[renda460]

My husband and I are at the beginning stage of adoption and are trying to pick a country. I am Polish and would love to adopt from Poland however I am concerned about the amount of travel. We have 3 other children and we both work, so to leave for several weeks may not be possible. My question is - exactly how much travel have others been required to do. I have looked at a couple agencies websites and some say that there is one trip for 5-7 weeks where one parent can leave after the bonding period. Others say this can be split into 2 trips (1st 2-4 weeks, 2nd 1 week). I wonder why the discrepancy. Is the travel determined by the government, or the judge? Is there any way to guarantee an adoption that will allow the travel to be done with 2 trips? (perhaps adopt from a specific region???)

I am still talking with agencies, but I wanted to get some first hand info from others who have been through this.

Also, I would greatly appreciate a PM with agency experiences (good and bad).

Thanks

[momraine]

Travel is determined by the judge and there are no garentees. We were told that my husband would not need to be there more than two weeks. This was not true and we risked his job. For us, we made an unofficial first trip that was not required. Our main trip dh was able to leave after three weeks and I had to stay 6 weeks.

[mschaefer]

I have to echo momraine. We planned on two trips, but once over there the judge would not agree to the terms with the orphanage director for bonding. The only way to get both the judge and the orphanage director to agree was to stay the entire time. My husband and son stayed for the bonding and then went home. My husband returned later to help with the final paperwork and bring our girls home.

While I know many families who have successful made two trips, it is not a 100% guarantee.