Finding an Agency IA

jolynn326

Hi ladies,

I intro'd a few months ago and haven't posted since. Here's that post: .

Anyway, DH and I have pretty well settled on adopting a waiting kiddo from Reece's Rainbow in EE. My understanding is that we will need to find an agency working in and in good standing with EE to complete our HS. I'm still a little confused on what kind of agency we need. Does it have to be an agency within our state? If it's not statebased, does anyone have any recs?

I'm still a little unsure what the agency will be doing since we'll be selecting a child from a wait list. Just the HS and postplacement follow up?

Thanks for helping this newb. :

Mrs.Slick

Your home study agency needs to be from your state and needs to have experience with the way the country you are intending to adopt from wants their home studies to be worded as well as being familiar and comfortable with their post placement requirements. We found ours via googling and recommendations from our adoption agency, which is out of state for us.

jolynn326

So you have two US agencies? I'm so confused... So your actual agency can be anywhere in the US, but your home study agency has to be within the state?

Why wouldn't you choose one agency for it all?

Mrs.Slick

It's very common with IA for the adoption agency to be from another state. We went with this agency because it was the best fit for us and we love them and what they have to offer. But your home study has to be done by someone licensed in your state of residence.

kacelle

I love Reece's Rainbow!  DH and I are looking into special needs IA adoption as well.  I would contact the agency you want to work with for IA process (doesn't have to be local to you) and they will recommend a HS agency in your area.  

Even if you're choosing a child from the Reece's Rainbow waiting list, I'd imagine you'd still need an agency to do more than a HS and post-placement.  Reece's Rainbow isn't an agency, and I'd think you'd need an agency with contacts in the country you choose to adopt from or the process could get complicated.  My BIL and SIL are experiencing lots of delays with their independent IA adoption.

jolynn326

Mrs.Slick:

It's very common with IA for the adoption agency to be from another state. We went with this agency because it was the best fit for us and we love them and what they have to offer. But your home study has to be done by someone licensed in your state of residence.

So do you end up having higher costs? Or is it essentially a wash since one agency won't be charging for the HS and the other will only be charging for a HS?

Do you ever meet the agency that you're using outofstate? Or what exactly do they do for you? Help with documents/translation/referral?

jolynn326

kacelle:

I love Reece's Rainbow! nbsp;DH and I are looking into special needs IA adoption as well. nbsp;I would contact the agency you want to work with for IA process doesn't have to be local to you and they will recommend a HS agency in your area. nbsp;Even if you're choosing a child from the Reece's Rainbow waiting list, I'd imagine you'd still need an agency to do more than a HS and postplacement. nbsp;Reece's Rainbow isn't an agency, and I'd think you'd need an agency with contacts in the country you choose to adopt from or the process could get complicated. nbsp;My BIL and SIL are experiencing lots of delays with their independent IA adoption.

Thank you! I think I'm starting to get a better handle on this. I thought I understood the process when you simply work with an agency and receive a referral from them. Just still a little confused about how it works when you want to pursue a specific kiddo.

RR told me that they have recs for international agencies for each of their kiddos, so I was just trying to piece together each entity's role.

Mrs.Slick

It's costing us nothing extra since home studies end up being cheaper here than they do in our agencies home state.

They help with the dossier process and setting everything up as well as submitting it to the correct govt agencies within country They make sure we have and meet all the requirements of the country and we had a translator/driver/coordinator in country when we went. She will also be our translator when we go back for court soon.

jolynn326

Mrs.Slick:

It's costing us nothing extra since home studies end up being cheaper here than they do in our agencies home state.

They help with the dossier process and setting everything up as well as submitting it to the correct govt agencies within country They make sure we have and meet all the requirements of the country and we had a translator/driver/coordinator in country when we went. She will also be our translator when we go back for court soon.

Ah! Thanks for spelling it all out for me. If you're comfortable doing so, I'd love a PM with the rec of your agency. Regardless, thanks again for walking me through this!

Mrs.Slick

jolynn326:

Mrs.Slick:

It's costing us nothing extra since home studies end up being cheaper here than they do in our agencies home state.

They help with the dossier process and setting everything up as well as submitting it to the correct govt agencies within country They make sure we have and meet all the requirements of the country and we had a translator/driver/coordinator in country when we went. She will also be our translator when we go back for court soon.

Ah! Thanks for spelling it all out for me. If you're comfortable doing so, I'd love a PM with the rec of your agency. Regardless, thanks again for walking me through this!

I'll send you a pm tomorrow :

CaptainSerious

I would contact the placing agency and ask them first.  It's possible they have an agency or social workers that they contract with to do homestudies in your home state.  Our agency was in NC, but they had social workers here in NJ that have done all our homestudy and postplacement work.  We only pay our agency, and they pay the social workers.

jolynn326

CaptainSerious:

I would contact the placing agency and ask them first.nbsp; It's possible they have an agency or social workers that they contract with to do homestudies in your home state.nbsp; Our agency was in NC, but they had social workers here in NJ that have done all our homestudy and postplacement work.nbsp; We only pay our agency, and they pay the social workers.

That's good to know thank you!