OK- I'll start here in answering the original question posted.
First, adoption law is different from state to state so it is important to do some research. Don't automatically discount domestic adoption. The trend is birth parents wanting open adoptions but in the application process you have to specify exactly what you're comfortable doing.
My next door neighbors and my room-mate from college (Carin) are both using Gladney out of Fort Worth, TX for their adoption.
Carin's sister and her husband adopted from China, as did some former neighbors. I think for both of them the entire process was about 10 months. You get the referral picture about mid-way through the process and then you have to travel to China to pick up the child.
My brother's next door neighbor adopted two boys from Korea- they also had a relatively quick turnaround- and all they had to do was go to Dulles airport and pick up the baby.
Russia- well, who knows what's going to happen since the asshat returned her kid but it was a crazy process. It was about 18 months from start to finish but 4 of those months we told them we couldn't accept a referral because of the studying for the peds boards.
Guatemala and Vietnam are currently on hold as I understand it- there have been numerous reports of baby snatching.
Our adoption agency is The Adoption Center of Washington- they're secular and they're small. I like them because you only have two people to work with and they spend their resources on getting and keeping really, really good staff overseas. The staff are paid very generously and you are treated very well. www.adoptioncenter.com They do adoptions from China, Russia and a couple other places.
Jenn
ETA: you can use an adoption agency from anywhere in the country. You'll need to have a social worker do your homestudy and that SWer must be licensed where you live but other than that, you can use any agency that you find that you click with.
First, adoption law is different from state to state so it is important to do some research. Don't automatically discount domestic adoption. The trend is birth parents wanting open adoptions but in the application process you have to specify exactly what you're comfortable doing.
My next door neighbors and my room-mate from college (Carin) are both using Gladney out of Fort Worth, TX for their adoption.
Carin's sister and her husband adopted from China, as did some former neighbors. I think for both of them the entire process was about 10 months. You get the referral picture about mid-way through the process and then you have to travel to China to pick up the child.
My brother's next door neighbor adopted two boys from Korea- they also had a relatively quick turnaround- and all they had to do was go to Dulles airport and pick up the baby.
Russia- well, who knows what's going to happen since the asshat returned her kid but it was a crazy process. It was about 18 months from start to finish but 4 of those months we told them we couldn't accept a referral because of the studying for the peds boards.
Guatemala and Vietnam are currently on hold as I understand it- there have been numerous reports of baby snatching.
Our adoption agency is The Adoption Center of Washington- they're secular and they're small. I like them because you only have two people to work with and they spend their resources on getting and keeping really, really good staff overseas. The staff are paid very generously and you are treated very well. www.adoptioncenter.com They do adoptions from China, Russia and a couple other places.
Jenn
ETA: you can use an adoption agency from anywhere in the country. You'll need to have a social worker do your homestudy and that SWer must be licensed where you live but other than that, you can use any agency that you find that you click with.
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