Christian Adoption Agencies, Adopting Children

Many couples prefer to adopt a child internationally simple because they are afraid that some day a birth mother might come and claim back their child. There are some Christian adoption agencies that can help parents with paper work for international adoption.

International adoption has been undergoing many significant changes. On April 1, 2008, the United States ratified the Hague Convention, an international treaty designed to protect the best interests of children. There are now 78 member countries to this treaty. While the treaty stands for principles that all of us can certainly agree on such as ensuring integrity, ethics, licensing standards for adoption organizations and strict disallowance of child buying, the treaty has in my opinion also served to create obstacles to international adoption that have gone beyond issues of ethics and integrity
and have served to create great obstacles to finding permanent homes for orphaned children desperately in need of permanent homes around the world.

The United State’s recent ratification of the Hague Treaty greatly impact, in fact, this discussion regarding international versus domestic adoption. International adoption is, in my opinion, under systematic attack by powerful human rights organizations such as UNICEF resulting in severe restrictions and ultimately greatly reduced numbers of adoptions. Quotas or closures are not the only form of attack – implementation of adoption procedures so lengthy, cumbersome and costly that many Americans are beginning to re-evaluate their options and are reconsidering domestic adoption. International and domestic adoption options each offer distinct advantages and disadvantages, depending on the concerns, motivations and preferences of adoptive parents.

For some families, adopting a child from a developing nation where life and death could hang on an adoption decree is compelling and often the single reason for pursuing adoption. While adopting a child from a developing nation seems to be the most humanistic decision, one should not ignore the poverty and overwhelming odds that some here in America face.

For some families, adoption options in the U.S. are daunting, whether an adoption occurs internationally or domestically has bearing on the degree of openness that adoption can possess. Domestic adoptions vary widely in their degree of openness, depending on the preferences of the birth parents; however, international adoptions are more likely to be closed with little or no contact between 1000 birth and adoptive parents.

Medical information about the birth parent(s) of an adopted child can be of great concern to a family when facing future medical issues. In domestic adoption situations, agencies generally are able to provide more detailed and accurate information about birth parents’ medical information than it can in an international adoption scenario in which there is often little or no information about a child’s birth parents and their personal and family medical histories.

Open adoption versus closed or semi-closed adoptions are an issue. Agencies handling domestic adoptions are better able to provide the option of an open or semi-open adoption than are international agencies. Whether this is a benefit or a deficit depends on the preferences of the adopting parents.

The age of the child at the time of adoption and involvement in the pregnancy can be a cirtical issue for some paretns. Certainly a distinct advantage of domestic adoption is that it offers the opportunity to participate in a newborn or young infant adoption. In domestic adoption situations, parents are typically matched with a pregnant woman who has not yet given birth. In contrast, when dealing with international adoption, parents are matched after the birth of a child and in many instances, after a waiting period of 6 months – 1 year during which time the child is on a registry for possible adoption by a family in the child’s country. If a family pursues an international adoption of an infant, the child will most likely be several months old at best, and possibly over a year old or more, before all administrative hurdles are cleared and the child is permitted to travel to its adoptive home.

Financial issues and concomitant risks are a critical consideration to parents weighing their options. While adoptive families choosing either international or domestic adoption face the possibility of not being able to complete the adoption of a particular child, often involving a birth parent or other family member changing their minds, families adopting internationally with an ethical agency rarely risk losing the adoption monies paid for the services as most agencies will refer another child at no additional expense. In domestic scenarios, expenses paid towards birth mother living expenses will be forfeited if she later changes her mind.

Documentation and procedural requirements certainly figure in the equation. When it comes to domestic adoption, many families balk at the prospect of preparing birth mother introductory letters and photo albums feeling that they are competing with other families or begging for a birth mother to choose them. In international adoption, birth mothers don’t choose adoptive families; however, many countries impose rigorous document submission requirements and restrictions that families cannot meet. In some instances, foreign countries may impose restrictions after the adoption process has begun and families are suddenly not qualified to adopt and must choose another country, often involving additional expenses and creating delays in the overall process. While the process and waiting times for referral may seem more predictable for international adoption than for domestic adoption, changes in policy, procedure, closures, moratoria are all regular occurrences in international adoption.

Health and medical issues is tantamount to this decision as well. Families adopting internationally must prepare themselves for particular medical, emotional, learning, and behavioral issues that their adopted children, who have often spent their entire lives in an institutionalized settings, often face. Adoption blogs, support groups, and online groups are rife with stories of families facing extremely difficult and challenging situations.

Lastly, international travel, sometimes lengthy, can prove disruptive to work and family life, particularly when families have other children they must leave at home, and very challenging for some people who 1000 have not traveled outside of their country very often.

Deciding whether to pursue international or domestic adoption necessitates careful examination of the many pluses and minuses of each option. Selecting an agency that can offer guidance, expertise, counseling and honest answers to the advantages and disadvantages of the program they offer can be the single most important decision that an adoptive parent makes on this extraordinary journey.

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