[LEJ8]

I am reading that Kaz only does referals once the parent is in country. Can someone tell me how this works? Do you take a tour of baby house or orphanage and look at all the children? Also, how do have time to send the medical info to your adoption doctor? Does the agency do that for you? It must take a long time to get a parent/child match, b/c I am sure many "first preferences" don't pan out...

[DET62]

There is a great Yahoo group for kazakhstan adoptions. They could answer your questions.
Dee

[Mich71]

Referals are only recognized/official once the parent meets the child in Kaz. Some agencies still are giving referals but they are not guaranteed. This is something you will want to discuss with your agency on how things work for them.

We traveled blind. When we arrived at the baby house we were in a meeting room and shown 5 children (not all at the same time) that met our criteria for age and sex. We were read a brief medical report on each. We were then told we could go back to our hotel to decide...this would be when you send the information received back to a doctor. As far as I know this is all up to you. Agencies do not contact doctors for you...most international adotion doctors charge a fee to review a childs report.

Best of Luck

[hbaileymom]

We have done one referral and one blind travel for Kaz. For both we've had international doctors numbers on hand, so we could call with any questions.

I did a lot of reading before I went blind to understand what the heck I should be looking for/not looking for. Lots of great intternet sources, and the international adoption doctor helped out as well. I also had been to Kaz for the adoption of my son, so I sort of knew what to expect, which I think was helpful.

For us, they brought the babies in one at a time, and we were not allowed to walk through the baby house. I think that it is b/c not all the kids are available.

Heather

[lovestruck]

You are responsible for contacting the IA doc on your own. When we traveled to Russia (our trip was unsuccessful), we took pictures and wrote down the medical information given. We signed with an IA doc before leaving for Russia. We e-mailed pictures and the information and then called in the middle of the night to consult with her. Sadly each consult found our referrals very unhealthy and we came home without finding our child. We will do the same thing when we travel to Kaz in the near future.

[kazmama25]

You'll find that some agencies still work with referrals while others do not. I definitely have heard wonderful success stories about families travelling blind, though we had a referral. While Kaz does not recognize referrals legally, facilitators work with baby homes and try to have families arrive around the same time that their referrals become available (off the registry). In some cases, this doesn't work out and referrals are lost. Our agency was very clear that this was a possibility.

I think it also depends on the region/ baby house since some regions do not refer children at all. In our case, most of the healthy infants at Emi's baby house were referred children and our daughter was never shown to anyone besides us. So, it's a good idea to ask a potential agency about the referral policies of the baby homes they work with. Of course, things are always changing in Kaz and I have heard that most regions are stepping away from the referral process completely.

Good luck with your process!!

[Tussen]

Kaz only issues a referal after you have visited t he baby home and selected a child. You will only be shown 3-4 kids that match your profile and thats it..you are usually given the night to decide..

Once you choose then the MOE in the region will have you sign a document regarding your selection.

[hml1976]

We had a referral for our daughter, we arrived at the babyhouse the day after she came off of the registry. But Eryn is right referrals are not guaranteed until you begin the bonding period.