In Potential Family News...

Jon and I went to an adoption agency for one of their monthly informational meetings last night. This particular agency handles international adoptions in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Columbia. It was very interesting and also very depressing. It was interesting because, like my husband, I learned more about the adoption process and what is involved. With part of it, we'll need to have 3 friends and 2 family members write references for us. There is a home study before the paperwork goes to the country of choice. There can also be between 1 year and 3 or so years of post placement studies of the parents with the child. Depending on the country, you can make either 1 or 2 trips to the country to adopt your child. You don't pick your child - the country that you are adopting from pick your child. And it sounds like, at least for China, there isn't really a system in matching children with parents. They just kind of pick a child and put it with the next dossier (the whole package we will send to the country) in their stack.

It's sad that there are so many children out there needing good homes. It's sad that it costs so much to be able to adopt. To adopt a child from China (most likely, it will be a girl), it will cost $22,000 (this includes travel costs, as well as all the adoption paperwork, etc.) To adopt a child from Russia, it will cost around $30,000. It is really too much money for us right now, but maybe things will change in the future. Maybe.

I felt really comfortable with this agency. Jon and I discussed that if we were to adopt a child internationally, we would probably adopt a child from China because this agency has been working with China for several years so there is more ease in adopting a child from there and the children are more likely to be healthy than from some of the other countries (at least, this is what I got from the meeting last night). The person running the meeting said that it could take around a year to adopt a child from China. There is one trip to Beijing. The trip to China will be around 2 weeks. In the first couple days, you get to meet your child, then you spend the rest of the time touring the area so you will know the country that your child came from and you will be able to share that with them later.

One thing that the agency mentioned that once you start the adoption process, you should stop trying to have a child of your own because once you have the adopted child in your home, you need to be able to devote all of your attention to that child.

Anyway, we plan to go to other agencies and get more information - other international agencies and also some domestic. I don't know if we will adopt - it just costs so much money that we don't have. I just hope one way or another, I will be a mom.