Newbie - International Adoption Help!

guster130

Hello, I am new this the community here as well as new to the adoption process! My Husband and I are looking to adopt from Ethiopia or Uganda. Right now we're trying to find an Agency to go with, but it's rather confusing. We live in the Chicagoland area and have found several Agencies via adoption websites, but how do you pick one? Does anyone have advice on how to pick your Agency or are you currently working with one that you would recommend?

Thanks!
Alexa

miss1180

hi!

   we're in the process of adopting from South Korean. Our son is 16 months old, and we are just waiting for the korean government to process his visa so we can go bring him home :-) (Hopefully by the summer!!)

   Anyway- we're using Holt International Children's services. I know they have Ethiopia and Uganda programs, too. They have been great so far- very responsive to any questions, on top of things. They are a big national agency, and we liked that. Being a bigger agency, they can offer a lot of support- during AND after the adoptions. Such as summer camp for when the kids get older, so they can meet other adoptees... different get togethers during the year... a lot of resources. They're great, and i would definitely recommend looking into them.

  we really trust them, and so far the process has been going smoothly (except for the Korean government taking a "break" from processing visas for a few month to work on other stuff)

ellekae

We're most likely adopting domestically, but we're using Bethany Christian Services. Thayer have an office in Chicago (https://www.bethany.org/chicago) and handle international adoptions for many countries including Ethiopia and Uganda.

ellekae

*They ... Sorry I am on my iPad, and it won't let me edit my typo!

srmmm09

DH and I are adopting from Uganda. We're adopting with Nightlight Christian Adoptions. We chose them because we really like the baby's home they support in Uganda - it's a smaller orphanage run by Christians who really do care about the children.

I think it's a pretty big, involved, and personal decision. It sounds like you're doing your research. Just go with who you feel most comfortable with. FWIW! 

silliestbunny

Consider subscribing to the Yahoogroups for agency reviews for each country as well as Adoption_Agency_Research.   You'll find lots of discussion around agencies. 

 

 

CaptainSerious

I also highly recommend the yahoo group.  It's very important to make sure you research any agency you are considering yourself to make sure you are in agreement with it's practices and that it abides by ethical standards.  The yahoo group "Adoption Agency Research" is a phenomenal resource for vetting agencies, and 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.

If you haven't decided on which country you want to adopt from yet, you should check out the US Department of State's website, which lists the requirements to adopt from each country (https://adoption.state.gov/).  After that, you can find an agency that has a program specializing in adoptions from that country.  It's always a good idea to find an agency that has strong programs in more than one country you are interested in, just in case the country you choose has a slowdown or shutdown and you wish to change programs, so if you can find an agency with strong programs in both Ethiopia and Uganda, you'll be ahead of the game.

It's important to know that an agency may be a great, well-known, agency that has one or two strong programs, but it's smaller programs may not be as established or well-run. This may be due to no fault of the agency, but the programs may just be newer and without the long-established contacts and roots that make a program really smoothly-run.

Good luck!