Within the U.S., families are formed by adoption using three primary systems: adoption agencies, private attorneys, and the government’s foster-care system. American families almost exclusively use agencies when adopting children born outside the U.S. The Hague Convention has established international norms for intercountry adoption.
View from Narikala Fortress, below 
Choosing an adoption agency is one of the most important decisions a family will make. GCOF member Kent tells prospective adopting parents, “About the only thing that can cause a catastrophic failure of your adoption is choosing the wrong agency.”
Agencies may be either for-profit or non-profit, and some agencies are affiliated with particular religious groups. Agencies typically provide counseling for birth parents when possible, preparation of prospective adoptive parents, home studies, placement and post-placement services, and post-adoption services and support groups.
If you’re interested in adopting a child born in Georgia, you must choose an agency that is currently working there. For all intercountry adoptions initiated after April 1, 2008, your agency must also be Hague-accredited.
Researching Adoption Agencies
- Adoption Agency Ratings: http://www.adoptionagencyratings.com/
- Adoptive Families Magazine: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/search/agencies.php
- Child Welfare Information Gateway: http://www.childwelfare.gov/
- Council on Accreditation: http://www.coanet.org/front3/front.cfm?view=3
- Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) : http://www.jcics.org/
- North American Council on Adoptable Children: http://www.nacac.org/
- Yahoo!: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Adoption_Agency_Research/
Perhaps the most common way to find an agency is to talk with someone who has already adopted. Also consider the Better Business Bureau, your State Attorney General's office, and State Licensing for the state where the agency holds license.
Be sure to ask for references of families with completed adoptions, and then ask those references for another former client. (References do you no good unless you talk with them!) Contact the U.S. embassy in the country you're interested in, and ask if the agency is a member of JCICS, and if it is Hague-accredited. Hague accreditation is a high standard for all adoption agencies, whether you're adopting internationally or domestically.
Expectations
Choosing the wrong adoption agency is the number-one reason for failed adoptions. A close second is unrealistic expectations. You must feel completely comfortable with your agency's communications.
- Ask for contracts and agreements in advance of signing anything.
- Ask for the agency's placement history, which is required by the Hague Treaty. This will show the number of placements per year for each country's program, the number of disruptions (adoptions stopped during the process), how many waiting children there are, and how many waiting applicants the agency has for that program.
- Paying an attorney to review your contract is money well-spent. An attorney familiar with family law, or even a good general attorney, will spot anything out of the ordinary.
- Maybe it goes without saying... adoption requires your effort, too! In large part, the time it takes until your adoption is final depends on how quickly you turn around paperwork, how diligently you keep appointments, and how honestly you deal with your agency.
After you've chosen a reputable adoption agency, and you're familiar and comfortable with its practices, you can trust that you're on your way to expanding your family tree!
Above: Kitchen at Batumi Orphanage, before and after renovations made possible by families of adopted Georgian children
Watch Out For...
How do you know if something isn't quite right? Stay calm, be reasonable, and trust your instincts in the following situations.
- A prospective agency asks for an up-front or application fee before they will send you contracts and agreements. Any reputable business will offer full disclosure before asking for money; would you pay a fee to find out how much a car costs? If you're comfortable with paying an up-front fee, by all means do -- but don't let it keep you from comparing several agencies.
- Your agency recommends restricting contact with most or all other adopting families. There is a lot of inaccurate information on the Internet, so it's realistic that your agency will steer you away from that. But if you feel like you're becoming isolated from others in the process, talk with your adoption coordinator.
- You don't understand what's happening, and you can't get answers. Of course you can't expect 24-7 access to your agency contacts, but you should be able to reach someone in 24 to 36 hours. If you aren't getting answers from your coordinator, contact your agency's director.
- You're billed for unexpected fees. Your contract should have spelled out all your expected costs, from paperwork fees to court costs to language interpreter's salary. Some costs are outside your agency's control, like airline tickets for your travel, but you should still have some idea of what your total costs will be. If you don't recognize what a fee is for, ask before you pay it.
If you feel you need further information about your agency, go back to the sources under "Researching Adoption Agencies" above. If you still have concerns, contact your chosen country's embassy in the U.S. to verify your agency's reputation. Ask if there are any concerns regarding the agency. Finally, although it's an expensive step, you can change agencies during the adoption process.
Trust Your Agency
Adoption, especially international adoption, is not a linear process. Laws change, medical reports turn up something unexpected, international politics throw a kink into your travel plans. It's good to remember that nations don't typically have children available for intercountry adoption unless there are significant instabilities such as political or social upheaval, widespread financial insecurity, and even war. All countries love and want to care for their children, and intercountry adoption is always a temporary solution until the nation solves its dilemmas.
During the time that a country makes its orphaned children available for adoption by non-native families, expect changes and delays. You've chosen a reputable agency and you've established rapport with your coordinator. You can trust that your agency will keep abreast of changes, and that they will know how to overcome obstacles. A GCOF family observes, "Of course we were anxious the entire time we were adopting. But in hindsight, if we'd trusted more in our agency's expertise, we'd have slept a lot better before our son came home."
You should know, in general, how your adoption will proceed. But the details of what will happen in Weeks D-E-F of your process depend on what happened in Weeks A-B-C. It's not a road map, it's a flow chart. Trust the advice of your agency, your friends who have adopted internationally, and your support group.
