[cherylanderson3]

I would give 100 for our son! He is just the biggest joy in our lives. As far as the adoption process, we had our paperwork done in 6 weeks, believe it or not. From start to finish our process was 5 months, so overall I would give the process an 8. The only drawback is having to travel 2 times, but that is okay. We are in the process of adopting our son's biological sister whom we were contacted by AMREX via our agency about in September. WOW! We will hopefully be going in Feb/Mar next year to bring her home after she is off the registry.

[JessnChuck]

Wouldn't it be great if there was a "Consumer Reports" on adoption agencies. It is nice to see so many of you having wonderful experiences with your adoption agency, while a few others have not. Sometimes I think the "extended wait" was just meant to be.

[michelle p]

what was your final cost

[michelle p]

what was your total cost for all trips and adoption??

[michelle p]

Originally Posted by michelle p

what was your total cost for all trips and adoption??

what is the total cost with travel to adopt in russia

[gabsdot]

being a parent is so much more than we we ever dreamed it would be. Our little son is amazing to us and brings us so much joy. 20 out of 10 for the result
the adoption process pretty much sucked from start to finish but it has been so worth it.

[drazil65]

A big 10!!!! Our process was strarted on April 1st, 2004 and we came home with our beautiful, healthy son on October 3rd, 2004 (6 months and 2 days). The process was wonderful and quick, our referral was very healthy (owe that to our agency and their reputation for healthy referrals). Our agency is the best and took excellent care of us including completing all of our paperwork (notarizing, apostilling etc.) and obtaining the visas. The hotels in St. Petersburg and Moscow were 5 star, we had our own car and driver/translator, trip one was more like a vacation. So much has to do with your agency and we obviously made the right choice. We will do it again later this year, same agency, same city and baby home. We are blessed.

[bratgirl]

Like pretty much everyone else - the final result - 10 for both kids. Our agency was great and the Russian part of the experience was a breeze (except being in a hotel for a week with the kids!) I would say the process was an 8 - only because it was so hard to wait. Our whole process took a year from first seminar to walking in the door at home. The majority of that time was waiting for a referral.

[kimber413]

I'd say a 10+ for our experience, a 6 or 7 for the process. Not because of our agency, but because of a birth certificate issue with our daughter that cost us 3 months of waiting for her to come off the registry again.

Michelle, the cost to us was around $30,000 with travel and everything. Worth every stinking penny.

[SingleMama2B]

This is a great question...... During the process, I had a lot of ups and downs...... The biggest was a 'long lost Aunt' had heard that an "American" wanted to adopt Anna, and she decided that she didn't want that to happen. Now my agency was completely thourough.... This Aunt was not known about by ANYONE!!! For 5 years, she never surfaced (only lived in the next village - less then 10 miles away). I was devastated, since there was about a 10% that I would ever see Anna again. It turns out, that MOE, and others, including Anna, wanted her to come to me, and that this "Aunt" never showed at any of her 3 appointments to complete her paperwork. It also turned out that she was a know drunk, and had a son in prison. She was turned down flatly, and I was called to go to court. The waiting time overall is very hard because of the emotions, and then the delays because the Duma wants to make changes, and then their National Holidays..... OVERALL RATING: Agency 9, MOE 9, Travel/Cost:7, Experience in Moscow for the 16 days: 10, and ARRIVING HOME FOREVER: 1,000,000,000,000 +

[TweetyMom04]

Originally Posted by Bcelli

Once you get your child home, the intensity of most of the pain you went through to get to that point fades. I've heard it's pretty much the same for birthmothers as well.

But I have read some horrendous stories on this forum of APs being jerked all over the planet by agencies, by MOE staff, by orphanage staff, by family members, by Embassy staff and travel/hotel personnel and on and on.

My question is: In retrospect and on a 1-10 scale (1=I will NEVER do this again; 10=perfectly beautiful and pain free), how would you rate your adoption process experience overall with respect to ease and satisfaction of the experience? And what would you or could you have done something differently to improve any problems/snags, knowing what you now know?

Everyone looks at their experience from their own unique perspective and what might have driven me completely over the edge might not even faze someone else. I'm just curious about each AF's perspective on their own experience through the process. Thanks.

Domestic Adoption: 1=I will NEVER do this again

and we didn't!

International Adoption: 10=perfectly beautiful and pain free