[Jubshaw]

Hi all,

We are wanting to adopt from Korea but will most likely be moving within 6-18 months to an undetermined state. It seems that each agency is approved by Korea only to place children in certain states.

The best we can figure out from talking with several agencies is that it might be possible to start the process in one state, move, and then ask the Korean agency for approval for our new location.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this situation? Thanks.

[Abbylu]

This is just my personal opinion but, I would honestly wait until you know where you will be settling. There are a couple of reasons.

Your HS has to be approved for the state in which you live. Your I-600a if you submitted and then moved, would have to be ammended with the new address.

Again, this is my mho, but the process is stressfull enough, and moving in the midst to places yet unknown, would just put a lot more stress on it.

[sak9645]

I would agree with abbylu. Move before you start the process or after you finish it.

First off, if you move out of state while in process, you will need to have an almost entirely new homestudy, which will mean substantial fees and a certain amount of additional time and effort on your part. The homestudy MUST be valid and up-to-date at the time your child is issued a visa, so you can't simply "get away with" the original one.

You will need a new homestudy agency, licensed in your new state. That agency will have to rewrite the homestudy according to the laws of your new state, which may be quite different from those of your original state. There may be new requirements, such as classes and so on. The new home will need to be inspected. The social worker will need to look at the impact of the move on things like your finances, your job and commute, your family and social support system, etc.

And depending on the state to which you move, the placement agency with which you sign up originally may or may not be licensed to place children in that state. More importantly, the Korean social welfare agency with which your first placement agency works may not deal with families from the state to which you move.

In short, the whole complicated, time-consuming, and expensive adoption process will become significantly more complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. Making the change may be "doable", but you almost certainly won't like the cost, the extra work, and the uncertainty, at a time when the move, itself, will causing you expense, hard work, and a certain amount of uncertainty.

Sharon

[cara620]

I am just ditto-ing both of the above posts. This process is crazy on your emotions and mental health in addition to what they both posted in terms of legistics. Wait until you move.