Adopt from another country

[Phase]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee
My family is looking to adopt a baby from Romania. Who would we need to get ahold of to learn about the steps we should take to do so?

[Ohiogal]

Contact an adoption agency that specializes in international adoptions. Do a web search for international adoption Romania and see what comes up.

[stealth2]

Post specifically to nextwife - I believe her daughter is from Romania.

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by stealth2

Post specifically to nextwife - I believe her daughter is from Romania.

Good morning. Bulgaria, actually, which shares a northern border with Romania.

Poster, don't "hook up" with any adoption agency until you've done reserach, talked to people who have adopted with the agency you are considering, and so on. The following is a general resource site:

[url]http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/adoption-resources-in-tennessee-for-adopting-and-adoptive-parents-and-families.html[/url]

I'm curious why you chose Romania, as that country is closed for all but close relatives. [url]http://romania.adoption.com/[/url]

Personally, I feel it goes more smoothly when working with a locally based agency that is experienced with the country program of your choice and has in-country facilitators. There are your state home study and dossier approval processes, DHS visa requirements AND in-country requirments in the country from which you are adopting.

There are several web-support groups for parents adopting/having adopted from Eastern Europe, and many of the posters are multiple adoptors who can share valuble feedback- good and bad. I'd suggest joining some NON-adoption agency webgroups. See the EEOC site: [url]http://www.eeadopt.org/[/url]

I'd also suggest doing some reading about Post-institutional impacts on kids, so you are familiar with how orphanage living can affect development.

Best wishes.

[HappyHusband]

Originally Posted by nextwife

I'm curious why you chose Romania

I'm curious too, as to why people decide to adopt children from foreign orphanages.
It must cost more to foreign adopt, correct?
There must be more red tape?
Is there not enough children to choose from in America?

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by HappyHusband

I'm curious too, as to why people decide to adopt children from foreign orphanages.
It must cost more to foreign adopt, correct?
There must be more red tape?
Is there not enough children to choose from in America?

A. American children without parents still do NOT end up living in orphanages. They also get medical care. These kids NEED homes.

B. Being a parent isn't "cheap" anyway.

C. Parental rights have already been terminated, so the adoption is a "done deal" and not likely to be challenged. The absolute nightmare scenario that every adoptive parent wants to avoid is a later legal challenge to the adoption. The value of that knopwledge is immessurable . The security of knowing nobody will come and take your baby away can't be measured. Domestic adoption can be a nighmare- many I know who have adopted domestically have gone through at least one to two failed adoption attempts before a successful adoption occurred.

D. Adopting from foster care can be rewarding, but often takes WAY too many "reunification" attempts, sometimes with horrible results for the children, before the parental rights of somebody who never should have been parenting is terminated. The result is that many og the kids in the foster system are already emotionally quite impacted before parental rights are finally terminated.

E. Some parents do not want to "compete" and "market" themselves to bioparents and then ride the "Will he/she change their minds" or be pressured by friends and family rollercoaster. After heartbreak of pregnancy loss, or infertility, adoptive parents are tired of heartbreak and just want to proceed to parenting- they don't want to keep restarting the adoption process with new prospective adoptive parents.

Many adoptive parents of internationally adopted kids have already raised their first batch of kids and now just want to get a kid OUT of the orphanage system and be their parents.

That answer your question? There are NOT "lots of kids" available to adopt, especially for older parents, single adoptors, religious minorities, etc.

[HappyHusband]

Originally Posted by nextwife

That answer your question?

Yes Ma'am it does. I appreciate your insight.

[Silverplum]

Originally Posted by HappyHusband

Yes Ma'am it does. I appreciate your insight.

So do I, and many others, I'm sure. Nextwife, you really do a fine service here. Thank you.

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by Silverplum

So do I, and many others, I'm sure. Nextwife, you really do a fine service here. Thank you.

Gosh. Thanks!

[Phase]

Wow you brought up some amazing points in your answer to why a foreign country.
I'm only 17. My mother and father wanted to adopt from a foreign country I believe because of the lack of health care children without homes get over there. I'm not sure why she chose Romania, though.

Thanks a bunch nextwife!

[FLMommy]

Originally Posted by Phase

Wow you brought up some amazing points in your answer to why a foreign country.
I'm only 17. My mother and father wanted to adopt from a foreign country I believe because of the lack of health care children without homes get over there. I'm not sure why she chose Romania, though.

Thanks a bunch nextwife!

I saw the date of your post, and maybe just like us, your parents saw a CNN documentary with Anderson Cooper about the conditions of Romanian hospitals (turned orphanages) and orphanages less than a week before, and their hearts broke.

Like Nextwife says, Romania is 'closed' for foreign adoptions - hopefully the EU change that as a condition for Romania to become an EU member.

I like this thread, it's very informative.