LilSugar

Approaching Adoption: The International Option

LilSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:00:32 -0700

Every child deserves a place to call home and loving parents to raise it. Sometimes the parties must travel thousands of miles to meet each other. International adoption is a process which can take anywhere from nine months to several years depending on the child's country of origin. Unlike domestic adoptions, international ones usually involve children that are placed in orphanages or have been made legally available by their parents.

Each country has its own set of guidelines and having an understanding of the culture can help before bringing the child into your home. Most families interested in international adoption work with an agency to help them through the process. Among the most popular countries Americans adopt from are Russia, China, Taiwan, Ethiopia, Vietnam, South Korea and Kazakhstan. Last year, 17,438 children were adopted internationally.

Qualifications: Like the domestic adoption process, families register with an agency and attend information sessions. They then go through the home-study process, which involves criminal and medical background checks, fingerprints, a safe home and stable living environment inspection, a financial records review, references, interviews with adoption counselors and monitoring of marital status. The family must then receive approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before submitting their paperwork to the country they are interested in adopting from.

To see the rest of our look at international adoption, read more.

Timeline: In the past, international adoptions from countries such as China were popular due to their fast turn around, but new restrictions have lengthened the process considerably. Once the family receives a referral for the potential child, they must then review the child's health information with a pediatrician specializing in international adoption, such as Dr. Jane Aronson who has worked with Angelina Jolie and Mary Louise Parker. These doctors review the medical history to help a family determine if the child is healthy enough to be adopted. The family then prepares for travel to the country to pick up their child, including immigration forms and vaccinations and travel arrangements.

Costs: International adoptions range from approximately $13,000 to $51,000, depending on the country's program fee and the agency's fee, and not including travel expenses. Some, like Spence-Chapin, base their fee on the couple's income (usually 7 percent of the income) while others, like The Cradle, charge set fees.

Considerations: Before deciding to adopt, parents must be comfortable incorporating someone from another culture inside their home. Most likely, the child will not look like them and this will raise questions for the rest of their lives. Future moms and dads should also consider how they will incorporate their adopted child's culture into their own – some opt for roots discovery tours or bi-annual trips to the country of origin, while others learn the native language as a family.

Would You Adopt Locally or Abroad?

LilSugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:00:16 -0700

Celebrities have become the poster children for adoption. Meg Ryan and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt created families from children from around the world while Sharon Stone built her brood by adopting American babies. Mothers and fathers have reasons for making their choices as lil ones everywhere are in need of parents that love them.

If you were to adopt which option would you pursue?

INF

International Adoption Sanctions Affect Many in America

LilSugar — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:00:54 -0700

While international adoption investigations hope to end corruption, what happens to children in need of families? According to a New York Times report placing suspensions and more stringent guidelines on the process has had a major impact on American couples seeking to adopt kids from countries like Vietnam and Guatemala. It said :

A major change in the adoption landscape is the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, a treaty involving more than 70 countries and recently signed by the United States. It establishes new accreditation requirements for adoption agencies and protections against child trafficking. Many in the adoption field expect the treaty to stop the commercial industry that boomed in many countries as demand for international adoptions rose. Ultimately, the regulations are expected to benefit the children and those wanting to adopt them.

The rights of the biological parents and their offspring should first and foremost be protected, but in looking into adoptions on a case by case basis, many potential adoptees and families hoping to welcome them will wait in limbo. It said:

The world began watching as international adoptions more than tripled from early 1990, reaching as many as 22,884 in 2004 in the United States, which registers more international adoptions than all other countries combined. But the number of such adoptions has steadily decreased over the last three years, to 19,400 in 2007, and adoption experts expect the decline to continue for several years.

Source

Making Room For an Adopted Family Member

LilSugar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:00:25 -0700

Newborn adoptees can be anywhere from hours to weeks old when placed with the families that will raise them so the process is similar to bringing home a baby from the hospital. Moms and dads who opted for an international adoption process or are adopting older children may be faced with some challenges as all parties mesh into a family. Here are some tips for easing that transition.

Make the child's room a safe place for them by surrounding them with familiar sights, be it photos of their hometown, a favorite stuffed animal or blanket they brought with them, or CDs filled with music they may have listened to prior to entering your life.
Give the child time to understand who the new family is before allowing others to spend excessive amounts of time in your home. Avoid overnight guests for the first month or so until the tot is comfortable with the people he sees on a daily basis.
Many internationally adopted tots were not properly nourished in their birth countries and can take to sneaking and hiding food out of fear. Allow them to keep some snacks in their room to help establish trust and show them how easily accessible the kitchen is at all times.
Give the child choices in terms of the food that she eats and the clothes that she wears. Initially she may feel that she was forced into this new relationship. By giving her choices, she will feel that she has some control of her situation.

Families of adoptees will experience the same joys and frustrations of other parents throughout their lives, but they will also face some unique challenges, particularly if their children are from different backgrounds. For tips on how to handle these situations, read more.

Study the cultural holidays of your child's native country and incorporate them into your own life – be it Chinese New Year, Korea's Children's Day, or the country's independence day.
Expand your culinary horizons and learn to make some popular dishes from the tot's birth country.
Consider learning the language of the adoptee's birth country, or better yet, learn it with your child.
Be prepared for a lifetime of insensitive questions from outsiders who want to know why your child looks different than you and even how you came by your child.
Consider taking a trip to your child's birth country and help them trace their roots. Inevitably, your child will want to know more about where they came from and such a trip can be educational and inspiring for everyone involved.

Creating Families: The Surrogacy Option

LilSugar — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:10:50 -0700

The true sisterhood of women is showcased when one woman carries a child for another. Domestic and international adoptions may be the most common ways families introduce nonbiological children into their lives, but last year's movie Baby Mama and Sarah Jessica Parker's recent addition of twins have made surrogacy a common topic. Though there are no national statistics on the practice, it is estimated that approximately 1,000 such births occur each year.

After dealing with infertility and still desiring a family, some couples turn to another woman to carry their baby. In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is artificially inseminated, by either the child-to-be's father or an anonymous donor, while in gestational surrogacy, an egg is removed from the future child's mother and fertilized with sperm from either the father or an anonymous donor. The fertilized egg is then implanted in the carrier via IVF. Similar to the adoption process, families interested in surrogacy often work with an agency to help them find a suitable surrogate, handle the legal issues that the transaction involves, and help them through the process.

Qualifications: Similar to adoption, families meet and register with an agency to learn about the process. and to find a carrier. In general, agencies require carriers to be between 23-38 years old, have previously had at least one child on their own, be married or in a serious relationship, undergo a complete medical and psychological evaluation, and be financially stable.

To see the rest of our look at surrogacy, including a chart of the states where it is legal, read more.

Time line: In general, the entire process can take one to two years, based on the state and the health of the intended parents and carrier. Once a family has been matched with a carrier for a gestational surrogacy, the intended mother and carrier go through fertility treatments for egg retrieval and gestation. The embryos are then transferred and a pregnancy test is administered two weeks later. Assuming the transfer is successful, nine months later the process is complete.

Costs: Gestational surrogacy can range from $100,000 to $150,000, including the agency's fee, compensation for the carrier (approximately $25,000-$30,000), medical costs for fertility treatments, and the birth (though some carriers come to the process with their own medical insurance), travel, and legal fees.

Considerations: Before deciding to use a surrogate, parents must be comfortable with the idea of someone else carrying their baby. While they will meet and interact with that person prior to the birth, they will not have control over the carrier's daily life. They must also look into their state's laws about the process, as currently only six states legally recognize surrogacy contracts.

Photo courtesy of Universal Studios

Our Favorite Blended Celebrity Families

LilSugar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:00:16 -0700

We've spent the week celebrating the ways families are created with in-depth looks at adoption and surrogacy. Some of Hollywood's most famous clans include children who came together through these alternative means. We've rounded up some of our favorite celebrity blended families starting with the Jolie-Pitts who have welcomed offspring from Vietnam, Ethiopia and Cambodia via international adoption and biological babies as well. Brad and Angelina prove that the love parents have for their youngsters knows no bounds. Check out our other choices.

View Slideshow ›

Creating Families: Which Birth Option Would You Choose?

LilSugar — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Couples facing infertility still have childbearing options available. For those who decide to forgo medical treatments, they may choose to build a brood by alternative means. Additionally, some hopeful moms and dads that can have biological offspring prefer to share their love with living children in need. We've spent the past week looking at domestic and international adoptions and surrogacy and the costs and benefits of these options. Which one would you be most likely to pursue?

Creating Families: Which Method Did These Celebs Use?

LilSugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:00:00 -0700

This week we're celebrating the ways families are created. From domestic and international adoption to using a surrogate, celebrities have become the faces of alternative means since they are in the spotlight. See if you can guess how these celebabies entered their parents' lives.

Question 1 of 10

How did rock and roller Sheryl Crow add son Wyatt to her family?