International vs. Domestic Adoption

Before you begin the adoption process, consider carefully what kind of child you are interested in adopting. Are you looking for a specific age range? Does the child need to have the same skin color as you? Are you open to taking in a child with physical, mental, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges? Are you willing to adopt a group of two or more siblings? The answers to these questions may help you decide whether adopting domestically or internationally will best fulfill your needs.

Domestic and international adoptions may be completed either through an agency or independently, although the time, expense, and level of risk involved may vary significantly between the two adoption methods.

Domestic Adoptions

According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway's report How Many Children Were Adopted in 2000 and 2001?, 127,407 children were adopted in the U.S in 2001. Eighty-five percent of those were domestic public, private, independent, kinship, and tribal adoptions.

Domestic Independent Adoptions

Independent adoptions are not legal in every state, so if you are interested in pursuing this method, check with your state's adoption specialist to find out if it is allowed. With an independent adoption, prospective parents must seek out, contact, and negotiate with the birth parent(s) directly, often with the assistance of an adoption attorney. To ensure your attorney is experienced in performing adoptions, choose one who is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, a national organization that promotes ethical practice. Even with independent adoptions, many couples use a licensed adoption agency to conduct the homestudy program and counsel the birth parent(s).

Many adoptive parents find birth mothers by advertising in newspapers and magazines (however, this is illegal in some states), and through online chat rooms and message boards. You can also enlist the services of a national adoption advertising consultant or send an introductory letter, photo, and adoption resume to crisis pregnancy centers, obstetricians, and friends.

Once you have located a birth mother and you have come to a mutual agreement about the terms of the adoption, you will usually be expected to pay for the mother's prenatal and delivery expenses, as well as her legal fees. State laws dictate which expenses you may pay - some will permit you to cover the birth mother's rent, food, utilities and counseling, while others prohibit paying anything but the prenatal and delivery expenses. In some states, it is the adopting parents' responsibility to also pay for counseling for the birth parent(s). Experts recommend setting aside at least $7,500 to cover these expenses.

Once the baby is born, the birth parent(s) sign over legal custody to the adoptive parents; however, until she has signed the papers, the birth mother can decide to keep the baby, which is one of the biggest risks associated with independent adoptions.

Domestic Agency Adoptions

Public agencies who handle adoptions are part of the state welfare or foster care system. Children awaiting adoption through a public agency are generally older, sibling groups, or children with special (physical or psychological) needs, and many are of color.

You may adopt a "waiting child" - or as a child in the welfare and foster care systems is known - by taking in a child who has already been (or will shortly be) legally released for adoption, accepting the placement of a child who may still be reunited with his or her birth parent(s), or becoming a foster parent to the child and then proceeding with the adoption.

Private agencies may be associated with a particular religion and may focus on placing children with parents of that faith, although many are open to people of all faiths. These so-called sectarian agencies may receive partial funding from their associated religious group so they may charge prospective adoptive parents less than other agencies. Agencies who are not affiliated with any religious group, or nonsectarian agencies, may also receive a portion of their funding from charitable organizations (such as the United Way) and offer their services at a discount.

With a private agency, the birth parents relinquish their parental rights to the agency before being matched with prospective adoptive parents. The wait for a child through a private agency may be a bit longer than with a public agency and you may not have an opportunity to meet the birth parents face to face.

If you choose a private or public adoption agency, you will have to complete an application for adoption and, upon approval, begin a homestudy. The homestudy usually takes approximately two months to complete. You will also have to submit to a physical exam, background check, and fingerprinting, as well as extensive interviews to determine your ability to care for a child, as well as get an idea for what kind of child you are interested in adopting.

The agency will handle the search for a prospective child, but you can help the process along by participating in the search process, reviewing photolisting books, online message boards and chats, and keeping your personal parent profile current.

Once a prospective child has been located, learn all you can about the child before making your decision. Find out his or her family history, that of the birth parents, and about his or her health. The agency will most likely encourage or require you to meet the prospective child and get to know him or her before proceeding with the adoption.

Once you have been approved to adopt a child, he or she will be placed with you and you will assume temporary legal custody for a few months. During this adjustment period, which can last from several months up to a year, your agency will monitor the placement with frequent phone calls and visits. If all goes well, at the end of the monitoring period the agency will recommend to the court that the adoption be approved.

The agency and case worker will help you to fill out an adoption petition, which is the legal request to adopt the child. You will then attend a finalization hearing in front of a judge, who will grant you permanent, legal custody of the child. Rarely, the child's birth parents may also attend the hearing, but only if their parental rights have not yet been terminated or if the adoption is open or cooperative.

The cost of a domestic adoption can range from just a few hundred dollars to cover court costs if you use a public agency, up to $30,000 if you use a private agency; however, the average is between $15,000 and $20,000. Independent adoptions can range from $8,000 to $30,000 or more.

A domestic adoption can take as little as a few weeks or up to several years to process, depending on many factors.

International Adoption

The number of international adoptions has increased dramatically in recent years. According to adopting.org, Americans adopted nearly 6,500 children from foreign countries in 1992 and more than 20,000 by 2002.

One thing to understand when considering adopting internationally is that you will never receive a newborn baby, as you may with a domestic adoption. By the time a the paperwork is completed and a match is made, the baby will most likely be several months old - on average between 6 and 18 months, according to AdoptionHelp.org. However, virtually all of the children adopted internationally are younger than five years old.

There are many reasons couples decide to adopt a child from a foreign country, including:

• They wish to create a more ethnically diverse family


• They want to adopt a child from their own culture or ethnic background


• The adoption process may be much shorter than a domestic adoption


• They want to adopt a child who would otherwise grow up in poverty or social/political instability

Agencies that facilitate international adoptions are usually private, non-profit organizations (public adoption agencies generally do not handle international adoptions) that may specialize in adoptions in one specific foreign country or in many. International independent adoptions are possible; however, not every country allows them, so be sure to research the laws of any country you are interested in. You may experience a smoother and less expensive adoption if you use an agency rather than trying to adopt independently because agencies have established contacts in many foreign countries that may help the adoption proceed more smoothly and quickly.

Under current U.S. immigration law, a child adopted from a foreign country must be orphaned or abandoned or have only one living parent who is incapable of providing care. These guidelines are in place to protect children from being bought and sold on the black market. Children up to 15 years in age are eligible for adoption into the U.S., and children aged 16 and 17 may be adopted if their siblings have been adopted by American families. Most children adopted into the U.S. are from Asia, Eastern Europe or Latin America; many Western European, African and Middle Eastern countries currently do not allow international adoption. To find out which countries currently allow U.S. citizens to adopt children, go to the U.S. Department of State Web site.

Certain foreign countries have specific age, financial, or religious requirements for adoptive parents, and all certified agencies require prospective adoptive parents to complete a homestudy and undergo an investigation of their financial, physical, and emotional stability. The homestudy is designed to help the adopting parents prepare to deal with some special adoption issues, such as when to talk to the adopted child about adoption, their home country and birth parents. Adopting parents are also counseled on how to deal with the reactions of family and friends, as well as the implications of adopting a child that is of a different race or ethnicity. Once you have signed on with an agency and have completed your dossier, homestudy and background check, you will be matched with a child. Once this has occurred, the adoption process begins, which can take just a few weeks or several months, depending on the country. Many countries require the adoptive parents to be physically present for an adoption hearing and some require you to live with your prospective adopted child for at least three months before the adoption is completed.

Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, a foreign-born child automatically becomes a U.S. citizen upon finalization of the adoption. However, in order for the adoption to be considered final in the U.S., you may need to register it here, even though it was finalized and completed in the child's birth country. Be sure you know the immigration requirements before you bring your child home.

Many children who are adopted from foreign countries have been living in poverty which may have stunted their growth or development, or they may have been neglected, abused or isolated in an orphanage, or witnessed the brutality of war or other conflict which has left them emotionally scarred. Although many countries provide a complete medical evaluation of your child, medical practices and training in these countries may be substandard and they may be incapable of identifying or treating certain conditions. Therefore, it's important that you have your child thoroughly examined by a doctor upon arrival in the U.S. and ensure that he or she receives the medical and psychiatric care necessary. International adoptions may be completed more quickly than domestic adoptions, or they may take longer due to the amount of paperwork and negotiations between countries. It may take you more than two months to complete the preliminary paperwork and the length of time it takes to finalize the adoption of a child once your dossier has been submitted depends on how long it takes to match you with a child and for you to travel to the child's birth country. This can vary from a couple of months up to a year.

International adoptions can also be more costly than a domestic adoption, due to travel expenses, immigration processing, and court costs. Expect to spend between $10,000 and $30,000.

For more information about the adoption process in various countries, visit the Website for the Office of Children's Issues at the U.S. Department of State. You can also visit the Website for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service and part of the Department of Homeland Security) to find local field offices and obtain a copy of brochure M-249Y which outlines INS requirements for foreign-born, adopted children.

For more information on all types of adoption, visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway Website.