Choosing what country to adopt from

As with everything in the adoption process, Taher and I had to make a decision that was best for us. We live in a very big world, but not every country in this world was an option for us to adopt from. In many countries, adoption is illegal, in other countries, you can only adopt there if you are a citizen. So when it came down to it, we only had a handful of countries to choose from. (Of course, if I were Madonna, I could adopt from any country, but I digress)

The most important considerations for us when choosing a country were cost, length of time before bringing a child home, age of child, gender of child, time spent in foreign country, and how a child from that particular country would fit into our family. For all of those reasons, we came to our country of choice pretty easily. I've been receiving many questions regarding some of these factors so I thought I would answer the questions right here, because in my experience, if one person is curious, many people are curious. :-D 1.

Cost: Adoption costs vary from country to country. Many people wonder why adoption costs anything, afterall, if a child needs a home, a child needs a home. The costs are for other things, such as court fees, visa fees, paperwork fees, agency fees. A large chunk of the money also goes towards helping our country of choice maintain and care for the children until they are placed in a good and loving home. How much will our adoption cost? When it's all said and done, I would say anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000. Ouch! But SO SO SO worth it.

Length of time: This varies a lot. It varies from agency to agency, and the time frame is constantly changing. The process can take anywhere from about 6 months to about 2 years. It's a long and grueling process, and I am sure my patience will be constantly tested. But in the end, it will all be SO worth it.

Age and gender of child: The country we are adopting from has boys and girls available for adoption. The age could range anywhere from 3 months old to almost a year old. This is another one of the unknowns.

Time spent in foreign country: Taher and I will travel together to meet and bring home our baby. We will probably spent a week or so in this foreign country, finishing up paperwork, and getting our child a visa to enter the U.S.

These are some of the reasons we chose the country we did. If you ever have questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section. I'd be curious too. :-D I was curious about all of this until I spent hours and hours doing research, reading books, and going to adoption classes. Now I feel very informed about the adoption process, and I'd love to share my knowledge with others. :-D