[HopefulAunt]

First off guys , Hello! I am new here and I have tons of questions for you guys and hopefully you have the anwsers I need. So let me say that I am a single mom to 2 little girls. MY sister is single and is wanting to adopt. You may ask why I am on here asking the questions, well she is saving money for the adoption and so she does not have internet access except when at work. So here I am asking the questions, because my sister would make a wonderful mother, probably the best that I know, so I want to help her anyway I know how.

So my questions are this. My sister has narrowed her choices down to Vietnam and Russia, but she is leaning more towards Vietnam. The questions we have are this, I would like to know if anyone has any good agencies they can refer to me. She is considering 2 agencies so far but she would like some feedback on them. They are carolina adoption services and asian children services. I know you can't post remarks on here, but please send me an email if you have any you can recommend or warn me against. Or email me if you know anything about the 2 agencies I listed.

MY next thing is this. One of the agencies she is considering told her that it could take as little as 5-9 months to have her baby home from time of application. That doesn't seem realistic to me. Is that possible. Clearly it depends on her and how long it takes to complete her homestudy and dossier. But they are telling her that from the time you turn in your dossier it is 2 months for a referral and then from refferal it is about 1-4 months till you travel. Can that be right?

Last question, would anyone mind telling me about how much it cost you to adopt from vietnam? We would just like a ball park figure. As well , I would love to hear some personal stories about the beautiful children you brought home from Vietnam? Was there any medical conditions? Any problems?
Thanks in advance for all of the information and sorry for all of the questions.

My email is ccox1991@tampabay.rr.com
Thanks
Brittany

[DreamingAzure]

Hi Brittany

I've sent you a PM about agencies, but just wanted to post abit about how the program is running in the US right now(from what I'm hearing from my agency, and getting from friends in the middle of the process).

I'm part of a yahoo group for Vietnam adoptions...it seems like most of the time frames ARE running anywhere from 6-10 months total...travel and referrals SEEM to be coming 4-8 weeks after your dossier is complete. Travel SEEMS to happen within 6 weeks of the referral...if your agency has parents traveling in groups, rather then individually, then your wait may take much longer then traveling solo. It depends on how long you have to wait for the them to get the group size they want all set up with referrals.

MOST of the agencies I have talked with are saying between 20-25K as the complete price of adopting from Vietnam. That includes airfare, hotel, homestudy etc. I have seen several families listing their final price as 25-30k.

So far I haven't heard of any major medical issues coming from US parents.

Best of Luck!