Adoption in Russia

[GiGii 4]

Do any of you know whether it is easy or hard to adopt a baby/toddler in Russia?

[slim 1,523]

Easy but expensive. There are a whole bunch of "fees" involved, Russian style. Sure, it's only $45 for the application, but the $400 fee to this officer and the $2,000 processing fee plus the $945 administration fee, plus the fact you have to go visit the child three times and then be approved by the courts, is what makes most folks just go pick up a Ukrainian kid. Same headaches, less capital!

Or, if you want a cheaper kid, you could always visit Asia or Africa.

It really is a shame that adoption here in the U.S. is such a hassle too. So many kids need good homes and so many good people are out there to help.... but then the meth-addicted 93 lb. mom comes knocking on the door one day, "Go get your $#!t you little sumbitch, momma's gon' take you home." And worse, they let her. It's her kid. Just horrible.

In all seriousness, my mom was pretty close to heading over to Ukraine to pick up a little girl. All things considered it's about the only place you're going to get a little white baby for under $10,000. Everywhere else wants to charge astronomical fees and the kids are usually over two, plus the birth parents retain certain rights. Ukraine kids are yours once the process is complete. There's some kind of adoption site out there very similar to VJ, I'm not sure the name, I'll ask my mom and post it here. You should be able to find it though, it's a pretty good site.

[eekee 182]

There has been a lot of controversy about US/Russian adoption--there have been a lot of high-profile cases where American parents have killed their Russian adopted children. So I imagine that it has gotten harder, especially since generally, Russian public opinion does not look favorably upon adoption of Russian children by American parents. I know that 2 years ago or so, they revoked all the licenses for agencies, but I think some have regained theirs.

[Blues Fairy 0]

There is a law that, before a kid is put up for international adoption, he/she has to be in the central orphans' database for at least 6 months so that Russian families could have precendence. This rule effectively eliminates all kids under 6 months and most healthy cute kids from the pool of prospective international adoptees. And yes, it's expensive ($30-40K on average including the trips).

[Danno 1,228]

What I would do is use Google to locate message boards which deal directly with this topic.

I had a customer who asked me about it and that night I did exactly that, I found a number of boards which could help you get in contact with agencies and can give you connections to all the things that many of these agencies soak you for.

Experience in your best teacher so learn from others.

If you pic an agency at random they will milk you at every step along the way.

Even through Youtube you can meet experienced people.

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