[hcromwell]

That' all...do you know if they allow single parents to adopt?
Thanks!

[kizibits]

Yes, but to my knowledge only single women. Some regions are friendlier to singles than others, too, so keep that in mind when selecting an agency. Make sure your agency (which is also single friendly) works in single friendly regions. They should be able to tell you!

[waitinginnj]

I agree - when interviewing agencies make sure you know how they treat singles. Some treat that as back ups others treat them the same as two parent families. When talking to references, ask to speak to other singles who have used the agency.

I am one of several single parents who would be glad to help out. There is a recent single parent thread that is becoming active. You can find several others there.

[calikismet]

There have been some regions recently that have stopped allowing single women to adopt. I know this has been a recent trend (and not one that I personally agree with, but who am I to disagree!). Single men have rarely been able to adopt from any country. You need to ask any agency up front about regions that may have problems with single women.

[cathvash]

-Depends on if you are male or female. For a female - No problem. Would be very difficult for a male right now in Russia due to recent publicity about an American single man who horribly abused his adopted daughter...

asiaadopt.org had information about China adoptions that seems to imply men can adopt there (but there is a quota). I ttthhhhiiiinnnnkkk Guatamala would be a possibility too, but neither of these countries would approve an openly gay applicant.

[SingleMama2B]

Hi.... I am a single woman who adopted her only child in the Moscow Region last year. I adopted my darling daughter at the age of 8.5 (when we finally arrived home forever)!!! The Moscow Region is still allowing single women to adopt, as my friend who is single is returning this weekend to process her daughter out of the country! You will find several single adoptive parents here on the Board... just post, and we will answer

[kizibits]

And just to clarify--I'm a single woman adopting from Tver.

[calikismet]

Just to clarify my post about regions closing to single parent adoptions:

I know that Kirov is now closed to single-women adoption. That is sad b/c we had a single mom on our trip... but that is the only region I can confirm no longer accepts single women. I woudl think that the majority of Russia would still be fine. The nice thing about Russia is that unlike China, there is no quota on single women adopting.

[58grace]

I am a single woman and just adopted (Nov 05) from Saratov region with no problems (from that perspective!). I asked my coordinator if the judge would have any issues and he said it wouldnt be a concern at all. The judge did ask me what would happen to Laina if I met someone who had kids.


Paulette

[Vicki H]

Yes, they do allow single women to adopt.

Vicki

[k8c]

Yes!! Hooray!!

[DET62]

I adopted my daughter from Khabarovsk in 2004 and I am single.

I got a lot of questions from the judge about how was I going to support her, what sort of support system did I have to help [fortunately I have a lot of friends and family members who live nearby], what if I met a man who didn't want children [he'd be dumped immediately] etc. Just think of things you might ask a single person if you were a judge really concerned about the child. My judge was stern, but fair, I felt.

One thing in our favor is that Russia has a very high divorce rate and a lot of children there are in single parent homes, so it's not unusual.

I wouldn't adopt from China because they only allow a small percentage of adoptions to single women - I think it's 8% or something. I have a single friend who just adopted a baby boy from Taiwan, so that is opening up.

As a single woman I was traveling alnoe except for the last trip [I did 3 trips because I had to come home during the wait after court] and I was very aware of being vulnerable, not venturing out alone at night, etc.

Good luck!
Dee

[SingleMama2B]

Dee, you brought up things that I forgot to mention - What do they say..... "The mind is the first thing to go!!!" I think mine has been gone for months

I too received alot of questioning from the judge and prosecutor regarding being single, work, after school care, support system (i.e. family, friends, community), if I would get sick, who would help care for my DD? Etc. It was not a problem, as these things I had to think about prior to adopting for myself. My judge (Moscow) was NOT the normal family judge, I was the lucky one to pull a criminal judge due to a family emergency of the family judge. Yea.... I was very NERVOUS at that point. He too seemed very stern but fair. He was definetly out of his element, and read EVERY PAGE in the stack in front of him... it must have been almost 3 inches high. The Prosecutor was a real PIP!!!! She would not even make eye contact with me!! Both the judge and prosecutor coud not understand how I would be able to work from home part time (and in the office PT), and still get paid for full time work!!! Apparently, "Tele-Commuting" is not done in Russia!!!! My job allowed me to do this for the first year DD was home.

I too came home inbetween Court and Processing DD out of the country! My 10days ended at the beginning of thier 10 days of holiday (beginning of year)... I did not want to miss that much work, and what would I do for 20+ additional days (OH, I wasn't allowed to DD (8 years old) with me in Moscow!!!) So, I asked the judge and he wrote in the documents that I would return the middle of January 2005. It broke my heart, But I knew we where a family, and everything was done..... Alittle scarey traveling by myself. I work for the FAA, and haven't flown in over 20 years (know alittle tooooo much)! I was more nervous packing and thinking about it, then I was when I got on the plane, and arrived in Moscow! I was very comfortable, and loved every minute.... BUT was very glad to come home!!! Nothing like HOME!!!

[kimber413]

Single women only, from most regions. Single men are not allowed to adopt from Russia, but there are other countries that allow single men to adopt boys only.

[Camismom]

I rarely post, but wanted to say that I am single and just came home with a wonderful 17mos old baby girl in October of last year. After a pretty uneventful process, I traveled to Krasnoyarsk and found it to be pretty single-friendly. As a matter of fact, there were 3 couples on the docket together with me that day and all three has issued (two had lengthy delays) and I was the only one granted that day and the judge (a woman) was definitely nicer to me that she was to the three couples. I chose Russia because China has a quota for singles and Guatemala has a law pending in Congress banning singles from adopting, so in spite of the complications Russia is still friendlier for singles. Good luck,


Claud