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*Official Adoption Thread* (1 Viewer)

GroveDiesel

Footballguy
I know that there are posters here who have adopted children and some that are in the process right now. I'm sure that there are also people here who have been adopted. So I figured I'd start a thread as a clearinghouse of information for anyone interested.

 
I'll start off with where my wife and I are right now.

We've decided to adopt a child from Taiwan. We're adopting through Heartsent Adoption in California. Being in NJ, this will probably make some things more difficult and that's becoming obvious. We won't be able to attend the seminars that they have although they will be sending us all of the information from the seminars in binders. We also aren't able to use them for the homestudy obviously. But our research indicated that they're a good agency and they are one of the few doing adoptions through Taiwan.

We're doing our homestudy through Better Living Adoption in NJ. We had our first meeting last Sunday. It was pretty short and basic. A tour of the house, some generic questions, etc. We had to send them a bunch of stuff beforehand though about ourselves, income, etc. We also had to get digitally fingerprinted and a background check. Our second visit is tomorrow night and it will be quite a bit lengthier and in-depth. We'll also be questioned one on one.

We sent in our adoption application to Heartsent a few weeks ago. It included a lot of the same stuff that we had to give to the homestudy agency but added in letters from our doctors and personal references. This weekend we got a huge package from them breaking down their fees and asking for a whole lot more information. We have to have MUCH more in-depth letters written by our doctors including them checking boxes off of a 3 page checklist. And they have to be notarized. We also have to get letters from our employers confirming employment, compensation, etc. and THEY have to be notarized as well. We also need to build a financial statement for them and THAT has to be notarized as well. We also need to get HIV tests, general blood tests, and a urinalysis.

We're a little overwhelmed at the scope of what we have to provide. I guess I can understand it, but after we already sent them a ton of information it's just a little much to swallow all at once.

And of course, there's nothing like seeing the breakdown of all the fees and seeing a nice big fat $24K as the total. :mellow: We knew that that was the ballpark, but seeing the breakdown of fees and the request for $6200 when we submit all of that info makes it a bit more real.

The fact that the ball is rolling pretty fast so far is a little scary as well. It seemed like 12-18 months was pretty standard for the process and now I just read that somebody else using this agency got their kid from Taiwan in 6 months! That's great and all, but we don't have enough saved up right now and planned on the 12 month timetable to have enough saved up. We'll be able to get loans if need be, but that was a little bit of a shock.

 
My wife and I are still praying about adoption. I have to admit that I'm struggling with the decision. And I can't put my finger on exactly why. :mellow:

 
My wife and I are still praying about adoption. I have to admit that I'm struggling with the decision. And I can't put my finger on exactly why. :goodposting:
It took me a little while to come around. Part of that was just some resentment because my wife made up her mind and basically my choices were to agree or to not have kids. Now, she's able to have kids (we assume), but we're choosing not to go that route because my wife has MS and since there's somewhat of a genetic link we're choosing adoption instead. It took me a decent amount of time before I realized that I didn't really have any objection other than feeling like I was forced into it. To be able to provide a loving family to a child that is currently unwanted is an awesome priviledge. Whether God entrusts a child to us through natural birth or adoption, He's still entrusting them to us.
 
As part of the adoption process we have to appoint another couple to be guardians in the event that something happens to us. We thought that we had some time to do it but we found out that we had to actually give their names at our meeting tonight. We had already decided on a great couple but hadn't asked them. So we asked them this past Sunday and they happily agreed.

So then I get an email today with a picture attached. The picture was an x-ray showing the nice shiny ball and decorative flower that their daughter swallowed. So they had a nice trip to the ER last night. :unsure: Awesome. I knew we picked the right people.

 
My wife and I tried to have a child for about 7 or so years. We tried almost everything including injections and many office procedures. We never tried in vitro. We are both healthy, and the doctors could never explain "why".

Anyway, we finally decided to adopt. Living in Texas, we went through the Gladney Center in Ft. Worth. We adopted our daughter here. She is now 7 years old and is the light of my life.

 
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I'll start off with where my wife and I are right now.We've decided to adopt a child from Taiwan. We're adopting through Heartsent Adoption in California. Being in NJ, this will probably make some things more difficult and that's becoming obvious. We won't be able to attend the seminars that they have although they will be sending us all of the information from the seminars in binders. We also aren't able to use them for the homestudy obviously. But our research indicated that they're a good agency and they are one of the few doing adoptions through Taiwan.We're doing our homestudy through Better Living Adoption in NJ. We had our first meeting last Sunday. It was pretty short and basic. A tour of the house, some generic questions, etc. We had to send them a bunch of stuff beforehand though about ourselves, income, etc. We also had to get digitally fingerprinted and a background check. Our second visit is tomorrow night and it will be quite a bit lengthier and in-depth. We'll also be questioned one on one. We sent in our adoption application to Heartsent a few weeks ago. It included a lot of the same stuff that we had to give to the homestudy agency but added in letters from our doctors and personal references. This weekend we got a huge package from them breaking down their fees and asking for a whole lot more information. We have to have MUCH more in-depth letters written by our doctors including them checking boxes off of a 3 page checklist. And they have to be notarized. We also have to get letters from our employers confirming employment, compensation, etc. and THEY have to be notarized as well. We also need to build a financial statement for them and THAT has to be notarized as well. We also need to get HIV tests, general blood tests, and a urinalysis.We're a little overwhelmed at the scope of what we have to provide. I guess I can understand it, but after we already sent them a ton of information it's just a little much to swallow all at once.And of course, there's nothing like seeing the breakdown of all the fees and seeing a nice big fat $24K as the total. :thumbdown: We knew that that was the ballpark, but seeing the breakdown of fees and the request for $6200 when we submit all of that info makes it a bit more real. The fact that the ball is rolling pretty fast so far is a little scary as well. It seemed like 12-18 months was pretty standard for the process and now I just read that somebody else using this agency got their kid from Taiwan in 6 months! That's great and all, but we don't have enough saved up right now and planned on the 12 month timetable to have enough saved up. We'll be able to get loans if need be, but that was a little bit of a shock.
Did you have to indicate that you're a Bills fan? That information can only hurt your cause. Hide it at all costs.Oh, but seriously, :lmao:I have nothing but respect and admiration for those who adopt. It's a beautiful picture and I know you guys are going to be great parents!
 
Did you have to indicate that you're a Bills fan? That information can only hurt your cause. Hide it at all costs.Oh, but seriously, :thumbup:I have nothing but respect and admiration for those who adopt. It's a beautiful picture and I know you guys are going to be great parents!
There's a pretty good chance that our kids will be about the same age. Sounds like a cross-PA playdate is on the horizon at some point. :thumbup: I actually told my friend that we asked to be the guardian that I'm putting it in my will that my child is not allowed to be raised as a Phillies or Eagles fan. He pointed out that raising my kid as a Bills fan would just be child abuse and he couldn't agree to that. :lmao:
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.

 
My God, I had no idea it cost that much to adopt a child. I thought it was more in the $10k range. Are these Tawain children upscale or is $24k the usual ballpark?

 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
I'm not trying to hijack the thread - just a quick question - where in Ethiopia did you go? I spent a week in Addis Ababa. (It had nothing to do with our adoption).
 
I have to write a reference letter for some friends just starting the adoption process. Anybody have one that I can borrow and just change some of the specifics. :thumbup: Thanks.

 
My God, I had no idea it cost that much to adopt a child. I thought it was more in the $10k range. Are these Tawain children upscale or is $24k the usual ballpark?
Lots of options and upgrades on the 24K ones. I think they may come potty-trained.
 
My God, I had no idea it cost that much to adopt a child. I thought it was more in the $10k range. Are these Tawain children upscale or is $24k the usual ballpark?
I have no idea what the cost of domestic adoption is, but $24K is actually probably on the lower end of international adoption. There are some that are somewhat cheaper, but a lot of them had disqualifiers for us (weren't old enough yet, etc). But I'd be surprised if you could adopt internationally for anything less than $18K total.
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
That's awesome. :football: Good luck to you guys. I can't even imagine the feeling of flying back on a plane with my kid sleeping in my arms.
 
I have to write a reference letter for some friends just starting the adoption process. Anybody have one that I can borrow and just change some of the specifics. :confused: Thanks.
Just be honest in it. Say how long you've known the couple, describe how you view their marriage and what kind of parents you think they'll make. Go into what qualities you think they have that will make them great parents. It doesn't have to be super long or eloquent. It just has to be honest and real.
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
That's awesome. :) Good luck to you guys. I can't even imagine the feeling of flying back on a plane with my kid sleeping in my arms.
LMAO at "sleeping" - yeah right. Been there, done that.
 
I have a 14 week old that we adopted here in the US. Perfectly healthy caucasion boy.

The whole proccess took about 9 months and 17k. It should have been 7-8 months and 12-15k but we walked away from birthmother #1 after we caught her drinking Vodka so we had to incur extra advertising expenses.

Going through agencies it generally cost 30-35k (for the entire process). I have a great lawyer that can walk you through everything and save you 10-20k if you are in the Chicago area (you dont get a better baby by spending more with an agency - All of the babies come from the same place...birthmothers).

Bottomline is this...With adoption you get a baby, 100% guaranteed. With childbirth you may have 6 miscarriages like us.

 
Well, my adoption thread is here.

I guess I'll describe why we went with a domestic adoption versus a foreign one. My wife and I first of all wanted a child who looked like us. This is sort of funny because she's a basically olive-skinned woman of Italian extraction and I'm light complected with red hair, but we figured that we bracketed a pretty large number of appearances so that left our options open. We were open to a caucasian or Latino child, or perhaps a half-Asian child.

We also felt that a lot of American children needed adopting such that there was no need to go overseas. Also, with the present trend towards open adoption, we would be able to screen the parents and particularly the mother to a degree such that we might be able to discover red flags (drug use; unhealthy lifestyle, etc.) that might be important to us.

We worked both with an adoption agency as well as an adoption attorney, and as it turned out the adoption attorney was where we got our lead from. We did not enlist the use of a facilitator, however the birth mother got into the system through a facilitator so we ended up having one involved. It was a private adoption.

All told our adoption will cost us approximately $20-25k, which is lower than it could have been because the birth mother had her own health insurance and insisted upon not having any support other than post-delivery counseling. She required no support as she had a job and used her own vacation time. This is unusual, and lucky for us.

 
Hey Redman,

Congrats. Same thing happened to us. We got a call one morning and drove to meet our son an hour later. We didnt have a crib, diaper, bottle or anything. Crazy how life can change in an instant.

 
Hey Redman,Congrats. Same thing happened to us. We got a call one morning and drove to meet our son an hour later. We didnt have a crib, diaper, bottle or anything. Crazy how life can change in an instant.
No kidding. It's five weeks later and I still look at him sometimes wondering how in the hell he ended up in our house. :shrug: He's awesome though. We love him to death.
 
I was adopted and am the named guardian for two of my friends adopted children. Adoption is a very personal thing to me and my family despite having three boys of our own.

My adoption:

My birth-mother was a 17 year old H.S. senior in Illinois in the mid-60's. She had a pregnancy "scare" with her boyfriend that proved to be false (so she thought). The way he handled it, along with his significant drinking at an early age, led to them breaking up. A month later she still did not menstrate and tested again - she was pregnant. She never told the ex-botfriend and she "went to her uncle's in Florida" for the summer. The reality is that she went to a boarding house for pregnant girls in Chicago. She named me, so I learned from my records, but never saw me before I was taken to an orphanage. I was taken as a foster child at nine days old and formally adopted when I was six months.

My mother, who is the woman who raised me, was always very open about my adoption. In fact, I knew when I was five that Iw as adopted. My parents were always very open and willing to talk about the circumstances and details of my adoption. (Mom had seven miscarraiges before adopting me.) When some of the neighborhood kids were teasing me about being adopted (you know kids ...), she would tell me things like "having a baby is a gift from God to be loved, but you are especially loved because we got to pick you".

When I turned 18, curiosity got the better of me and I began doing some inquiries to finding my birth-mother. Nothing concrete beyond the non-identifying information I already had - ages, nationality, some brief medical insight, personal interests of each.

When I was 29, I began another push for details. I was getting remarried and close to having kids of my own. I wanted to know more about "me" so I knew what to expect genetically of my kids. valid or not, it was my mindset at the time. Upon being a bit sneaky with the adoption agency on defiig what was "idnetifying information" and doing some significant research, i learned about my family tree back to my great grandfather's immigration from Germany in 1858 all the way through to my birth-mother. (Found her name on my grandfather's death certificate.) That research and process is another whole story I have been asked to write a book about.

Once I had a name, I couldn't not call ... we have become good friends since, but nothing more. I also learned that the ex-boyfriend never learned of the pregnancy. She was affraid of the repurcussions since his father was a city councilmen in the town and his two uncles were attorneys.

I have since become periodically active in a local organization called Birthright to talk to young women and give them a first hand perspective of being a child of adoption. (I also have friends who learned of my experience and asked advice regarding their own adoption and children - both from recieving a child and from giving one up.) I always end with "she is the bravest woman I know because she put my life ahead of her own reputation and goals".

As a possible guardian ...

The young girl (14) and young boy (4) I am involved with through friends have been like my second children. I have moved some distance from the girl, but remain involved with them and she has called more than afew times just to talk about her feelings.

 
P.S. $20-$30K is not unusual for domestic adoptions. I have heard of good families being turned down because the financial strain of the process worries the agency that the family could not overcome the burden. I find this incredible given the need to find these children good homes.

Granted the process costs money to facilitate, and researching the parents is valid and definitely necessary, but there should be a model to "refund" a sizeable portion back to the family after a year or two when everything is finalized and the home is confidently established. (Just a thought.)

 
My wife and I are in the process of adopting two boys, brothers (4 years old and 11 months old). We decided to go with the domestic program through Diakon after hearing some real horror stories about international adoption. We had looked hard at the Ukraine because my grandparents were immigrants from there but several people we talked to that had done so talked of bribes needing to be paid once you got there and one couple ended up staying over 3 1/2 months to finalize what was suppose to be 2 weeks max. We simply couldn't afford that type of time off work. We got lucky and only had to wait about 6 months on the waiting list when we got the call, this was somewhat quicker then normal because we were willing to accept siblings. Although not planned because they are siblings they are considered "at risk" by the state meaning that the state is covering 95% of the fees, without that it would have been about 8,000 to 12,000 for a single infant. We actually just found out that the court is starting the procedures to totally terminate the birth mothers rights at a hearing this month, so hopefully another 6 months and we can finalize. Until then they are with us basically as foster children and go once a month for a "mom" visit with the case worker, that is when she shows up. One nice thing is that while they are in foster care the state reimburses us for daycare and they are eligible for WIC (public assistance) so milk and formula are free. They are awesome kids and perfectly healthy other then the lazy eye I mentioned in another thread for the 4 year old, but that is a common thing.

 
P.S. $20-$30K is not unusual for domestic adoptions. I have heard of good families being turned down because the financial strain of the process worries the agency that the family could not overcome the burden. I find this incredible given the need to find these children good homes. Granted the process costs money to facilitate, and researching the parents is valid and definitely necessary, but there should be a model to "refund" a sizeable portion back to the family after a year or two when everything is finalized and the home is confidently established. (Just a thought.)
Out here in California, at least, public adoptions (meaning through public agencies) are the worst. The process is so burdensome and intrusive that it actually acts as a deterrent to such adoptions, which is tragically ironic given that public agencies have the most need to adopt (largest number of kids in the foster system; kids in the foster system for the longest amount of time; oldest kids in need of adoption, and therefore hardest to place). My wife and I marvelled at the fact that any fool can give birth to a child, but if you want to adopt you have to lay your whole life bare and expose yourself to a huge amount of time and intrusion in the process.
 
Hey Redman,Congrats. Same thing happened to us. We got a call one morning and drove to meet our son an hour later. We didnt have a crib, diaper, bottle or anything. Crazy how life can change in an instant.
No kidding. It's five weeks later and I still look at him sometimes wondering how in the hell he ended up in our house. :excited: He's awesome though. We love him to death.
Similar to my experience. My son just turned 2. I can't imagine my life without him.
 
Proud adoptive dad of a 14 month old amazing little girl.

We decided to do a domestic adoption for a variety of reasons (travel requirements, length of wait, etc.). Cost can be an issue (ours was maybe 22k or so), but with the tax break (10k) and other adoption credits (my wife's work now offers a maximum reimbursement of 10k... just upped from 5k when we applied), it's really not as bad as it seems.

Our process took about 9 months from deciding to move forward with adoption to when we met our little girl on her birthday (what a coincidence eh?). Our BM was just out of high school and had big goals (college, etc.) and just didn't have the means to care for the baby. We've since visited with her a few times and she really feels like part of our extended family. We keep in touch with emails and pictures about once a month.

We had no idea what we were doing when we brought her home, but after a while instinct just kicks in and you figure everything out.

I honestly cannot fathom how our path to having children could have worked out any better. She is the best thing to ever happen to us.

If anyone reading this thread is on the fence about adopting, DO IT!

You may ask yourself "Can I love this child as much as my own flesh and blood?". ANSWER: I can't imagine loving anything more than I love my little girl, and I'm sure others will agree with me.

 
P.S. $20-$30K is not unusual for domestic adoptions. I have heard of good families being turned down because the financial strain of the process worries the agency that the family could not overcome the burden. I find this incredible given the need to find these children good homes.

Granted the process costs money to facilitate, and researching the parents is valid and definitely necessary, but there should be a model to "refund" a sizeable portion back to the family after a year or two when everything is finalized and the home is confidently established. (Just a thought.)
Out here in California, at least, public adoptions (meaning through public agencies) are the worst. The process is so burdensome and intrusive that it actually acts as a deterrent to such adoptions, which is tragically ironic given that public agencies have the most need to adopt (largest number of kids in the foster system; kids in the foster system for the longest amount of time; oldest kids in need of adoption, and therefore hardest to place). My wife and I marvelled at the fact that any fool can give birth to a child, but if you want to adopt you have to lay your whole life bare and expose yourself to a huge amount of time and intrusion in the process.
:lmao: That part is frustrating sometimes.

 
My wife and I marvelled at the fact that any fool can give birth to a child, but if you want to adopt you have to lay your whole life bare and expose yourself to a huge amount of time and intrusion in the process.
No kidding. It's fairly understandable, but having to take an HIV test, TB test, general bloodwork for cholesterol etc, and a urinalysis just seems like overkill. Then there's the 3 page checklist that our doctors have to go through that have to be notarized. And the extensive grilling that we're going to go through tonight as part of the homestudy.For anyone that's gone through the homestudy process, what kind of stuff did they ask you that you maybe didn't expect? At our first one she asked us about discipline and we said that we plan on using timeouts and positive and negative reinforcements for behavior. She didn't directly ask us about spanking and it's probably good because we've since found out from somebody else that pretty much every adoption agency will reject you if you say that you plan on spanking your child. So that was good to know.Britney Spears practically had to throw her kids into a pit of vipers to get her kids taken away and yet we get the priviledge of paying lots of money and having someone go through every aspect of our lives with a fine toothed comb to judge whether or not we are fit to parent a child.
 
My wife and I marvelled at the fact that any fool can give birth to a child, but if you want to adopt you have to lay your whole life bare and expose yourself to a huge amount of time and intrusion in the process.
No kidding. It's fairly understandable, but having to take an HIV test, TB test, general bloodwork for cholesterol etc, and a urinalysis just seems like overkill. Then there's the 3 page checklist that our doctors have to go through that have to be notarized. And the extensive grilling that we're going to go through tonight as part of the homestudy.For anyone that's gone through the homestudy process, what kind of stuff did they ask you that you maybe didn't expect? At our first one she asked us about discipline and we said that we plan on using timeouts and positive and negative reinforcements for behavior. She didn't directly ask us about spanking and it's probably good because we've since found out from somebody else that pretty much every adoption agency will reject you if you say that you plan on spanking your child. So that was good to know.Britney Spears practically had to throw her kids into a pit of vipers to get her kids taken away and yet we get the priviledge of paying lots of money and having someone go through every aspect of our lives with a fine toothed comb to judge whether or not we are fit to parent a child.
The home study was brutal. We tried to make it fun. For example, When they asked us about our sex life we wrote that we enjoy whips and chains as much as the next guy but our real vice is the sex swing. Then when they asked us why we thought that our moral belief system was correct I went into a page and a half diatribe on why I stood by Kant's Metaphysics of Morals over John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism. Disclaimer - make sure you have a good relationship with your social worker before attempting to make humor of the horrible fact that while any drunk/drugee/convict can give birth, only the infertile ones have to "prove" that we are worthy of being parents.
 
My wife and I marvelled at the fact that any fool can give birth to a child, but if you want to adopt you have to lay your whole life bare and expose yourself to a huge amount of time and intrusion in the process.
No kidding. It's fairly understandable, but having to take an HIV test, TB test, general bloodwork for cholesterol etc, and a urinalysis just seems like overkill. Then there's the 3 page checklist that our doctors have to go through that have to be notarized. And the extensive grilling that we're going to go through tonight as part of the homestudy.For anyone that's gone through the homestudy process, what kind of stuff did they ask you that you maybe didn't expect? At our first one she asked us about discipline and we said that we plan on using timeouts and positive and negative reinforcements for behavior. She didn't directly ask us about spanking and it's probably good because we've since found out from somebody else that pretty much every adoption agency will reject you if you say that you plan on spanking your child. So that was good to know.Britney Spears practically had to throw her kids into a pit of vipers to get her kids taken away and yet we get the priviledge of paying lots of money and having someone go through every aspect of our lives with a fine toothed comb to judge whether or not we are fit to parent a child.
The home study was brutal. We tried to make it fun. For example, When they asked us about our sex life we wrote that we enjoy whips and chains as much as the next guy but our real vice is the sex swing. Then when they asked us why we thought that our moral belief system was correct I went into a page and a half diatribe on why I stood by Kant's Metaphysics of Morals over John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism. Disclaimer - make sure you have a good relationship with your social worker before attempting to make humor of the horrible fact that while any drunk/drugee/convict can give birth, only the infertile ones have to "prove" that we are worthy of being parents.
I asked our social worker in response to some question, "Is this about my shrunken head collection?" And I was completely deadpan. :goodposting: :popcorn: Just go with the flow, people. You know what the right answers are.
 
You may ask yourself "Can I love this child as much as my own flesh and blood?". ANSWER: I can't imagine loving anything more than I love my little girl, and I'm sure others will agree with me.
:goodposting:
:popcorn:There's a cute, helpless baby that they'll place in your arms. It won't make a damn bit of difference that the DNA is different when they tell you he's/she's yours. And as far as the kid is concerned, he doesn't remember or care how he was conceived or who carried him around for 9 months. "Mom" and "Dad" are the people who awakened for middle-of-the-night feedings, took him to school, comforted him when he fell and hurt himself, rooted for him at his soccer games, etc.
 
Interesting that some found the home study so hard, maybe we just had a really good case worker or Pennsylvania is a lot easier then other states because it wasn't really that big of deal. The actual in house home study and questions took maybe an hour and were pretty straight forward and what you would expect. Now we did have to write a biography before hand that they asked us questions about, that would have been a pain, but god bless having a wife that is an English teacher that wrote like 15 pages, I think even the case worker got tired of reading. All we needed was a standard physical from our doctor, no blood work or other test. the of course the standard Child Abuse and criminal record checks from the state police. If you are going outside your state I believe you need an FBI check which requires finger printing.

 
Interesting that some found the home study so hard, maybe we just had a really good case worker or Pennsylvania is a lot easier then other states because it wasn't really that big of deal. The actual in house home study and questions took maybe an hour and were pretty straight forward and what you would expect. Now we did have to write a biography before hand that they asked us questions about, that would have been a pain, but god bless having a wife that is an English teacher that wrote like 15 pages, I think even the case worker got tired of reading. All we needed was a standard physical from our doctor, no blood work or other test. the of course the standard Child Abuse and criminal record checks from the state police. If you are going outside your state I believe you need an FBI check which requires finger printing.
Oh yeah...I forgot the FBI check. Infertile? Go get fingerprinted like a criminal.BTW...Just to show you how bad the FBI is...I plea bargained and plead guilty to possession of a fake ID back in college and the wife was busted for purchasing alcohol for a miner (her sister). Neither showed up on the criminal background check. No wonder our govt cant find Osama.
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
I would love to hear more about the process you went through with international adoption b/c I spent a month in Kenya a couple years ago (an experience tht changed my life much like yours did) and would love to adopt a child from there someday. Congrats on your daughter!
 
Interesting that some found the home study so hard, maybe we just had a really good case worker or Pennsylvania is a lot easier then other states because it wasn't really that big of deal. The actual in house home study and questions took maybe an hour and were pretty straight forward and what you would expect. Now we did have to write a biography before hand that they asked us questions about, that would have been a pain, but god bless having a wife that is an English teacher that wrote like 15 pages, I think even the case worker got tired of reading. All we needed was a standard physical from our doctor, no blood work or other test. the of course the standard Child Abuse and criminal record checks from the state police. If you are going outside your state I believe you need an FBI check which requires finger printing.
Ours wasn't so bad either, but this reminded me of the difference between public and private adoptions. My wife and I didn't have a nursery set up when we had our home study (hell, we didn't have the nursery set up when we brought our son home!). No problem with the private agency we were working with. OTOH if we were trying to go through LA County, we'd have had to set up the nursery in its final form to get approved, and the last thing that we wanted was a nursery just sitting there with no kid, to speak nothing of no knowing the style of the nursery when you don't even know the gender of your child. :wall:
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
I'm not trying to hijack the thread - just a quick question - where in Ethiopia did you go? I spent a week in Addis Ababa. (It had nothing to do with our adoption).
The agency was located in Addis - we spent a week there, although we did a day trip south where most of the children come from for this particular agency.
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
I would love to hear more about the process you went through with international adoption b/c I spent a month in Kenya a couple years ago (an experience tht changed my life much like yours did) and would love to adopt a child from there someday. Congrats on your daughter!
From start to finish it took us ten months. Very early on in the research process we knew Ethiopia was the choice for my wife and I, it just felt right. The proces is streamlined and the adoption is final before you travel so there are no unexpected surprises in-country. THe only task you need to complete is travel to the US embassy to get a US Visa for your child (an hour appt).The week in Addis was such an experience, I miss it every day. We have so much here in the U.S. in terms of material items but we are so unhappy. So many in Ethiopia have very little, but yet they are a very happy and satisfied group of people - to a point that I now evaluate my role in the larger world on a daily basis much closer. If someone wants to learn more specifically about adoption from Ethiopia - PM me and I give additional insight of our experience.
 
My wife and I just returned from Ethiopia one month ago with the most amazing little 7 month old girl. The entire process was long but rewarding. The entire experience of Ethiopia has changed my life forever - the people are so amazing and what a rich culture. We are already planning on returning late next year to adopt a brother for our daughter.
I would love to hear more about the process you went through with international adoption b/c I spent a month in Kenya a couple years ago (an experience tht changed my life much like yours did) and would love to adopt a child from there someday. Congrats on your daughter!
From start to finish it took us ten months. Very early on in the research process we knew Ethiopia was the choice for my wife and I, it just felt right. The proces is streamlined and the adoption is final before you travel so there are no unexpected surprises in-country. THe only task you need to complete is travel to the US embassy to get a US Visa for your child (an hour appt).The week in Addis was such an experience, I miss it every day. We have so much here in the U.S. in terms of material items but we are so unhappy. So many in Ethiopia have very little, but yet they are a very happy and satisfied group of people - to a point that I now evaluate my role in the larger world on a daily basis much closer. If someone wants to learn more specifically about adoption from Ethiopia - PM me and I give additional insight of our experience.
I don't want to hijack this thread, but Ethiopia is one of the most ancient nations in the world and is home to some fascinating history. Unfortunately we in the west are in the habit of thinking of starving people when the name comes up, but there's a LOT more to that country than that.
 
My God, I had no idea it cost that much to adopt a child. I thought it was more in the $10k range. Are these Tawain children upscale or is $24k the usual ballpark?
My wife and I adopted through Children's Home Society and Family Service's Guatemalan program a couple of years ago, and it was a little more expensive than that. Guatemala was, however, their most expensive program due to the fact that private lawyers process everything instead of the government and the children are in foster care instead of orphanages.
 
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Aren't you guys a little leery of getting a child out of a foreign orphanage? I would think that you're going to have a kid with issues right off the bat.

 
Aren't you guys a little leery of getting a child out of a foreign orphanage? I would think that you're going to have a kid with issues right off the bat.
Not at all. Two at the same time, no issues.
How old were they when you took them home? I was thinking of the Russian system when I typed that. Most Russian kids are 1-2 years old at adoption to my understanding, and often have already become "institutionalized" to a degree.
 

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