[Jubilee595]

I'm new to these boards...though I've "lurked" for a while. :-)

My husband and I have been researching intl'l adoptions...in Asia specifically...for some time. I'm having a hard time finding an agency that will conduct a Korean adoption in Ohio. Could anyone give me clarity on why there are certain states and perhaps if you have info on an agency that will?

We're also looking at agencies that work in Thailand and Vietnam (as we aren't quite old enough for China's requirements). If you have info on agencies on either of those countries, I'd love to hear from you also! Thanks!!

~meg

[jojo13551122]

If you haven't gone to adopt.korea yet, for sure look at that site. For "healthy" infant placement each state has certain agencies determined by Korea that you can adopt through. Looks like Ohio only has one. I "think" if you want a waiting child, you can go through other agencies.
Good luck!

Adopting from Korea - US Adoption Agencies with Korean Child Placing Programs

[sak9645]

Korea is unique among the countries open to adoption, in that it requires you to use an agency licensed in your state and designated by the Korean government to place children with families in your state.

It appears that Korea developed this requirement for a couple of reasons. The main one is that it wants agencies to keep in touch with families and be involved in post-adoption support. It also wants agencies to get to know families BEFORE an adoption occurs, to make sure that they are qualified and prepared to adopt. In addition, since you do not actually adopt a child in Korea -- you get guardianship, and then do a domestic adoption in your home state -- Korea wants to be sure that agencies monitor families during the guardianship period and make sure that finalizations actually occur.

At this time, I believe that there are only two agencies eligible to place Korean children with Ohio families. You can see information on those agencies on the website of adoptkorea.com, a site developed by the Mom of a Korean child. As you probably know, each agency with a Korea contract must work with one of four social welfare institutions in Korea; the two Ohio agencies work with two different social welfare institutions, one large and one small.

Sharon

[Jubilee595]

Thank you SO much for both of your replies...we are looking into that website and its info now.

[nancyinoh]

I'll PM you about the agency we used in OH.

Nancy

[ajcastle]

We just got our referral from Korea of a healthy baby girl and we are NOT using an agency in our state for placement. It is kind of weird how we did it but it has worked for us! We had an agency in our state that was licensed to place for Korea do our homestudy. They were the only agency in our state that could. But, we really did not care for them at all so we actually found an out of state agency that somehow was able to place in our state and they partnered with the agency here in our state. So the one in our state did the homestudy and the out of state agency is doing the placement...clear as mud? LOL!