DH and I were talking about wanting to adopt a child one day. As of now web would like to after having 3 children of our own, which is still a while from now.. I've seen a lot of mothers who have adopted from China but what about Cambodia? I'd like to hear some stories if anyone has any.

By Palmbchprincess on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 02:42 pm:

I have no adoption experience, but recently read that the US has placed a ban on Cambodian adoptions due to human trafficking. Angelina Jolie is about to adopt her second child, but cannot adopt another Cambodian child, so may adopt a Russian child. The ban is probably temporary. HTH

By Boxzgrl on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 05:36 pm:

Wow I didn't know that, thanks! I hope it is temporary. Thats very sad, too.

By Mommyof4 on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 09:29 pm:

I have not adopted from Cambodia but my oldest was adotped from Vietnam and we are adopting a son from China. If you want more information on international adoption just eMail me I have tons to say.

By Feona on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 07:11 am:

I think I heard the same thing that crystal is say. I think another country too was closed... Guatamola?


I heard the chinese babies usually recover from the orphanage pretty quickly. There usually isn't drugs or alcohol involved in pregnancy in that country too...

By Mommyof4 on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 06:12 pm:

Vietnam and Romania are closed at this time. Romania may potentially be closed permanately to international adoption. I have been to Romania on a work trip with Holt International and I am very saddended to think that all those kids will lose out on families of their own. :-(
When looking for an international adoption agency to work with it is very important to look for one with a long standing reputation.

By Feona on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 05:48 am:

As a friend of mine said, practically any family is better than an orphanage. Though there can't be selling of babies...


My friend got her one year old from China. She couldn't sit up yet at a year. In a week she could sit up with her. Then with therapy she proceeded so rapidly that she didn't even need physical therapy by the time it was approved.

Speech came late, but finally at three they said the little girl understood way over her age even though she didn't speech hardly at all.(so no therapy) At three and a half she was talking pretty nicely.

She just adopted another little girl this summer. So she has a 4 1/2 year old and a year old.

By Bellajoe on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 12:44 pm:

I understand that babies from other countries need to be adopted and of course don't see anything wrong with that....but there are thousands of children and babies in the U.S. that need to be adopted, why do so many people choose to adopt kids from other countries?

By Texannie on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 12:51 pm:

Unfortunately, if you want a baby/child with no or minimal health problems, it's very hard to adopt in the US or very expensive. Also, children are kept in the foster care system so long because the hesitancy to terminate parents' rights that it causes deep psychological problems that many parents don't want to take on.

By Emily7 on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 12:54 pm:

How expensive is overseas adoption compared to stateside?

By Texannie on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 01:31 pm:

I am not exactly sure. I domestically it's around $30,000.

By Mommyof4 on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 03:40 pm:

Texannie is exactly right. The process to adopt a child from our own foster care system can be an absolute nightmare for the adoptive parents. Just because children are in U.S. Foster Care does not mean that they are available for adoption.
Another thing I look at is that our country has a foster care system (although it has its share of HUGE problems)and children are not living in orphanges. Foster Care in other countries is a relatively new concept and still MANY MANY MANY children will languish in orphanges until they "age out".
As far as expenses keep in mind that in the U.S. there is a$10,000 tax credit for either international or domestic adoption that helps a lot with the expenses.

By Texannie on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 05:17 pm:

yep, wish they had that credit when we were adopting!

By Marcia on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 12:27 am:

In Canada adoptions cost nothing near what they do in the States or overseas. It is illegal to make a profit on domestic adoption in Ontario, and maybe all of Canada. The social worker and licensee can only charge their hourly rate. That's for private adoption, and 11 years ago ours wasn't much more than $5000.
We also adopted through the Children's Aid, which is the government agency that handles fostering and adoption. Those adoptions are free, but if you want a healthy newborn, the wait is normally greater than 10 years.
That's why many people choose to go overseas. It's much quicker, and you're pretty much guaranteed a little one, once you've been approved. Age and sex didn't matter to us, so we choose to adopt locally.

By Texannie on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 02:55 pm:

An agency isn't allowed to make a profit from an adoption in the US either. If you work with an agency where you are adopting a specific child, the costs can be alot less. You also take the risk that the birthmother may decide not to place the child for adoption and you are out any many you have paid (housing, doctor bills, attorney fees). With our adoptions, we paid our fees when we received our children. One of the reason the adoption fees are higher with agencies like that, is that not all births result in adoptions, but the agency has still paid for all of the birthmothers' expenses. So our adoption fees help offset those that don't go through.
You can also try to adopt through the foster system, they are much less expensive, but you could wait up to 10 years for a child here too. If you want an older child it can happen much quicker. A friend of ours just brought home a little 8 year old girl who was in the foster care system, they met each other and got to know each other for about 3 months before they adopted her.
Our adoptions were almost one year to the date of application.

A funny/sweet story. One night my dd and I were eating at a neighborhood restaurant. At the next table was a couple with maybe a 1-2 year old little girl. They were just doting on her. Paying so much attention. Towards the end of our meal, I happen to catch the mom's eye and said "you guys are super parents! I can tell you really love that little girl". Well, they looked at each other and then got this sort of sheepish look on their faces and said "well, we sure do, and we hope we will get to be her parents. We are trying to adopt her from the foster care system and this is one of our first one on one visits with her". My daughter pipes up. "I am adopted too". And we ended up having a lovely conversation about adoption. I have often wondered if they got that baby.

By Babysitbarb on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 03:14 pm:

My DB and DSIl decided to adopt from China for many reasons. They were on a waiting list for the U.S. and decided they weren't getting any younger. They are 40 and 38 and have been married for 17 years. They have friends who have adopted from China and they were very pleased with their expereince. One of the good things about adopting from there is that there will never be a parent who will come back someday and say they are her parents. They have had her since November and are still very pleased and proud with the decesion they made to go get her.She was 12 months when they got her and now she is 19 mths and they ended up pregnant a month after they got home. They found out it's a Boy!

By Marcia on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 11:56 pm:

It's also illegal to pay any birthmom expenses here.