Yesterday I went to a local International Adoption Meeting and came to the conclusion that obviously I have done a ton of research and knew most things that were told which I must admit made me feel good that my research really is paying off.

Things that I learned/some that I knew
-Hong Kong only does special needs kids
-top 2 countries are China and Russia
-China has a 4 year waiting period. Why? They only allow one child per family member and do not have enough workers there to get the paperwork completed
-some countries require a long time to travel (Kazakhstan-6 to 7 wks, Ukraine-7 to 8 wks, Colombia-6 to 8 wks)
-Soouth Korea has only 5 states in the US that will allow you to adopt a healthy, normal child, the other 45 states have to adopt a child with special needs
-Haiti likes to adopt only Christian families but require parents to be 30 yrs and will not budge on it
-most countries have very limited info about the child and birthparents and you have to accept it.

Process for International Adoption...could be a little different through different agencies
1) Information Meeting
2) Pre-Application
3) Formal contract & Application
4) Immigration Process
5)Home Study (2-3 mths)
6) Dossier
7) Referral
8) Travel
9)Post-Placement Reports (Russia requires 5 visits over a 2 year period)
10) Citizenship

went in for my progesterone test this morning and should know something by this afternoon sometime...
-adoptions arent final until 6 mths after you return home (could be different in other states)
-most countries will not allow you to adopt another child without a year between the kids

6 comments:

Jen said...

i'm glad your researching is paying off!

Just Believing said...

Don't you love when you know you've done your part ( research wise and what not) it's so great!

Isn't it crazy how international has SOOOOOOOOO MANY children yet take 4 yrs...I swear I would do paper work from my home on behalf of China to help the process along. I told my husband if we win the lotto we are applying for international adoption like now cuz we'd wait 2- 4 years anyways...

Sarah's Smile said...

Your brain must be on overload. That is a ton of information to look at and to take in!

Misty said...

was Mississippi part of South Korea?

Amber said...

nope MS is one of the special needs state. GA she said was the closest to us to being a healthy child from South Korea.

Megan said...

Wow, that's some crazy stuff. Glad your research is paying off though. =)