Adoption

Capt. Serious

You've mentioned having to get a psych evaluation - what all did that entail?  And who required it - Peru, the Hague, your state, the Agency.... ?

TIA!  Still keeping my fingers crossed for a quick referral of your Lucerito. :)

Re: Capt. Serious

  • Peru required the psychological.

    It was brutally in-depth, including information about our childhoods, home, finances, everything in the homestudy, and a psychological evaluation based on an assessment test (we took the over-600 question MMPI2).  We had at least 4 long appointments with the psychologist, gave her all the same background information we gave the agency (including a copy of our homestudy), and spent a fortune on it (more than our homestudy).  The report is just about as long as our homestudy.  Luckily, she was allowed to reference the homestudy for some of it, or it would have taken longer and cost even more.

    I really think it was overkill, and after our adoption is completed, my husband intends to ask our lawyer in Peru to explain to the governmental agency in how much it cost, and how that could preclude many people from being able to afford Peruvian adoption.  He really doesn't think they realize the extent of what they are asking for.  It's basically a rehash of the homestudy...with a psychological evaluation tacked on.

  • I think your H would be doing the adoptable children in Peru a huge favor by having the lawyer make that argument.  Is it possible Peru's one of that countries that sees IA as an undesirable, last resort?

    Thanks for explaining that. :)  The cost and time you guys invested in getting your dossier together now make more sense.

  • Loading the player...
  • Holy cow! That's way more in-depth than our psych eval was. Ours was basically a letter summarizing our mental health.
  • imageMrs.R2D2:

    Is it possible Peru's one of that countries that sees IA as an undesirable, last resort?

    Well, I think most countries would prefer that their children be raised in their home country, so that they retain a love of (and possibly an allegiance to) their nation, heritage and culture.  Not to mention all the benefits to the child not to be raised in a totally foreign place, with a different language, and a family that looks nothing like them.

    Peru tries to place children with families in the following order:  Peruvian nationals living in Peru first, then Peruvian nationals living elsewhere, "mixito" families (families where one parent is Peruvian), and finally other international families with no Peruvian decent.  Although officials there favor Peruvian families, they are aware that there simply are not enough of them to take in all their orphans, and therefore are open to international adoption.  They are very focused on the child's well-being, so they would rather place a child with an international family than wait for a Peruvian family to become available.

  • Butting in here....We did a psych eval just a couple of weeks ago. Not nearly as involved as Capt. Serious. We had to take 4 tests, one being the MMPI2 and one was a specific essay test about specific parenting techniques to specific situations - crazy since we don't have kids yet! Total was something like 1500 questions. Anyway, very expensive but required by agency/state.

    Good to know I'm not crazy...yet!

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"