[wannaadoptsobad]

Hi! I am very new to all of this and am looking at many different agencies! I have spent hours on here reading information and I keep getting myself confused. Can anyone tell me what the costs are of adopting independently vs. going through an agency? And if you adopt independently, where do you begin? Iam terrified, but my husband and I are ona budget and Im very very nervous!!! Any adive at all would be greatly apprecieted!!! THANK YOU~!!!!!

[kjtj]

My husband and I have been working with a private adoption attorney and the costs are all laid out upfront. There are three installments based on the completed work and alot of the fees cover doctors, drivers etc when we get there. Additional fees including home study, fingerprints and medical exams are seperate. In our case, he came highly recommended and has completed over 600 adoptions in Ukraine. Please let us know if you would like more information.

[wannaadoptsobad]

I would LOVE more information!!! Thank you!! I will PM you my email address!!! Thank you so much!!!

[carolinaj]

We are using Cathy Harris for our Independent Adoption and thus far it has been wonderful. We just submitted our Dossier's to her to review and we hope we'll soon be sending them to Ukraine.

[drjeanne]

The process is very confusing...especially in the beginning but, it gets better. My DH and I are going through a lady who helps people adopt from the Ukraine. The first thing we did was our homestudy and filed our I600A. Our total cost for trip and everything is going to be around $15,000. After much research, my DH and I decided to go this way because it seemed that the agencies do charge a hefty fee but, you still do all your own paperwork, etc., BUT, they do provide facilitators/translators for you and most have good experience and can really help especially if al does not go smoothly. The biggest challenge with doing it independently is finding a good facilitator/translator on your own! The lady helping us has good ones there that she uses and they just helped 5 families adopt and bring home children less than 2 weeks ago. The lady helping us also makes all our travel arrangements and plans the trip and asks for no money in return for all her hard work.

Best of luck to you in your search!

[erkfam]

We are also going independent b/c of the money we save doing it ourselves. Yes, the hardest part is finding a reputable facilitator. But it is well worth it to just do all the research, talk with others who've used them, and contact the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to inquire if there are any negative reports against him. Even if you use an agency who provides a faciltation team, it is still a good idea to research the ones your agency uses. Also, one thing I wish I had done was gotten several copies of our birth certificates; three is a safe number.

If you are interested, I have a website about our process in which I've tried to include all the information I've rounded up on particular adoption issues. While I have all this time during the "waiting period" I continue learning as much as I can. I've put most of it in my website so I have an organized account of what I am learning, broken down by subject. It will continue to be in progress until we bring home our little boy!
www.adoptingfromukraine.blogspot.com


Good luck and follow your heart.
Stacia