Observations About International Adoption

Although we have always known that we wanted to adopt internationally, we never really knew a ton about the process. Ever since we were married 10 years ago we thought we would adopt from China. When we started really looking into it and decided to start the process, we learned so much that totally surprised us and realized God had another plan. Here are some interesting (at least I find them interesting) IA facts & observations that I want to write down while I remember. I think everything is pretty accurate. I'm not trying to make a statement of the positive or negative aspects of these things - just record how things are.

1. I think one of the biggest misconception is that you can adopt from anywhere in the world. Out of 195 countries in the world, there are only about 30 countries that US Citizens can adopt from. The rest of my points all refer to these 30 countries.

2. Of those 30 countries, many of those have tiny programs - only about 15 countries have 150 or more children adopted into the US each year.

3. Some countries only let people adopt if they are of the same heritage. For example, you have to be Indian to adopt from India. Armenia is that way as well.

4. In some countries it's really hard to adopt a child unless you are related to them (Mexico and Estonia are that way)

5. Some countries require you to stay for long periods of time in their country. For example, Kenya requires you to live there for a year. A great way to connect to your child's culture, though!

6. About 10 of the countries have such small programs that only one or two agencies facilitate adoptions from that country. (e.g. Ecuador, Panama, Lithuania, Liberia, Jamaica, Moldova and more only have 1 US adoption agency that facilitate adoptions through their country. Because of this there are years where no children are adopted from these countries.)

7. Almost every country has very, very strict requirements when it comes to the adoptive parents income, divorces, number of kids already in the home, length of marriage, age, physical health, mental health, criminal background, home ownership and more. Many countries won't accept any criminal record, even if it's a charge that was dropped or it occurred 15 years earlier. Psychological drugs of any kind will disqualify people from most countries as well.

8. Cost (including travel) can be from around $17K (China, Ethiopia, Haiti, Columbia, etc..) to up to $40K+ (Russia or Kazakhstan). There are a lot of programs out there to help you finance adoption. Some give grants, some give matching grants (you raise a certain amount of money and they will match it) some give low or no interest loans, and there is the adoption tax credit too that I have heard helps a lot with the cost.

9. The cost of adoption pays for many things. There are home study fees, agency fees, immigration fees, fingerprints, background checks, traveling to the country to pick up your child, etc... I think all (or most) adoption agencies are non-profit. All of the ones we came across were. The bulk of the cost goes to the country you are adopting from. Much of the time the money is used to not only pay for administrative costs on their end, but also pays for the medical care, housing, food, etc. and expenses it takes to run the orphanages for the children remaining in their country. From what I've been told, in come countries (such as Haiti) without the fees the government makes from children being adopted internationally, they wouldn't have the money to cloth, feed, and take care of the basic needs of the children in their orphanages.

10. If you're wanting to adopt a child under 18 months your options are limited even more.

11. A few countries will only allow children with very major special needs adopted from their country (Hong Kong, etc...)

12. International adoption is very political - both from the US and the international country. It seems to me that both sides make it as difficult at possible. Because of this International adoption is very unstable. Adoption programs in countries are always shutting down and reopening. Sometimes the US decides they won't allow citizens to adopt from certain countries and sometimes the country decides to halt international adoption for a short time or permanently. Guatemala and Vietnam, which were both in the top 5 for number of children adopted into the US in the last few years, are shut down right now.

13. In the last two years Russia, China, Ethiopia, & Guatemala have been the countries with the most children adopted in the US.

14. In 2008, about 17,500 children were adopted to the US. That is the lowest it's been since 2002. The top four countries in #13 account for about 67% of the total adoptions.

15. Of the hundreds of thousands of orphans all over the world, a very, very small percentage are available for adoption.

16. In almost every country, China being one of the few exceptions, there are far more boys to adopt then girls. No one knows for sure why, but some of the theories I've heard are: In many cases the wife is the one to initiate the adoption and women often would choose to have a girl over a boy; Birthmother's are more likely to give up a boy for adoption than a girl; In many countries, bloodline is very important, especially when it comes to inheritance, so people are more likely to adopt a girl because they won't be given an inheritance; Girls seem more "safe" than boys when it comes to adoption. Because of this fact, many countries won't let you choose a gender when adopting.

17. Usually the entire process will take over a year from the time you begin (although there are some exceptions) and most of the time much longer than that. Because things are always changing it's really hard for adoption agencies to predict the length of time. Time frames will often be "3-15 months from the time your paperwork is submitted to the country." That makes it really hard to prepare for how long to expect your process to take. There are many countries where it can easily take 3+ years to complete an adoption.