[pequele]

How stable is the Kaz program right now? I have been considering a variety of programs (Russia and Guatemala also) and both of those seem to have their problems and threaten closure in th enear future. How is Kaz going? Does it have the same problems of accreditation and NGO like Russia? It is making me go insane...and I don't want to be insane cuz they won't take and app from someone with a mental illness!!!

[hml1976]

Ha! Very funny. I think Kaz is pretty stable right now. As stable as South Korea and China, no, definitely not. But, they are part of the Hague and have agreed to continue adoptions. However, they are making it more difficult with new regulations and wait times. You just never know with international adoption, you just do the research and close your eyes and JUMP!
Good luck!

[hml1976]

Sorry, I didn't answer part of your question. No, Kaz does not require the accreditation of agencies like Russia does, that said there are great differences in agencies so do your research carefully.

[nicki56]

hmmmm this is a hard question & very complex. I would say that it is no more or less risky than Russia or Guatemala right now. However, it all depends on how far you are willing to get pushed. We completed our adoption in early 2005 and are adopting a 2nd time, but now from another country. Without a child at home, an extra week tacked on is not a big deal or additional paperwork, easy. However now that we have a child we will have to leave at home, it is too great a risk to be gone any more time than necessary and the Kaz process keeps getting more difficult in small increments. Also I heard from my agency that their referral system may at some point in the future (near or distant?) come to an end. It all depends on your propensity for risk. Will the country close, doubtful - will the process become more difficult in some aspect, probably.

[jtsmommy]

We adopted our son 2 years ago from Kaz & are waiting on our dossier to be translated & on to the Embassy for baby #2. I think Kaz has changed very little in 2 years , they added a few more documents since then, but thats about it. We were there for 7 1/2 weeks. We are really looking forward to going back.

Ann

[stella1]

I agree with the fact that Korea and China are probably the best bets to not have too many worries. I started with Guatemala in 2003, switched to Kaz when Guatemala "shut down" for a summer (no court dates and such from what I remember) and brought my daughter home from Kaz in April 2004. If I had stayed with Guatemala probably would have had a child home maybe 2 months earlier, so not a big difference. I learned that adoption is stressful, do your research and then be prepared to worry no matter what. Just pick a great agency that tells you the honest truth about the sitation of each country and the changes as they happen. A great agency is priceless.

[pequele]

Originally Posted by jtsmommy

We were there for 7 1/2 weeks. We are really looking forward to going back.

Ann

7 1/2 weeks! I can't stay there that long! I know it is a long stay but that's something I just can't do. Was that the norm or by choice to be there that long?

Stephanie

[jtsmommy]

We chose to stay the entire time, you can go home after court & go back after the 15 day appeal period & most of the paperwork is done to pick up your child, I think the 2nd trip is around a week in-country.

This time around my husband & son will come back home after court & I will stay in Kaz with the baby to wait out the appeal period. With our first adoption we waited a month before going to court, which seems to be the norm in Astana now.

I'm planning on being in Kaz for 6-7 weeks this time. We will be going to the Almaty Region.

[stella1]

We stayed the whole time and it was just under 6 weeks. But we got our court date the day after our 2 week visitation had ended. I have heard now it is usually around a week after your 2 week visitation that you get your court date. So basically your there like 3 weeks. Come home for a couple of weeks (for the 15 day wait and paperwork to go thru) and then back for another week. But again that is what I have heard. Ours was the basic 2 week visit, court next day, 15 day wait and then another week in Almaty processing out. With travel added in it was 5 weeks 5 days to be exact for us. We actually went 1 day earlier than we needed to, so it would have been 5 weeks 4 days.
But when we got there we were told the new way of not having court until about 1 week after visitation had just started up. So we got lucky and still made it thru without this extra week, but we were not fully sure until we actually went to court that we would not be there an extra week.

[stella1]

I notice it say Jabari is 3 year 0 months old today. Is it his birthday. If so, happy birthday Jabari. My daughter Stella will be 3 on July 5th. She is spending her 3rd birthday at "Mickey Mouse's House". (This is how she says it. We are going to Walt Disney World to celebrate her birthday and the night of her birthday we had dinner reservations for Cinderella's Castle. So Stella is crazy with excitement. 3 is such a great age.

[jtsmommy]

Stella1,
Jabari's b-day is 6/10, for some reason this ticker doesn't have weeks. :-) I can't believe he is 3 already, he loves to look at his lifebook & he was so little... I hope Stella has loads of fun on her b-day! Have a great time!
Ann

[sienna5]

I will be traveling in late August or September (without delays - hope, hope).

You probably want to talk to your agency (or include in the interview for agencies) about the in-country time. It seems like the "normal" time for two trips is about 3 weeks and I plan at least a few extra days. Then I will come home (which will be very hard) and may go back for a week to ten days. But my agency now has escort services that may be available. I say "may be" because they are not guaranteeing that someone is available for the escort. It is about a cost push since you have to pay for that travel also. But it sounds kind of good to be more rested at the start of our life here.

This is the hard part - Kaz has some unknowns and I am telling everyone to plan for unknowns. You still sometimes hear of getting custody of kids which would mean staying. Or every now and them the waiting period is still waived. So I am planning to do the "there and back again" approach, hoping the escort option is there if I want it, and planning for a long stay if needed. If I stay a long time there, it will really cut down on my home time here before I go back to work.

I am not sure if there are any certainties in international adoption. But Kaz travel does seem to be one of the wildest cards in the process.

I hope this helps - good luck.

[stella1]

I agree that with Kaz you just need to keep an open mind. We did get to take our daughter back to the apartment while the 15 day wait after court happened. It was an amazing time that I will never forget. It was just Stella and us. No real TV to watch, no phone calls, no work, just everything being about bonding with our child.
Even if we did not get custody it would have been hard to leave her. She would get so excited when we walked into her room each day to take her out of the crib. The days we were late she would being crying. She had gotten used to us coming and playing with her and the thought of us not coming made her cry. (She was 7 1/2 months old.) The bonding was very quick for us and it was a beautiful time in all our lives.

[kazmama25]

Ditto on keeping an open mind through the Kaz process. Things can come up and you'll just need to roll with it. We had to fill out additional paperwork while in country (to satisfy requirements that came into effect after we got there). We also were able to take our 8 month old daughter back to the apartment with us (on Day 3 of bonding). But, we were warned that if any officials came ot the babyhouse to do a head count, we would have to take her back until she was legally ours. Thankfully, this never happened.

I also agree that Kaz is no more, no less stable than Russia. That being said, I have heard of a delay in Almaty Region right now concerning the passport process. A family we know has been delayed a couple of weeks because of it. Hopefully, this is something the Government will figure out and fix so that future families won't be so delayed.