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Step 1
Ask what type of fee schedule the agency has. An agency that asks for all or the vast majority of fees up front is usually not the most ethical in other areas. Most agencies break down fees throughout the adoption process.
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Step 2
Find out if the agency allows the adoption of unrelated children, artificial twining, requests for a specific gender, or mandates there be a certain age span between the youngest child in your home and the child you are adopting. Each family has different dynamics and desires for the child they will adopt, and not all agency policies are able to accommodate them.
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Step 3
Determine what the agency's wait time is for a child of the age and gender you are requesting. Unlike China and other countries with a more set process, wait times differ drastically by agency. More established and the most highly respected agencies generally have a longer waiting list because so many families desire to work with them. Newer agencies generally have a short waiting list because they have had less time to develop their program and grow a reputation. Some agencies have a longer wait list because they do not have relationships with many orphanages and wait longer for children to become available to them.
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Step 4
If visiting your child's birth family or birth region is important to you (and it is recommended to build a healthy understanding of who your child is and where they came from to be able to share with them in the future) make sure you choose an agency that allows for this as many have policies against it.
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Step 5
If you want to adopt a child who is HIV+, make sure the agency has experience processing HIV+ adoptions as there is additional paperwork for the waiver process and other smaller differences in how things are handled along the way.
Comments
gahazeleyes said
on 5/30/2009 Enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing.