Is there such a thing as indipendent international adoption?

[aliceinwonderland]

We are in the unique situation of wanting to adopt in my native country. I've worked in the orphanage I want to adopt from, and obviously we have family and pretty extensive acquaintances in the country. Can we forego the two agencies that do adoptions there and aim for an indipendent one? Having an agency act as an intermediary when I speak the language and know very well what we're getting into seems a bit silly.

This is a couple of years down the road, though. I like to dream :)

[holliam]

Yes, it can happen but it depends on the country how successful you will be I think. I know of people who have done Guatemalan adoptions on their own, but it still involved them working directly with the lawyer in Guatemala.

The only thing I would caution you about is to make sure you absolutely know all the laws on the US side. If not, it would be worth it to at least consult with an adoption lawyer here. There are so many steps involved that you could easily miss one and not realize it.

In my personal experience, the agency fee was only a small part of the overall cost, and it was well worth every cent. I am fluent in Spanish, but there were so many little things to know. I also thought I was fairly well educated about the process, and I still am glad we used an agency.

Holli

[aliceinwonderland]

we would hire a lawyer on both sides, definately on that side. Thanks for your input, Holli.

[malie]

You will still have to have a homestudy done by a US agency in your state to complete your US requirements. Also what you can and can not do is completely dependent on the country and your current citizenship status (if you are still a citizen of your native country you may have avenues opened to you that don't exist to others, if however you are adopting as US citizens you might very well HAVE to use agencies)

http://www.travel.state.gov/family/adoption/country/country_369.html will give you the current general requirements for adopting from specific countries

Just remember that international adoption changes and what is true now might not be true a couple of years from now.

Knowing the language of a country doesn't always prepare you for the ins and outs of the adoption journey (it certainly does HELP but if the country doesn't allow private adoptions by non-citizens, you might be out of luck)