[fugie]

Well we got the call today! I still am in shock. Our agency called with a possible referral for us, but there is a catch. This particular region is newer to them and we would have to travel blind. I was not ready for this. Also, we specifically requested a girl and the referral is for a 9 month old boy. I think we are actually ok with the gender part (even though our baby room is decorated for a girl). My DH and I are taking this weekend to think this over. I think the biggest decision for us is the traveling blind part. Kind of scary to me. If anyone has traveled blind, I would love to hear about it. Would you do it again, pros, cons, etc. Also, I am not sure but I think the region is Stavropol. I was so shocked when I was on the phone that I am not positive of the region. It was all a blurr. I am calling them back on Monday with a list of questions. Any suggestions on what I need to ask would be helpful also.

Thanks again.

Lisa & Jeff

[gabsdot]

We travelled blind to meet our son. We always knew thats the way it would be so we were prepared to accept the referal whatever. We went to a talk by a pediatrician just before we went to Russia and he said that the best judge is your own instinct and gut feeling. The chances are the child will be a bit developmentally delayed but they will catchup. Also the medical problems are likely to have been exagerated in order to make the child more adoptable internationally. I know lots of Russian children here in Ireland where I live and they are all healthy and well. Any medical problems were easily fixed on coming home.
Good luck with it.

[Shay]

Congrats on the referral. That is wise to not shoot it down off the bat because of the gender but to think about it over the weekend!

My baby girl is from Stavropol, let me know if thisi s the region and I will answer any ?'s you may have.

[britfish]

We are currently waiting for our court date in Stavropol. If that ends up being the region feel free to PM me! I have lots of great things to say about the region and orphanage.

[ahnasmom]

WOW!!! You are wise to consider him!

We had requested a EuroAsian girl and when our agency called with Alex...a blond, blue eyed boy...I knew he was the right referral...took DH a few days to come around!

If you decide to travel blind, just pre-arrange a consult with an IA doc...and decide what you are willing to accept before travel.

Best of luck in your decision...all I can say is...baby boys hold a very special place in their mommy's hearts!

[Lo-la-la]

Congratulations! I don't have any advice to offer on traveling blind, but others have and they can give you some good things to think about.

I'm happy for you and I will be praying that you have clear direction in making your decisions.

Lola

[mikeintexas]

Congratulations on the referral. We did not travel blind, but our cousins did. I would be willing to do it myself. I'm glad you are giving it some consideration.

Have a good weekend. Please give us an update when you get a chance.

Mike

[Pinkie]

Congratulations on your referral. I can't offer any advise. My agency has told me that they work with blind referrals and there may be a possibility that mine is blind - I am prepared for this

[regalroy]

It sounds like you are talking about traveling blind, blind that your agency has not worked with this region much.
If that is the case, IMO I know this is hard, but from what we saw, I would not go into a region my agency was not 100% sure of. I sure would go see a child "blind", but even then, your agency should have a bit of back ground on him. That boy has paperwork in his orphanage. We thought we wanted a girl, and are happy to be able to love a boy, it was kind of fun changing genders, made it seem special to us.
I would also inquire from the agency if other children might be available soon, that may not be off the "list" yet, but that you might be able to see. Get to know the orphanage workers really well, this is a time gifts are very useful. We saw many people having some problems in regions that their agency's sent them to just to get them over to Russia. Please be careful, so many heartaches have happened. Is this boy off the list, all the agencys can get that information now.
Blind can be good if it is done in a good business way.
Again, we saw a lot of people who were having problems because their agency had no pull in a region. I am sure there are many success stories also, so please forgive me. It was such serious business when we were there, I could not count the times we felt blessed our agency was in charge of each step. Those steps were huge.
Oh we wish you the best of everything!

[MyHeartsDesire]

Ok, please don't think that travelling blind is not common...it is common. We travelled blind...completely blind...no paperwork upfront, no pictures, no medicals, no videos, no history. Blind means blind...and basically, it's the letter of Russian law. Yes, there are agencies and regions that CAN get information up front, but please don't think that your agency is keeping something from you if they say that they cannot provide you with any information before you travel. There are many many times that they truly can't. If that region, or that orphanage follows the letter of the law, then the agency will not be able get you any information up front. We were a bit nervous about not knowing anything at all before travelling and thought about the "what ifs" of declining the referral while there. It was scary. We chose not to hire an IA doc, but I think most people do arrange for some sort of physician screening...especially when travelling blind. My husband and I are both medically educated and I did so much research into medicals and FAS and then we just placed the rest into God's hands and decided not to hire an IA doc. I think travelling blind is more intimidating than anything...but people do it all the time...it's not that bad. Also, we were only the 6th adoption that our agency had done in the Astrakhan region at the time of our adoption. We hit a huge snag in the court system, and our agency came thru with flying colors. Everything will work out...hang in there. Congrats on your referral!

Lisa

[bratgirl]

Congrats on the referral! Good luck with your decision making over the weekend. I'm sure your heart will tell you what to do, just listen to it!

[toria]

We traveled blind and were very pleased to do so. I was much more comfortable being able to see and touch the children myself as opposed to looking at a picture or video. We only knew that there was a boy and a girl under the age of 12 months in the region for us to see. When we got to the orphanage, they brought our babies to us. If we were not happy with them for any reason they would have introduced us to other children. We were very happy with them even though the long list of medicals was scary. We hired Dr. Downing to evaluate the babies as he is very familiar with all of the Russian diagnoses. He gave us a good report. We were thrilled.
We have been home for 8 months and our children are doing wonderful, no problems. We highly recommend going to the Orenburg region.

[fugie]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I will give an update tomorrow after I talk to my agency and let you know what we have decided to do.

Thanks again.

Lisa & Jeff

[flanderz]

Good luck. Remember that there is no guarantee even if you have medical information, photos and video. Listen to your heart. There is no wrong decision here.

[jjamye]

Hello,
My husband and I recently returned from trip one. We went over on a blind referral Granted, it was a little scary...we knew nothing: sex, age, etc.

But, it turned out great. We instantly knew the children were for us. They are both sweethearts. They were a little older than we "requested", but it all worked out.

I look at it this way...
If I were having a birth child, I would probally know little or nothing. So, in that, it is exciting.

Jamye