Sometimes when people are asking about our adoption they ask how we got our baby girl. They are wondering if we used an agency or another avenue. I tell them a little about the process and sometimes how we chose our agency. I will tell you a little about it.....
When we first decided to adopt I joined a group that is for adoptive parents of Indian children to help us find an agency, and asked as many questions as we could think of that we wanted answered. I wanted to learn as much as I could about adoption and India from there. I figured the best place to go was where is was happening. It was so exciting to be starting this new part of our life, adding a child to our family through adoption. I told people, on group, our situation and asked what agencies would best suit our family. They were all so sweet and helpful. I have to confess, I ignorantly, thought we may be one of the lucky ones who has their adoption process just fly through and we could have our daughter home in a year’s time, or shortly after that. Now I laugh at that thought! I am so happy though that we have the sweet little girl that we do and would wait all over again for her . Well, we found each agency has their own guidelines/requirements for APs, along with India’s. We narrowed down our choices this way to only a few and found we were lead to one that stood out. We also had talked to APs who had their children home already through this agency and one couple was even on a second adoption through them and very happy with the way things went. We felt if they had used this same agency a second time that it must be good. As it turned out, this agency was very good about communication with us and did not mind when we asked questions, this was important to us as it helped to relieve the stress of the process. They even kept us very well informed about what was happening on the Indian side and why things would slow down, this really helped us to deal with all the waiting.
Maybe you are hoping to start the process soon. I have listed below some general guidelines that come to mind, perhaps they will help you out.
1. Ask questions.
2. Get references from others who have used agencies you are interested in.
3. Check for agencies that you meet the requirements for and that meet your requirements.
4. Check Indian law and requirements against each agency (use CARA website).
5. Join a list with people who have adopted from India, ask whatever you need to know , ask if there are agencies to be avoided and why.
6. Join lists with people who have adopted from agencies you are considering (agencies themselves often have forums you can join if you are thinking of adopting through them).
7. Adoption can bring challenges with it, find an agency that will help you to prepare for it. You owe this to your child and to yourself. You can learn a lot this way on how to make your child comfortable in their new forever home and so much more.
8. Find an agency that has a good reputation for helping with post adoption services.
9. Find a list that helps you to evaluate different agencies.
10. Check agency fees against each other as this also can vary greatly, ask for a breakdown of their fees so you can see where the money goes.
Wishing you a Happy Adoption!
If anyone has any guidelines I forgot that you would like to add, please feel free to enter them in the comments section below. Thanks.
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