[pacergirl22]

Hello,

I am 33 yrs old and I had a pacemaker implanted a year ago. I am perfectly fine now I have a normal life expectancy and my prognosis is great. My question is if anyone has had experience dealing with adoption from Korea with medical issues? I was told that I would get pre-screened and they might except me and some other agencies have said not an option.

[Max'smom]

Hi,
Sorry this is an issue. Just call every agency that works in your state and ask your question. Posters here who might have adopted with medical issues could be in a different state that has a different range of agencies, so their experiences won't be applicable. Good luck!

[cborsa7]

I am not familiar with the specifics of Korea. Usually medical issues are a concern for the countries policy, not specifically the agency. That is why your told you might be accepted. I would be concerned if some agencies are telling you straight out no and others are saying maybe. I would carefully examine any agencies policy you signed with on a "maybe" to be sure in the event you are turned down you are not out your money and you have other options. I would also thoroughly investigate the agency you choose, for the country you choose. Yahoo groups has a great resource for this, look under adoption agency research.

On a side note, the agency you choose can be anywhere in the US for International not just in your state and medical issues wouldn't be a state related thing. For most, finding an agency with a great program in the country you choose will be difficult in your home state. International has gotten to be quite difficult without any challenges to overcome. If I were you I would probably consider domestic as an option as well.

So sorry you are going through this and hope you find the option that is best for you. Best wishes to you and your family!

[devildogwife]

Actually, with Korea, you'll need to call the agencies that are specifically licensed in your state. You can't use just anyone. Korea requires that PAP's use only agencies specifically authorized to place children in your state of residence, which is different than the way other countries do it. I'm guessing that the reason you got different answers is the the different agencies in your state may work with a different Korean counterpart (I think there are 3 or 4).

[cborsa7]

Yes, that is correct. You do need to ask the agency if they are licsensed in your state, most major agencies will have multiple states they work in, some only a few. I think that is the same for most International, it was for Guatemala. I do notice on the children's home society website (who does Korea) they require you to do your homestudy through them as well, so do check that too.

[Hopeful_Jen]

With all due respect... Korea operates differently than other international adoption countries in respect to agencies. You MUST locate an agency that has been approved by one of the 4 Korean agencies to place a child in your state. The easiest place to locate this list (and gather more information on this) is Adopting from Korea - US Adoption Agencies with Korean Child Placing Programs

The information given by Max'sMom is correct. You will need to contact the agencies listed for your state and ask them your question. If they tell you no, then ask them what your options would be... they may be able to point you in a different direction that you hadn't thought of before but would be perfect for your family. Feel free to post more questions here!

[sak9645]

I agree with Hopeful Jen.

Korea is the ONLY country that requires prospective parents, for NSN adoptions, to work with a licensed U.S. agency that has a contract with the Korean government to place children with families in their state. Most states have only one or two agencies that have Korea contracts. A few states have none, and families in those states cannot adopt from Korea unless they are willing to adopt a child with special needs. For special needs adoptions, the rules are slightly more liberal; however, you do still have some restrictions on which agencies you can use.

Each agency with a Korea contract is affiliated with one of four social welfare organizations in Korea. Two of the four are large, while the other two are small. It is these social welfare organizations that provide care for all of the orphans eligible for international adoption. In most cases, they place the children in foster care, arrange any therapies that they require, and so on.

Because of these arrangements, a prospective parent needs to meet not only the requirements of the Korean government, but also the requirements of the Korean social welfare organization affiliated with a particular U.S. adoption agency that serves his/her state. While the rules of the four organizations are fairly similar, there are some differences. As an example, some have weight restrictions for prospective parents, while others do not.

Korea has a reputation for being fairly strict in its requirements for adoptive families. And as the number of adoptable babies in Korea declines, both because of the increasing prosperity of the country and because of the increasing willingness of people within the country to adopt parentless children who are not related to them, the country may well become more strict. As we have seen with other countries, once there are more families seeking to adopt than there are adoptable children, adoption authorities tend to feel that they can "pick and choose" the healthiest families.

However, there have been cases where an experienced American agency has been able to advocate for a couple with a medical issue that is no big deal in this country, though it may be perceived as worrisome overseas. For this reason, it is very important to talk honestly with the agencies authorized to place Korean children with families in your state, to see if there is a chance that your specific situation can be approved.

Sharon

[pacergirl22]

Thank You for all your responses. I am hoping to proceed with Spence-Chapin and do a pre-screen with Korea and see what they say. I am new to all of this and it is very frustrating already. All of the unknowns are very scary!

[hopeful2adopt]

I pm'ed you.

[Hopeful_Jen]

Originally Posted by pacergirl22

Thank You for all your responses. I am hoping to proceed with Spence-Chapin and do a pre-screen with Korea and see what they say. I am new to all of this and it is very frustrating already. All of the unknowns are very scary!

Hang in there pacergirl... you will learn the ropes very quickly and then everything will make sense!