New to idea of Adoption, anyone in GA?

StormyEyez

Hi Ladies!

My husband and I have been TTC for a couple of years now, and recently started considering adoption... mainly international.  We don't really know where to start and don't know any adoptive families personally to ask questions.

We love the Japanese culture and would be thrilled if we could adopt a girl infant from Japan.  I am reading through several of your post and getting some general information.... but any info you could provide that would be helpful to our situation would be awesome!

Thanks in advance

redhead1214

I would check out rainboekids.com as a starting point. This site can help you search by country and give you a listing of requirements (i.e. length of marriage, travel, etc.) and allow you to fill out an online form that will forward your info (mainly your email address) to agencies that are authorized to adopt out of Japan (or any other country you are interested in). From there, you can read up on different agencies and their policies/costs and even be able to contact other families who have used them in the past to thoroughly check them out.

 Also, I recommend googling "japan adoption research group" and you will most likley find a Yahoo group that is specific for japanese adoption and you can ask questions regarding the process and agencies there.

Good luck to you.

redhead1214

Also, in addition to a placement agency that works with the country of your choosing you will need a state based Home Study Agency. There are a few girls on here that can help you with who they used.

Go_Dawgs

I'm in GA and have done a lot of research on agencies, consultants, and home study providers.  However, we never considered international due to the high cost, amount of time needed off of work, and also because we want to adopt a newborn.  If you want to consider domestic, let me know because I can pass along some info!

CaptainSerious

Hi, and welcome to the group!

I usually suggest that people considering adoption should check out an introductory book on the subject, because there are so many different kinds of adoption, each with its own process.  I think books like "Adoption for Dummies" or "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Adoption" (which I used) are a great place to get started.  They provide lots of basic information on adoption, the different types, the processes, and how to research an agency.  Another good book is "The Complete Adoption Book."  Any of these will help you decide which type of adoption best ?fits? your family.

If you then decide that international is really the way you want to go, you?ll then need to pick from which country. The US Department of State's website lists the requirements to adopt from each country (https://adoption.state.gov/).  Once you've made your country choice, you'll need to find an agency that has a program specializing in adoptions from that country.  I highly recommend researching any agency you are considering to make sure it abides by ethical standards.  For international agencies, a great place to look them up is on the yahoo group called "Adoption Agency Research".  That group is dedicated to giving honest feedback on agencies.  You can ask about the agencies you are interested in directly, and also search their archives and files.

By the way, I looked up Japan, and it seems they don't really have a formalized intercountry adoption program, and only processed 41 US adoptions in 2009.  They also have a 6 month residency requirement, which makes it difficult for anyone not already living in Japan to adopt from there.  Here is all the information on that process: https://adoption.state.gov/country/japan.html.

Good luck!

Amy720

I live in GA and we used a facilitator to do a domestic adoption.  We didn't go international because I wanted the experience of a newborn.  We used a facilitator and ended up using an agency in Texas.  If you want more info, I'll be willing to share, just let me know.