[teek32]

I am new to this, but am really excited to be going forward with the adoption process for Kazakhstan. My wife and I are just starting to fill out the paperwork (to get started) but I did have a couple questions.

1) Does the price vary a lot from one agency to another?
2) If so, does that mean that the ones that charge more mean better hotels, etc? (not that that is important to me)
3) Can you recommend agencies that you have or are using now?

Thanks in advance

[2Bulgarianbeauties]

Teek,

Prices will vary by agency. They rarely include prices for travel, so when you get quotes, you need to get a detailed breakdown of the costs. Travel, and charges like INS, FedEx will be on top of these costs.

I would not pick an agency by cost, alone. There are some very good agencies, and some very bad ones. Make sure you get references outside of the agency list.

I will PM you with my agency. You cannot discuss them on the open forum.

Also, shop around for a homestudy agency. They are not all the same. Some take 3 months to complete, others take 1 month. Some required ALOT pf paperwork and classes, others not much at all.

Kay

[teek32]

thanks Kay!

[randloar]

Just an idea, as some costs are the same no matter which agency you are with, we made a spreadsheet and tried to put in all of the costs that are separate from your agency (ie, plane ticket, visa, etc). This helped us to compare the actual agency fees better since some agencies include some of the costs that you pay no matter which agency you use (visas etc) and therefore make their fees appear higher.....

It is tough to split out the costs as they all have different names for things, but as you get into it you will start to notice similarities!! Based on our research we found about a 7000$ spread in agency-only fees (the gap between the high and low the fees). This is NOT listing the actual fees, just the difference between the high and low. None of these fees incorporated estimated hotel fees, facilitator/driver fees just agency and the incountry fees (and orphanage donation if they specified one in their breakdown).

If you want other information on the agencies we checked into last summer, email me privately!Good luck and hope you find the right agency that fits you!!

Carrie