

Thanks for your input,

Chris
Long Island, NY

[mlb]

Chris,

The agency that we worked with was Children at Heart. They are based in Mechanicville (near Albany), New York and also in North Carolina. They prefer that you select incountry but have tapes and pictures of children that you can choose from as well.
We liked the agency and felt the process went well. I would not adopt any other way. We had an immediate connection with our son and had no doubts. I know of people who had the same connection we did with their children and others who had a more difficult time selecting but still felt it was the right way for them to adopt. If wanyone has any questions, feel free to email me, we love to talk about the journey to our son.

[yogitundra]

Michelle,

Thanks for the info. Some further questions -- how did you/your agency decide which orphanage(s) to visit? And did you have to make some kind of formal selection before the mandatory two week bonding period officially began?

Also, does this mean that you simply set your travel dates as soon as you were paper-ready? No waiting around for a referral??

Thanks -- I like the sound of this, but really had just been hearing about the whole referral thing. So this is good.

Chris

[mlb]

Chris,

Our agency dealt with certain orphanages so we did not have to worry about that. We were brought to the orphanage the first day we were there and that counted as day one. That is day one regardless of whether or not you have selected your child. We were brougth throught the orphanage, were given info, held babies but decided to make our selection the next day. We felt an immediate connection with our son but decided to talk it out until the next morning.
We left as soon as we were paper ready so there was no waiting for a referral.