If you have thought about or talked to anyone about adoption you have probably heard the term “Home Study”. And, you are probably confused.
The Home Study is not a report on your home but a series of papers and reports about you and your spouse (and other children if you have them already).
The laws in every state require all prospective adoptive parents to have a home study. Agencies are required to both educate and prepare parents for their adoption as well as gather information about the family; do they meet the needs of the state and the prospective country?

It is not a “try-out” program like is sounds like. It is a chance for parents to get to know a little more about their children before they join their families and a chance for kids to see what their new life is going to be like. Imagine it as a mini-vacation or as a study abroad for children who need homes.
Summer Adoption Programs try to match children with families who intend to adopt them, not as a trial period but as a chance to get to known them better (most host children are older and traditionally have a more …read more

Finally, after one year of waiting we are off to Guatemala this weekend to bring our new son home. I know that most of you can imagine my excitement because if you are reading this blog you are in some way connected to adoption.
Last year we were in Guatemala City the day after Christmas to meet our future son and this year we will be there for the New Year to bring him home. For us, it has been a long year, waiting, dealing with the unknown, trying to understand mistakes that should not have been made.
But, when it comes …read more

I admit that I don’t know much about open adoption because we have two closed adoptions. Our adoptions are closed. They are international adoptions. We are okay with that.
Do we talk to AJ about his birth mother? No. He can’t handle it yet. I wish he could but he can’t. We talk to him, instead about Russia. About the orphanage. About the country he came from, not about “where” he came from.
I wish I could because she is part of me too. No matter where my child is from his birth parents are a part of him and we need …read more

Adoption travel can be extremely nerve racking. This is something I know first hand. My husband and I were so nervous about our first trip to Russia that we almost poisoned the dog (literally…he ate poison that we left out for the rats in the backyard creek) before we left. We were both a bundle of nerves.

We were traveling to a country we had never been before, we did not know the language, and we were going to be meeting our son for the first time. Our stomach’s were in knots. Lucky for us, our agency planned a three day …read more

Besides deciding to adopt a child and choosing where to adopt from choosing the adoption agency is THE most important decision you (and your partner) are going to make. WHY? Because an agency handles all of the technical details and can be ethical or downright shady when it comes to handling situations and paperwork.
I am sure you have heard plenty of adoption horror stories, right? Many of them are because of bad agencies.
My first word of advice is to go through this list of questions when visiting an agency you like (or talking with them on the phone). It will …read more

The United States  Department of State has issued a notice Concerning Transfer of Pending Convention Cases to Accredited and Approved Adoption Service Providers.
Agencies who do not have accreditation should transfer pending cases to accredited agencies (including refunding fees that have not yet been serviced). Cases may be able to proceed on the same track it was on prior to the transfer depending upon the facts of the case.
Am I concerned?
More than you know…

In the midst of this blur, which I suppose should be called summer, our social worker visited to do our final post-placement visit for AJ. Yes, I said FINAL.

Gosh, I love that little guy. Over the next two weeks watch for posts from three years ago…all of them will be in italics and labeled with the 2005 date. Enjoy.

The two agencies suspended last week, The Cradle of Hope and Family and Children’s Agency were banned because of numerous violations during routine checks.
A third agency,  European Adoption Consultants, EAC, is now undergoing a thorough investigation because they did not report the incident in a timely manner.
Alexei Golovan, the Moscow ombudsman, said that Agencies must be held accountable for their work. “If they fail to meet their responsibilities, they should be barred from operating in Russia,” he said, adding that he would like to see more Russian parents adopt children.
Apparently, 14 children have been killed by their adoptive families as …read more

Russia has suspended two agencies, The Cradle of Hope and Family and Children’s Agency, Inc.
According to the MOE website this is not an official revocation of the accreditation but a suspension to allow time to clear things up. Family and Children’s Agency has one month and the Cradle of Hope has three months to correct whatever caused the suspension. Until then, they are not allowed to process adoptions in Russia.
This is unfortunate for agencies like COH because their China program is not moving quickly and I can only assume they have a limited number of families in the Guatemala program …read more