ICHILD Starting Out: Indian Adoption Basics

INDIA ADOPTION...WHERE TO START....& THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

BEGIN TO GATHER INFO ON YOUR INTERNATIONAL AGENCY:

Put together a list of U.S. International Agencies with India Programs. Call or email them and request a general info packet and India specific information.

AT THE SAME TIME, CHOSE A LOCAL/HOMESTUDY AGENCY:

Find a local agency that you feel comfortable with. A good place to get recommendations for this would be a local adoption support group. Ask about state requirements for international adoption.

CONTACT INS:

Contact INS and request a INS forms: I-600A I-600

BCIS has these forms that can be downloaded to your computer or you can email a request for the forms to be sent to you via regular mail.

REVIEW AND RESEARCH:

Look through the information that you receive and narrow down your choices to just a few. Begin looking into these selected agencies more carefully.

CONTACT THE U.S. AGENCIES YOU'VE SELECTED.

Ask questions!
Ask about their requirements for parents. Some agencies (and some orphanages) require certificates of infertility. Others have requirements for age, marital status, and number of children living at home, or religion. Or does the agency have a requirement for how long one parent stays home with the new child?
How many years has this US agency been doing Indian adoptions?How many children placed recently?
If it is a 'new' program, are they working with well established Indian agencies with experience in international adoption?
Ask for names of parents who recently adopted through this India program. Call those families.
Ask where in India their programs are, the names of the cities and orphanages. Have these orphanages placed children with US families in the recent past?
What has the time frame been like recently and how the program is going in general.
Ask how many families this agency has currently waiting for a referral.
Is the orphanage licensed and processing cases?
What are the total costs of an Indian adoption through this US agency?Do those include ALL fees both U.S. and India?
What can be expected in the way of info on their child? (photos, medical reports, updates)
If you want to travel instead of escort, is this possible?
How long from application to referral and from referral till the child comes home.
Is this their own program or are they networking with another agency? If they are networking, ask for the name of the networking agency.
I would be suspicious of any agency who would not share this info with prospective parents.

CONTACT REFERENCE FAMILIES.

Ask questions!
Ask families what their time frames were like. Were the time frames close to what the agency had estimated?
Did the family have a good experience with this agency? What were the positive and negative aspects?
Did the family have good communication throughout the process? Were their questions answered promptly by the agency staff? Were phone calls returned?
Did the agency help with all steps needed to be taken? (INS, dossier etc)
What kind of information did they receive on their child? (photos, medical reports, updates)

CONTACT OTHERS: (Local adoption support groups, Online mailing lists/bulletin boards/newsgroups etc)

Find others who have used the agencies (US and Indian) that you are interested in and ask these parents about their experiences with these agencies. (you can use many of the same questions that you asked the reference families)
Think about whether you want to adopt an infant or an older child (or siblings!). Talk to people who have been down the path that you want to take.
Find out if there are adoption workshops in your area. Go to them. You won't be the only person who is still in the decision stage!

ONCE YOU'VE MADE YOUR DECISION...MAY YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL ADOPTION JOURNEY !

NOTE: Don't rush this decision. It's an important one. The people you work with through your adoption will become VERY important to you in the next year or so. And consider the pros and cons to working with large or small agencies and which type best suits your situation. And to a good extent, trust your instincts. If you have a positive reaction to your communication with one particular agency, if it 'feels' right, and 'checks out', then that may be the one! And finally, if a situation sounds too good to be true....be careful...it just might be! Do your homework!

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